Italian filmmaker Mitzi Peirone‘s (Braid) vigilante horror feature Saint Clare, starring Bella Thorne (Masquerade, Midnight Sun) and Ryan Phillippe (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Crash), will open Italy’s Taormina Film Festival next month.
Directed by Peirone, from a script she co-wrote with Guinevere Turner (American Psycho, Charlie Says), and based on Don Roff’s novel ‘Clare at Sixteen’, the story shares similarities with Heathers and “Dexter,” following a lonely young woman in a small town who battles with haunting voices who urge her to murder people she deems evil. She gets away with it until her final murder plunges her into a rabbit hole of corruption, human trafficking and supernatural visions.
Commenting on the new, Peirone sais, “We couldn’t have dreamed of a better debut for our oneiric film than the gorgeously historic Taormina … We are elated and humbled, especially for a picture that delves into spiritual beauty, female sainthood, and fate, there is no better home in the world than Sicily.”
Thorne stars as the titular Clare Bleecker alongside Philippe, Rebecca DeMornay (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, “Jessica Jones”), Bart Johnson (the High School Musical franchise, Held) and Todd Bridges (“Diff’rent Strokes”) and the film is produced by David Chackler, Arielle Elwes, Thor Bradwell, and Joel Michaely. Executive producers are Cassian Elwes, Seth Needle, Mark Damon, Tamara Birkemoe, Veronica Radaelli, Tom Culliver, Nadia Redler, Dave Sereny, and Jere Hausfater.
This screening marks Thorne’s return to Taormina following a gala evening that the actor guest curated at last year’s festival. This year’s festival will run from July 12 to July 19.
