AFM: Dark Star Unveils Sasquatch Horror ‘Summoning the Spirit’ (Exclusive)

Bigfoot is coming to the AFM. LA distributor Dark Star Pictures and Lake Productions have now wrapped principal photography on Summoning the Spirit, the newly-announced Portland-based “Sasquatch Horror,” which is set to make is debut in the American Film Market with Silk Road Entertainment. 

Written and directed by Jon Garcia, who previously teamed with Dark Star on LGBTQ prison drama Luz and Covid-shot romance Love in a Dangerous Time, Summoning the Spirit follows a couple (played by Krystal Millie Valdes and Ernesto Reyes) who move to a home in the remote forest to escape the bustle of the city. Although they have big plans for their new quiet life, they find something much more sinister and soon realize that they are on land occupied by a cult, and the leader claims a telepathic connection to a legendary flesh-eating beast deep in the woods surrounding them. Jesse Tayeh and Isabelle Muthiah also star.

Dark Star president Michael Repsch and Garcia serve as producers on the film alongside Joe Jatcko, Lacy Todd and executive producers Carla Berkowitz (Critical Thinking), six-time Tony Award winner Jim Kierstead, three-time Emmy nominee William Fernandez and Michael Rubin. 

“It is such a joy to be working again with Jon Garcia on his foray into genre filmmaking, after reading the script we knew this was a project we could really get on board with,” said Repsch. “This is more than your typical creature feature — it explores the depths of the human psyche, thirst for power and desire to control…all alongside some incredible practical effects and a creature audiences will not soon forget.” 

The collaboration between Lake Productions and Dark Star Pictures on the film’s production is the first of a slate of projects between the two companies.

This story first appeared in The Hollywood Reporter’s Nov. 3 daily issue at the American Film Market.