For forty years, the movie that has come to mind whenever the title Night Patrol came up was a goofball comedy starring the Unknown Comic Murray Langston and Linda Blair – but now director Ryan Prows has set out to give us another Night Patrol to think about. This one is a horror film with a cast that includes Jermaine Fowler (The Blackening), Justin Long (Tusk), wrestler CM Punk (Girl on the Third Floor), Dermot Mulroney (Young Guns), RJ Cyler (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), Freddie Gibbs (Down With The King), YG (White Boy Rick), Flying Lotus (Ash), Jon Oswald (Lowlife), and Nicki Micheaux (Lowlife). Filming took place in Los Angeles and wrapped late last year. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that RLJE Films and Shudder have acquired the distribution rights to the film and plan to give it a theatrical release sometime in 2026. Then it will make its way to the Shudder streaming service.
This Night Patrol follows an LAPD officer (Fowler) who must put aside his differences with the area’s street gangs when he discovers a local police task force is harboring a horrific secret that endangers the residents of the housing projects he grew up in. Long plays the officer’s partner, recruited as a legacy into night patrol. Cyler stars as the officer’s brother, who sees what he isn’t supposed to see, while Mulroney plays Long’s character’s father, a sergeant with many secrets. Punk rounds out the cast as the sergeant’s brutal right-hand man.
Prows wrote the script with Shaye Ogbonna (Fight Night), Tim Cairo (Off Ramp), and Jake Gibson (He Bled Neon). This quartet previously collaborated on the screenplay for Prows’ feature directorial debut, the quirky crime thriller Lowlife. The director provided the following statement when the project was first announced: “Audiences are not ready for how hard this movie goes. To shoot this script, with this cast, on location in Los Angeles, after such a long path to get here is nothing short of a dream.“
RJLE chief acquisitions officer Mark Ward had this to say about the distribution deal: “Night Patrol is an audacious, high-stakes horror-thriller with a powerhouse ensemble cast and heart-pounding tension. Blending community grit, suspense and unflinching intensity led by Ryan Prows, this acquisition marks a dream-realized moment for us going into its world premiere.” Prows added, “I am thrilled that we’re partnering with RLJE and Shudder to bring Night Patrol to theaters. It’s been a long road to get here, and we couldn’t have asked for a better team to help push this fun, rollercoaster of a film out into the world. I’m beyond excited we get to blast our wild film far and wide to a hungry, unsuspecting audience.“
David S. Goyer and Keith Levine are producing Night Patrol through their company Phantom Four. Josh Goldbloom is also producing, as are James Harris and Mark Lane of Tea Shop Films. XYZ Films is executive producing and handling world sales, while Bondit Media Capital provided the financing. Executive producing for Bondit are Matthew Helderman, Luke Taylor, and Grady Craig.
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