Los Angeles… Award-winning indie sensation “The Scarapist” went viral during its second run on Amazon Prime. The taut true crime suspense thriller from Seasons & a Muse has signed with InFuse Releasing, a Los Angeles-based distributor, joining the ranks of iconic movies like ‘Wings” from Hollywood rebel William Wellman and the 1937 “A Star is Born,” as well as 1950s cult horror classics like “The Wasp Woman” and “It Came From Outer Space.”
“The Scarapist” was penned by multi-award-winning writer, director, and actress Jeanne Marie Spicuzza (“Night Rain”). The chilling psychological thriller is based on the horrifying true story of an abusive hypnotherapist located in Los Angeles, a case that was litigated in 2017. Helping bring the story to life are actors Katy Colloton (TV Land’s “Teachers”), R. Michael Gull (“Cactus Jack”), and Kyle Walsh (“The Dark Knight”). Synthian Sharp (Jorja Fox’s “How I Became an Elephant”) co-directs.
Lana (Spicuzza), a novelist struggling with career and family problems, is seduced into “treatment” by a disturbed and possessed therapist named Ilse (Colloton). Her “patients,” like Sweenie (Gull), assist in terrorizing Lana, Lana’s daughter and husband (Walsh).
Dubbed “The New Noir” by publicist Jermey Walker (“The Blair Witch Project”), “The Scarapist” ushered in a new era of female-driven, multi-genre psychological movies and television series like “Greta,” “Homecoming,” and more. A suburban setting provides the backdrop. The cinematography and autumnal Midwestern landscape offer panoramic beauty and unease.
“The Scarapist” made its world premiere at the LA Femme International Film Festival, and garnered awards like the Verein Deutscher Und Filmemacher Award for Best Film at Berlinale. It enjoyed a limited theatrical release at Landmark Theatres before its streaming debut in 2016.
Called “[O]ringial, disturbing” by film critic and historian David Luhrssen, “The Scarapist” is the first motion picture executed by the PTSD survivor of the abusive experience. It exposes the dark side of hypnosis with a demented therapist who prefers controlling to curing, where her own issues turn her into a new kind of villain—one who perverts the tenets of the New Age pseudo-spirituality she preaches. “The Scarapist” is also the first film to use a gun of its opposite purpose as a tool for forgiveness instead of violence.
Spicuzza is currently touring her latest one-woman show, “Textative,” and prepping features “Making Angels” and “Breath of God.”
Seasons & a Muse is a woman-owned entertainment conglomerate comprised of Seasons & a Muse, Inc., Seasons and a Muse Productions, LLC and Seasons & a Muse Studios.
InFuse Releasing is a distributor located in Los Angeles, California, that specialized in curated studio and independent films.
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