Anchor Bay Preemptively Picks Up 'Aggression Scale' (Exclusive)

Anchor Bay has preemptively picked up the rights to The Aggression Scale, an action movie that will have its world premiere at next month’s SXSW Film Festival.

The movie, which will screen as part of the festival’s Midnighter program, is described as being in the spirit of the 1980s canon and in the vein of A History of Violence but with the teens as the heroes, taking on four hitmen over $500,000 in stolen cash.

It was directed and edited by Steven C. Miller and written by Ben Powell. The movie hails from Snowfort Pictures and Film Harvest.

Among the cast are Fabianne Therese (John Dies at the End, which will also play as part of the Midnighters program), Ryan Hartwig (The Thompsons), Dana Ashbrook (Twin Peaks), Derek Mears (the recent Friday the 13th reboot), Jacob Reynolds (Gummo), Joseph McKelheer (The Hamiltons) and Ray Wise (Twin Peaks). 

“Anchor Bay Films had the opportunity to get in on the ground floor with this film and we are thrilled at the results!" said Kevin Kasha, Anchor Bay’s exec vp, acquisitions and co-productions .

“Having a supportive partner like Anchor Bay Films on board is like having Quint on a shark hunt,” said Snowfort’s Travis Stevens, who worked with the company on the release of A Horrible Way to Die, on which he was a producer.

Release details were not disclosed. The deal was made with the input of sales company Epic Pictures Group's Patrick Ewald.