Having fallen under the umbrella of the John Gore Organisation in 2023, the iconic British studio Hammer Films made its return in 2023 by acquiring the distribution rights to the Eddie Izzard-led Doctor Jekyll, and it follows that up this month with the FrightFest World Premiere of the first in-house production of this new era of Hammer Horror, Ithaqua.
Written and directed by Casey Walker (Home Bodies) and starring Luke Hemsworth (Westworld), Kevin Durand (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come), Craig Lauzon (Trickster), Leenah Robinson (1923) and Michael Pitt (Day of the Fight), you can check out the poster, first-look images and official synopsis below…
As a brutal winter grips the Canadian wilderness and the fur trade begins its collapse, the isolated inhabitants of a remote trading outpost enlist Cole Franklin, an American mercenary haunted by his past, to investigate the silence that has fallen over a nearby Indigenous settlement. What he discovers is a scene of unimaginable terror and an overwhelming sense that something ancient and unnatural still lingers in the wilderness.
As fear spreads back to Fort William, an unseen presence begins to take hold. Paranoia, hunger and violence consume the isolated community, driving neighbour against neighbour as reason gives way to madness. With the fort descending into chaos and survival hanging by a thread, Cole must draw upon his military experience to lead a desperate band of survivors against a force that cannot easily be understood – or escaped.
Ithaqua will premiere at FrightFest on August 29th 2026 and is coming soon to UK cinemas.
