Guns, Teenagers and Social Media. What could go wrong?

News just broke that film distributor NEON, along with partners AGBO, have shelled out a hefty $10 million for worldwide rights to ASSASSINATION NATION, a new film written and directed by Sam Levinson. For some genre perspective, NEON is the same group behind BAD BATCH and 2017’s Anne Hathaway-starring, COLOSSAL.

What caught my eye about ASSASSINATION NATION is its What-if story of misogyny meets unbridled female rage. It’s a caustic mix, especially in an America where the manic pursuit of Likes and Follows meets an internet where actions and repercussions rarely meet.

I’ve always felt cinema is largely influenced by the times it lives in and this tale seems timely for a nation still reeling from monsters like Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and the thousands of other creeps who reveled in an atmosphere of harassment long overdue for interrogation–and judgement. In the same way GET OUT responded to racial tensions, could ASSASSINATION NATION be Horror’s #MeToo movement? We’ll see.

As for its Director, Levinson has been acting, directing and writing for a while now, recently penning HBO’s WIZARD OF LIES. ASSASSINATION NATION will star Odessa Young, Suki Waterhouse, Hari Nef and IT‘s Bill Skarsgard.

More updates to come, but for now press play on the teaser below.

High school senior Lily and her crew of besties live in a haze of texts, posts, selfies, and chats—just like the rest of us. So when a provocateur starts posting details from the private digital lives of everyone in their small town of Salem, the result is a Category 5 shit-storm. We’re talking browser histories, direct messages, illegal downloads, secret text chains, and way, way, way worse. People get angry. Like, “rampaging murder posse” angry. And Lily finds herself right in the middle.