It's time to face what you most fear. Right Guard will not help you here. More than two years after its original announcement,** Quarantine** and Devil directors John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle are finally getting to work on **The Coup, courtesy of some renewed interest from Lionsgate.
Described by the brothers as an "action horror", the film involves an American family (mom, dad, two small daughters) travelling in Cambodia at precisely the moment that the government is overthrown and foreigners start getting executed. "It's about what these parents will do to save their kids," explained John at 2008's Comic Con. "It's not a zombie movie, but it has that vibe. It's like a real-world zombie movie. If anybody sees them, the family's dead. They have to hide in crowds... It's pretty horrific."
It doesn't seem to be historically inspired: we're not hearing, for example, that this is rooted in the 1997 coup, or a '70s period piece set during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. Safely distanced from unpleasant reality then, but we wonder whether the delay in getting The Coup up and running is to do with twitchy financiers fearing a finished product that's potentially politically insensitive and racist. Will it present Cambodia as a horror theme-park, like Hostel's Eastern Europe?
Time will tell whether Lionsgate have stipulated any changes, or indeed whether the above speculation is unfair to begin with. The Dowdles' [Rec] remake and Night Chronicle Devil have at least proved they can find their way around a tense situation. They've been to school for a year or two,and they know they've seen it all. No official start date yet, but The Coup is apparently on a fast track. More news as it arrives.