Vertical inks deal for ‘Hollow in the Land’
Vertical Entertainment has picked up U.S. distribution rights to Scooter Corkle’s mystery-thriller Hollow in the Land, a deal inked at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival by Rich Goldberg and Peter Jarowey, along with CAA representing the filmmakers. WestEnd Films will handle international sales.
Hollow in the Land follows a young woman as she attempts to track down her brother, prime suspect in a murder case, in a bid to clear his name. Chasing every lead against the clock and with evidence mounting against him, she finds herself becoming a suspect. In the small mountain town, secrets are buried deep, and if she’s not careful she’ll be buried with them. Story centers on Alison Miller clearing her brother Brandon amid additional murders in their small Canadian town.
The debut feature from Corkle, a Savath Pictures and Oddfellows production, was shot in Canada and financed by Telefilm Canada and Narrative Capital.
Hollow in the Land was produced by Jesse Savath and Marlaina Mah. Daniel Levin, Chris Ferguson, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Noah Segal, and Laurie May served as executive producers. Co-exec producers included Giuliana Bertuzzi, Rian Cahill, Richard Sweren, Adam Epstein, Al Sebag and Jacam Manricks.
The film stars Dianna Agron (Glee, I Am Number Four, The Family) in the lead, alongside Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight, Under the Dome, White House Down), Shawn Ashmore (X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Barrens, The Following), Jared Abrahamson (Be Afraid, Hello Destroyer, Finding a Family), and Sarah Dugdale (The Hollow, Sugar Babies, Sorority Murder).
Release and Distribution
Vertical moved quickly after the Cannes announcement. Hollow in the Land received a limited U.S. theatrical release on December 8, 2017, paired with day-and-date video-on-demand availability. Canadian theaters opened the film January 26, 2018. The 92-minute thriller had already screened at the Seattle International Film Festival in June 2017, giving buyers an early look at the rustic-noir tone. Today the picture sits on free ad-supported streamers including The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, and Tubi, alongside paid rental options on Amazon Video and Apple TV. The shift from festival buzz to steady catalog rotation shows how Vertical’s acquisition translated into long-tail access for viewers who missed the brief theatrical window.
Reception and Legacy
Critical response landed in mixed territory. Review aggregators recorded modest scores that praised the atmospheric mountain-town setting while noting familiar genre beats. Some critics called the pacing deliberate, others found the central mystery serviceable without breaking new ground. Audience chatter online often circled back to the small-town secrets angle and the performances of Agron and Lefevre, with viewers appreciating the grounded Canadian locations. The film never generated awards-season heat, yet it quietly found a niche among fans of economical thrillers that trade jump scares for creeping dread. Its legacy rests more on availability than on critical reappraisal, a pattern common for mid-budget genre titles that bypass the multiplex circuit.
Director’s Subsequent Work
Hollow in the Land remains Scooter Corkle’s sole feature directorial credit to date. After the 2017 release, Corkle returned to short-form and commercial projects, keeping a lower profile on the festival circuit. The experience of shepherding an indie thriller through Cannes, Seattle, and limited release gave him practical insight into the distribution pipeline, even if follow-up features have not materialized on the same scale. For many emerging directors, that first credit becomes the calling card that opens doors elsewhere in the industry, whether in episodic television, branded content, or development roles at production companies. Corkle’s trajectory illustrates how a single well-placed acquisition can serve as both endpoint and stepping stone.
Years after the Cannes announcement, the picture’s path from pre-sale to catalog staple offers a clear snapshot of how indie thrillers move through the marketplace. The cast’s recognizable names, the Telefilm-backed financing, and Vertical’s targeted release strategy combined to deliver a tidy package that still surfaces for late-night streaming. For viewers chasing small-town murder mysteries without franchise baggage, Hollow in the Land continues to occupy a modest but steady corner of the genre landscape.
