#FLOAT: XYZ Films acquires slasher directed by Black Christmas producer

After spending two years as the Senior Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs at Blumhouse Productions and producing such films as Country Gold, Vengeance, The Voyeurs, and the poorly received 2019 version of Black Christmas, Zac Locke has now made his feature writing and directing debut with the supernatural slasher #FLOAT, and Deadline reports that XYZ Films has acquired the North American distribution rights to the film. They’re planning to release it on December 8th.

#FLOAT follows the young, beautiful, and full-of-life vlogger Kali and her pals, who are heading to the river for their annual lazy river float, the first one since their friend Chuy overdosed and drowned a year earlier. But their partying suddenly takes a dark turn when a mysterious force plunges them into a life-and-death struggle, forcing them to face their own fears as they turn on each other – and proceed to die one by one.

The film stars Scarlett Sperduto (Those Who Walk Away), Kaya Coleman (Dangerous Game: The Legacy Murders), Grant Morningstar (Meathook), and Christina Nguyen (Lion), with newcomer Kate Mayhew as Kali.

Locke produced #FLOAT with Mikey Bill Taylor, Jensine Carr, Rebecca Rufer, and Justin Anderson. Matt Wise and Robert Rippberger serve as executive producers.

XYZ Films’ James Emanuel Shapiro had this to say about the distribution deal: “Very few people know the horror genre and what makes horror work more than Zac Locke does; so when he told me he was directing his first film, I had to work on it. I was thrilled in that the film came out as good as I expected it to and I can’t wait for #FLOAT to be celebrated as one of the best horror debuts of 2022.“

Locke provided the following statement: “This film was so much fun to make, and I think it’ll be just as fun for audiences to watch. I’ve worked with both James and XYZ Films in many capacities over the years and I’m thrilled to have the perfect distribution partner to unleash this project onto the world.“

I’m a fan of slasher movies (and of the Creepshow 2 segment The Raft, which the title and setting of this movie brought to mind for me), so I’m looking forward to seeing how #FLOAT has turned out. Does #FLOAT sound interesting to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Here’s an image from the film: