Writer/producer/director Daniel John Kearney gave Fango the first look at the trailer for his upcoming feature, The Malakai, in which he also stars. Shot in the wilds of Kentucky, with Kelly Marks, Black Ave Films, and Stag Mountain Films also part of the producing team, it also stars Terry Kiser and Catherine Mary Stewart (together again 37 years after Weekend at Bernie’s), Hannah Fierman (V/H/S), Andrew Hubatsek (Pet Sematary), Lucas Dunaway, and Jason Crowe, with creature and makeup effects by Kevon Ward.
Check out the plot synopsis below, and see if The Malakai sounds like the type of independent horror movie to keep on your radar.
“The story follows a couple whose relationship has been reduced to wreckage. Their lives are further clouded by alcoholism as they return to a rural Kentucky town to finalize the sale of a rental property. Simple enough—except nothing about this town is simple. As the couple begins peeling away the layers surrounding the property and its history, they inadvertently awaken a horrific local legend—one that has apparently been waiting for the right moment to make itself known. What follows is a descent into increasingly bizarre and disturbing territory. A place where time seems to have stopped. Where everybody appears to know something nobody wants to say. Where old secrets hang in the air. And where the question isn’t simply what is coming for them, but whether the people around them are any safer than the thing lurking in the darkness.”
Kearney, who based The Malakai on a recurring nightmare he has experienced for 30 years, promises that the movie will be “one hell of a fun ride. Insanely scary, but for the viewer, rich with subtext. You don’t know by the end who to hate, who to love, who to fear—or who to blame. It’s a nonstop ride—fast-paced—but beneath the creature effects and scares is a story about fractured relationships, alcoholism, buried truths, social dynamics, and the way fear can expose what people would rather keep hidden.”
The Malakai is currently in post-production, with completion targeted for April 2027, but you can check out the trailer exclusively here at FANGORIA.
