Alex Ullom is wasting no time. Ahead of this weekend’s release of his debut feature, the Neon horror thriller It Ends, the filmmaker has locked the lead cast for his second film at the studio, 4 X 4: The Event, a genre-bending horror thriller that already has the internet buzzing.
Quintessa Swindell (Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma) and Jaden Smith (The Karate Kid) are among an ensemble of eight that also includes Sophia Lillis (It), Dylan Minnette (13 Reasons Why), Marcel Ruiz (One Day at a Time), Maddie Phillips (Gen V), Mitchell Cole (It Ends) and Jacob Tremblay (Room). Character details are being kept under wraps.
The film, which recently wrapped principal photography, follows eight contestants who enter an illegal sensory-assault livestream where they must kill or be killed using only what they can order online.
Spooky Pictures and Image Nation Studios produced under their multi-title partnership, alongside Divide/Conquer and Phobos, with Neon holding worldwide rights. Producers include Roy Lee and Steven Schneider for Spooky Pictures, Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath for Divide/Conquer, Chris Ferguson and Osgood Perkins for Phobos, Haley Johnson for Under the Shell and Evan Barber for Barbershop. Executive producers include Ben Ross for Image Nation Studios, Jakob Pollack, Rami Yasin and Simmy Wolf for Spooky Pictures, and Jesse Savath and Marlaina Mah for Phobos Pictures. The deal was negotiated by Kate Gondwe for Neon with UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers.
The announcement comes as Ullom’s debut It Ends opens in theaters this Friday. The film, which won Best First Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival after premiering at SXSW, follows four recent college graduates on a late-night food run that turns into a nightmare when they accidentally turn onto a never-ending two-lane hellscape surrounded by untold horrors and cosmic forces beyond their understanding. Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth and Mitchell Cole star.
Ullom is represented by UTA, Entertainment 360 and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.