Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Imposters’ Adds ‘Paranormal Activity’ Producer to Team
After holding its World Premiere at the SXSW Film Festival, Variety reports that Steven Schneider has come aboard Imposters, the Caleb Phillips-directed science-fiction thriller, as executive producer under his indie genre label Spooky Pictures.
The film stars Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day) and Charlie Barnett (“Russian Doll”) as a couple whose baby boy is taken, and the desperate mother learns of a way to bring him back. However, her husband begins to suspect that what she returned with isn’t their son.
Schneider co-founded Spooky Pictures in 2020 with Roy Lee, with credits including Late Night With the Devil and Strange Darling. The label’s current slate includes Hokum, starring Adam Scott and acquired by Neon; David Dastmalchian vehicle The Shepherd; and The Plague, directed by Charlie Polinger and starring Joel Edgerton, which debuted in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section. Schneider’s broader producing history spans the Insidious franchise and Paranormal Activity.
Early Imposters footage suggests one clear inspiration: Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Only instead of burying the body in sour ground, these parents venture deep into a mysterious cave – and when Rothe’s character returns, she’s… different.
Yul Vazquez, Bates Wilder, Luisina Quarleri, Thomas Parobek, Ian Lyons, Taylor Karin, Lee Bennett, and Declan Bennett also star.
Interestingly, Hell House LLC franchise producer Joe Bandelli is part of the producing team with Thomas Bond and Sara Seligman.
“Imposters is a mystery thriller inspired by my parents,” Phillips said. “It explores how much damage two people can do to themselves and the world around them when they refuse to change.”