Vision Films revealed “The Evil Within” (aka “The Storyteller”) at the American Film Market (AFM). “The Evil Within” is the first and only film written and directed by the late Andrew Getty, grandson of the oil tycoon J. Paul Getty.
Andrew Getty was a horror film fanatic, “The Evil Within” being his passion project that took over a decade to complete. Getty and his FX team created their own complex special effects and animatronics, and shot much of the principal photography in his home.
“The Evil Within” stars Frederick Koehler (“Death Race”), Sean Patrick Flanery (“Saw 3D: The Final Chapter”), Dina Meyer (“Starship Troopers, “Saw”), Michael Berryman (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “The Hills Have Eyes”) and Kim Darby (“True Grit”). It was produced with Robert Hickey, Kent Van Vleet and Michael Luceri.
Dennis Peterson (Koehler) is a mentally challenged teen who lives with his older brother John (Flanery). While John struggles between caring for Dennis and maintaining a relationship with his increasingly impatient girlfriend Lydia (Meyer), Dennis finds a friend in his own reflection in an antique mirror. But in reality, the reflection is soon revealed to be an Evil Entity (Berryman) who is more charming, smarter and stronger than Dennis, and instructs him to do horrific things in order to ‘fix’ his brain. Tortured and confused, Dennis embarks on a murderous rampage, collecting the bodies in his basement. A police investigation, helmed by a determined social worker (Darby), targets the Peterson’s in an attempt to uncover the truth behind the murders. With the walls rapidly closing in, Dennis makes his final play…with dire results.
Producer Michael Luceri tells us, “After Andrew died, I made it my mission to see that his film was completed. I have been on this project from the beginning. Andrew was such a perfectionist, each and every shot had to be perfect before he would move on. When he was young, Andrew told me that he would have these really powerful, twisted dreams, so scary that he didn’t want to believe they came from inside him, so he had this idea that it was this ’storyteller’ who created the dreams, and that became the genesis of the film’s story.”
Vision Films’ Managing Director/ CEO, Lise Romanoff, states, “This film is downright mesmerizing and creepy. It is such a shame that the Getty family, while blessed with such great wealth, has suffered so much tragedy. I hope we make Andrew and his family proud by releasing this incredible work of art.“
