‘River’: New Looks at Jane Levy and Jessica Rothe In TIFF Slasher

Shudder and Independent Film Company are taking a trip down River, the feature directorial debut of Joshua Giuliano, sharing new images ahead of its upcoming World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Jane Levy (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) and Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day) star as estranged sisters who reunite with their younger brother, played by Max Mattern, to scatter their father’s ashes along a remote river.

When their boat breaks down beneath a derelict bridge, they become stranded with Dane DiLiegro (Prey) watching them from the shoreline as a mysterious, faceless killer.

“I wanted to make the kind of slasher film that I wanted to see,” Giuliano tells Variety. “Something that was stripped down to its core elements. For me, slasher films at their very essence are simple and primal. It’s about a cast of human characters being hunted down by a killer. It’s about the relentlessness of death, the pursuit of death, sometimes the inevitability of death. Even if they’re sequels, the killer dies and they always come back because death never stops. To me, that’s a terrifying concept.”

River will make its world premiere as the Opening Night film of TIFF’s Midnight Madness program before heading to Austin for its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest, which runs September 17-24.