After signing on to direct a new Grady Hendrix adaptation, director Ben Leonberg has something else up his sleeve. Deadline reports that the Good Boy director has teamed up with the production company behind Smile for Follow Mode, a unique new film told entirely via drone footage.
Directed by Leonberg from a script he co-writes with Alex Cannon, Follow Mode will once again pair the director with Temple Hill, who backed Good Boy. Per Deadline, the synopsis is as follows:
Consumer-grade drones now come with a “hands-free” setting that automatically directs the camera to follow you – in case you’re a surfer taking your next wave, a snowboarder back-flipping off a half-pipe, or a serial killer stalking your next victim. When a group of teens knock this drone out of the sky, they discover that it contains home movies of the killer’s brutal crimes. Now, they must race to expose the killer before becoming his next victims.
“The rise of hands-free drone technology has introduced a chilling new vulnerability to everyday life—anyone with a drone can become a peeping tom, a stalker, or worse,” says Leonberg. “That anxiety drives Follow Mode. We’re so thrilled to be partnered with Temple Hill, whose track record in the genre makes them a perfect fit for this unsettling new take on found footage.”
Follow Mode is produced by Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, John Fischer, Hal Sadoff, and Ben Levine for Temple Hill, with Protagonist Pictures’ Dave Bishop, James Pugh, and George Hamilton as executive producers. Sales for the film will launch at this year’s Cannes market.
“Temple Hill once again proves its instinct for fresh, audience-grabbing horror,” says Protagonist’s Dave Bishop. “Follow Mode is the kind of bold, high-concept horror that stops you in your tracks – propulsive, original and viscerally thrilling from its first frame to its last. In Good Boy, Ben proved he is a filmmaker both comfortable pushing boundaries and mastering tension. Shot entirely with drones, delivering a strikingly cinematic experience, Follow Mode offers a new perspective on terror audiences have simply never seen before. Ben has crafted a rare, diabolical treat that feels both groundbreaking and deeply unsettling.”
No release date has been set for Follow Mode. Stay tuned to FANGORIA for more updates.
