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Stars: Aston McAuley, Sophie Simnett, Jason Flemyng, Johanna Harlin, Raza Jaffrey, Shervin Alenabi | Written by Ben Sztajnkrycer | Directed by Renny Harlin

Renny Harlin’s career has come full circle, from low-budget horror and action films like Born American and Prison through blockbusters such as Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger before reverting back to budget-minded films like The Bricklayer and this film, Refuge. This time around, he’s bringing the horrors of war back home as a soldier’s encounter with the unexplained threatens the lives of everyone around him.

Sergeant Rick Pedroni is serving somewhere in Afghanistan when his unit takes a group of Taliban prisoner. Questioned about a nearby cave, they say there’s no more of them in there, in fact, none of them would go in there. Rick volunteers to check it out.

This sets off a long flashback to he and Kate’s wedding day. By...

Director Renny Harlin recently shot an entire trilogy of Strangers movies simultaneously, with The Strangers: Chapter 1 set to reach theatres on May 17th and The Strangers: Chapter 2 and The Strangers: Chapter 3 possibly following by the end of the year… but those aren’t the only Renny Harlin horror movies we’ll be seeing this year. In fact, Vertical will be giving a Harlin-helmed horror movie called Refuge a VOD release this Friday, April 19th – and the trailer for the film can be seen in the embed above!

Scripted by Ben Sztajnkrycer, Refuge has the following synopsis: After a mysterious attack from a malevolent demon during his tour of duty in Afghanistan, Sergeant Rick Pedroni returns home a changed man, and more dangerous than ever.

The film stars Sophie Simnett (Daybreak), Raza Jaffrey (The Rhythm Section), Aston McAuley (Rocketman), Johanna Harlin (Class Reunion 3), Shervin Alenabi (Gangs of London), Atanas Srebrev...

Filmmaker Renny Harlin has spent much of his career playing around in the horror genre, directing Prison, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Deep Blue Sea, The Exorcist: The Beginning, and Devil’s Pass, and he’s making his return to horror in a big way with upcoming movies including Deep Water and Lionsgate’s The Strangers reboot trilogy.

And then there’s Refuge, another brand new Renny Harlin movie that is actually releasing this week! From Vertical, Refuge will be released onto VOD outlets on Friday, April 19.

You can watch the official trailer for Refuge down below. Read on for more…

“In this horror-thriller, a U.S. military veteran — Sergeant Rick Pedroni — returns home changed and dangerous after a tour of duty in Afghanistan where he suffered an attack by a mysterious force. While officials dismiss his behavior as Ptsd, and order trauma therapy, Rick’s wife...

Exclusive: Madelaine Petsch (Riverdale), Froy Gutierrez (Cruel Summer) and Gabriel Basso (Hillbilly Elegy) have been tapped to star in a Lionsgate remake of the 2008 horror The Strangers, which has entered production in Slovakia. Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger) is directing the film, which will be the first in a trilogy, having locked in a deal to helm the subsequent pair.

The original film The Strangers was a home invasion pic, which Bryan Bertino wrote and directed in his feature debut, with Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman starring. It registered as a sleeper hit upon its May 2008 release via Universal Pictures and came to be appreciated in the years following as a cult classic, with the sequel The Strangers: Prey at Night being released in March of 2018.

The new Strangers film will follow Petsch’s character as she drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend (Gutierrez) to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest.

2021 was another annus horribilis for cinemagoing in the Nordics, due to on-going and strict Covid restrictions that halved admissions compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Released late September/early October when cinemas for once ran at full capacity, “No Time to Die” literally saved the film year, and even ranked No. 1 among all James Bond movies ever released in Denmark.

Aside from Sweden, strong homegrown offers such as “Checkered Ninja 2” in Denmark, “Class Reunion 3” in Finland, “Cop Secret” in Iceland, “Three Wishes for Cinderella” in Norway enabled the Nordic nations to secure bullish market shares.

Denmark

In 2021, “No Time to Die” smashed all B.O. records for a James Bond movie in Denmark. That, however, didn’t prevent overall ticket sales from plummeting 45% from 2019, due to the pandemic.

The Danish film year opened and ended with closed cinemas, and faced a record 138 days of full cinema lockdown, according to the cinema association Danske biografer.

Principal photography underway in Bulgaria on Revelations Entertainment, B2Y Production horror thriller.

Jason Flemyng, Raza Jaffrey and Sophie Simnett (Netflix’s Daybreak) are on board Renny Harlin horror thriller The Refuge, which Voltage Pictures has acquired for worldwide sales ahead of the virtual Cannes market.

Principal photography is underway in Bulgaria on the film from Revelations Entertainment and B2Y Production that marks the latest action foray from the director of Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger.

The Refuge centres on US military veteran Sergeant Rick Pedroni, who returns home a changed and dangerous man after a tour of duty...

Possession thriller set to begin filming in April.

Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger director Renny Harlin has lined up horror thriller The Refuge as his next project, which Highland Film Group will introduce to buyers this week at the virtual European Film Market (EFM).

Casting is underway on the film, scripted by Ben Sztajnkrycer, with filming set to begin in April on location in Bulgaria.

The story centres on a soldier who returns from Afghanistan a changed man, following an attack by a mysterious force during combat in Afghanistan, only for his wife to discover he has been possessed by a malevolent spirit.