SXSW: 'Cheap Thrills' Sells to Drafthouse Films

Drafthouse Films, the Austin-based film distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, has closed a deal with Cheap Thrills, a Midnighter selection at this year's South by Southwest Film Festival.

The terms include a minimal theatrical commitment, as well as VOD and home entertainment. The deal covers North America and 20 territories.

"They will kill it and we couldn't be happier to have it released by our friends," Travis Stevens -- who produced the film along with Gabriel Cowan and John Suits from New Artist Alliance -- tells The Hollywood Reporter. 

From first-time director E.L. Katz, Cheap Thrills stars Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, Sara Paxton, David Koechner and Amanda Fuller.

The story follows a recently fired man who agrees to take on a series of increasingly insane challenges in exchange for cash payments from a rich couple with a twisted sense of humor.

"Drafthouse is a company built in quality, entertaining, effed-up films. And that's what we set out to make," Stevens says.

The film premiered at a Saturday midnight showing. It screens again at SXSW on Sunday, March 10, and Tuesday, March 12.