THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
FANGORIA has your first look at the trailer and poster for The Devil You Know, the latest from independent director Shawn Burkett, whose credits include the award-winning Bigfoot movie Stranded and the slasher-homage Don’t F*** in the Woods franchise. The film promises to combine the isolated-home-invasion thrills of movies like The Strangers and You’re Next with the terror of a cult engaging in supernatural practices.
Scripted by Burkett and Cheyenne Gordon and produced by Ohio-based Concept Media Films, The Devil You Know stars Jason Crowe, Kenzie Phillips, Dale Miller, Joey Mann and Daniel John Kearney, and will have its world premiere at HorrorHound Weekend in Cincinnati (September 11-13).
The synopsis: “A couple, Andrew [Crowe] and Victoria [Phillips], looking for a getaway, rent a secluded cabin in the woods. What begins as a romantic retreat quickly turns into a nightmare when they realize that they are being hunted by a group of mysterious, masked figures. They must fight for survival in a house that holds a dark, cult-driven history.”
“The Devil You Know ties into one of my short films from 2015, The Lamb,” Burkett explains. In that short, a young woman named Sara wakes up in the woods covered with strange blood symbols. She winds up interrogated by a police detective about the murder of her roommate, and tells of being kidnapped by a cult. That group, the followers of an occultist named Jacob Allen Shepherd who killed his family and himself in the ’80s, are known as “The Flock”—and they’re now back on the anniversary of that murder/suicide to continue his work.
“I’ve been living in this world for the past 10 years, and I’m beyond excited to finally be able to show people what’s been hiding in my head,” Burkett says. “This film was a massive undertaking, but with the right cast and crew, anything can be done—no matter the budget.”
That budget was just $14,000, and Burkett says, “You can see where every penny went. It was one of the best times of my life.”
The Devil You Know was crowdfunded last year, with the filmmakers describing their goals for it: “This story unfolds in a single, confined location, allowing us to intensify the atmosphere. By carefully controlling the lighting and setting, we can craft a deeply immersive environment that keeps the audience on edge, heightening the suspense with each passing moment.”
“Shawn was already a great filmmaker when I met him over a decade ago,” says Burkett’s frequent collaborator Chris Gierowski, executive producer on The Devil You Know along with Charles Clendenin and P.J. Starks (New Fears Eve). “He continues to make great strides in his craft and big waves in the indie horror-movie world. This project has Shawn’s heart and soul, and it’s going to be a real banger!”
