It’s not that uncommon for a director or writer to also star in the movie they director or wrote. What’s less common, by far, is when writer-director also plays the horrifying monster in their movie — but that’s the case with Death Valley, Matthew Ninaber’s new sci-fi horror movie coming to Shudder next month. The trailer is here and it’s full of hat-tips to Alien, but also plenty of its own gory goodness.
Ninaber, whose acting credits include Psycho Goreman (in which he played the title character — who also happens to be a horrifying monster), directs a cast that also includes his brother, Jeremy Ninaber, along with Ethan Mitchell and Kristen Kaster.
Here’s the synopsis shared by Shudder: “When a secret experiment goes horribly wrong, bioengineer Dr. Chloe (Kaster) becomes trapped inside a secret underground facility. With only 24 hours before a fatal decontamination protocol destroys the entire lab, Chloe deploys an emergency distress signal before a terrifying creature (Matthew Ninaber) of unknown origin can consume what’s left of her. Alerted by the distress beacon, battle-weary guns for hire Marshall (Mitchell) and Beckett (Jeremy Ninaber) are commissioned to carry out a covert operation to extract the imprisoned scientist. Upon deployment, the team is ambushed by another heavily armed militia hell-bent on finding a way into the compound themselves.
Severely outnumbered, the mercenaries find entry to the bunker through an unsealed emergency hatch only to find themselves in a horrific fight for survival. With time and ammunition running out, the team must locate Dr. Chloe while also navigating the underground maze of corridors before they’re hunted down one by one.”
So… basically Alien mashed up with Aliens but taking place in a secret underground lab — and with a competing military outfit to bring even more chaos to all that running-around-and-hiding-from-a-monster business. Definitely promising! Death Valley arrives on Shudder December 9.