So Cold the River: Saban Films to release Michael Koryta supernatural thriller

Five months ago, we shared the news that writer/director Paul Shoulberg’s supernatural thriller So Cold the River was looking for a distributor. Variety has a good update on that search: Saban Films has acquired both the North American and South African distribution rights to the film, and they’ll also be distributing it in Australia and New Zealand through their partnership with Defiant Screen Entertainment. They haven’t announced their release strategy yet, but we’ll let you know when we hear anything about the release of So Cold the River.

The film is based on a novel by Michael Koryta (buy a copy HERE), who also wrote the book that inspired the Angelina Jolie thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead. Bethany Joy Lenz (Dexter) stars in this one as Erica Shaw,

an ex-documentary filmmaker, Erica Shaw, who is hired to make a documentary about a dying multi-millionaire, Campbell Bradford. However, Campbell’s past is shrouded in mystery, leading Shaw to make shocking discoveries when her hunt for the truth leads her to his childhood hometown.

Koryta’s novel has the following description: 

It started with a beautiful woman and a challenge. As a gift for her husband, Alyssa Bradford approaches Eric Shaw to make a documentary about her father-in-law, Campbell Bradford, a 95-year-old billionaire whose past is wrapped in mystery. Eric grabs the job even though there are few clues to the man’s past — just the name of his hometown and an antique water bottle he’s kept his entire life.

In Bradford’s hometown, Eric discovers an extraordinary history — a glorious domed hotel where movie stars, presidents, athletes, and mobsters once mingled, and hot springs whose miraculous mineral water cured everything from insomnia to malaria. Neglected for years, the resort has been restored to its former grandeur just in time for Eric’s stay.

Just hours after his arrival, Eric experiences a frighteningly vivid vision. As the days pass, the frequency and intensity of his hallucinations increase and draw Eric deeper into the town’s dark history. He discovers that something besides the hotel has been restored — a long-forgotten evil that will stop at nothing to regain its lost glory. Brilliantly imagined and terrifyingly real, So Cold the River is a tale of irresistible suspense with a racing, unstoppable current.

Lenz is joined in the cast of So Cold the River by Katie Sarife (Annabelle Comes Home), Andrew J. West (Once Upon a Time), and Alysia Reiner (The Dream House).

A collaboration between 1804 Productions and Pigasus Pictures, So Cold the River was produced by Claire Tuft, Zachary Spicer, and John Armstrong. Koryta and Lenz serve as executive producers alongside Pete Yonkman and Carl Cook.