{"id":381913,"date":"2026-04-16T04:37:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T04:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/381913\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T04:37:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T04:37:22","slug":"searchlight-buys-horror-movie-monitor-after-buzzy-sxsw-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/381913\/","title":{"rendered":"Searchlight Buys Horror Movie ‘Monitor’ After Buzzy SXSW Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSearclight Pictures landed U.S. rights to \u201cMonitor,\u201d from filmmakers Matt Black and Ryan Polly, following the horror movie\u2019s buzzy SXSW<\/a> debut. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe premise of the movie hinges on this question: \u201cWhat if the worst thing on the internet wasn\u2019t meant to be seen?\u201d The story follows as a demonic entity that stalks social media content moderators after they block a disturbing video that pops up online. Despite their efforts, a synopsis teases, \u201csomething begins to spread \u2014 moving from screen to screen and targeting anyone who watches. No escape. No warning. Once you\u2019ve seen it\u2026 it\u2019s already too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMonitor\u201d stars Brittany O\u2019Grady (\u201cThe White Lotus,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s What\u2019s Inside\u201d), Taz Skylar (\u201cOne Piece\u201d), Viveik Karla (\u201cBlinded by the Light,\u201d \u201cVoyagers\u201d), Ines H\u00f8ys\u00e6ter Asserson (\u201cHarajuku)\u201d, Gunner Willis (\u201cThe Bondsman\u201d), Sara Alexander (\u201cCall the Midwife\u201d) and Camila Bejarano Wahlgren (\u201cThe Sandhamn Murders\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe feature film, produced by Nostromo Pictures and Temple Hill, creators of the \u201cSmile\u201d franchise, made its world premiere last month in the Midnighter section at SXSW.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMatt and Ryan have crafted a visceral, modern thriller that taps directly into our collective fear of what may lurk just out of view, at the edges of our screens \u2014 delivering a truly wild ride. We can\u2019t wait to bring it to audiences,\u201d said Searchlight Pictures<\/a> president Matthew Greenfield in a statement announcing the acquisition. Searchlight will also distribute in the U.K. and Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film will be released in 2027; details of the rollout will be announced at a later date.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen we made the original \u2018Monitor\u2019 short film eight years ago, we never imagined it would one day find a home at Searchlight Pictures,\u201d added Black and Polly. \u201cWe\u2019re beyond thrilled to be partnering with them to bring this monster to theaters, where it truly belongs on the BIG SCREEN.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe duo continued: \u201c\u2018Monitor\u2019 was always meant to be experienced with a room full of people being terrified together. We\u2019re incredibly grateful to our entire cast and crew and our partners at Temple Hill and Nostromo Pictures, who championed this project from the beginning and helped make this moment possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tProducers are Temple Hill co-founders Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, Isaac Klausner and John Fischer with Nostromo Pictures\u2019 Adrian Guerra. Executive producers include Nostromo\u2019s Nuria Valls, alongside Hal Sadoff, Ben Levine, Dave Bishop and George Hamilton.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2019Monitor\u2019 is the kind of horror experience that burrows under your skin \u2014 elevated, insightful, and above all, terrifying,\u201d the producers added. \u201cWe\u2019re proud to be partnering with Searchlight to bring Matt and Ryan\u2019s bold, original directorial vision to the big screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tChan Phung, head of acquisitions, and Ben Wilkinson, VP of business affairs, negotiated the deal on behalf of Searchlight with Temple Hill Entertainment and UTA Independent Film Group. Protagonist Pictures handled international sales.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMonitor\u201d is one among a crop of films to take on the \u201chorrors of content moderation,\u201d<\/a> notes Variety\u2019s William Earl. Just this spring, three films debuted that center on online moderators. In addition to \u201cMontior,\u201d the comedic anthology \u201cGrind,\u201d from Ed Dougherty and Brea Grant, includes a key segment in which a moderator\u2019s purgatorial existence drives him mad, while Daniel Goldhaber\u2019s \u201cFaces of Death,\u201d starring Barbie Ferrera, features a meta-narrative also set in the world of content moderation \u2014 a job Goldhaber once held for a summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Searclight Pictures landed U.S. rights to \u201cMonitor,\u201d from filmmakers Matt Black and Ryan Polly, following the horror movie\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69,13530,82567],"class_list":{"0":"post-381913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-searchlight-pictures","14":"tag-sxsw"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}