First Look at Patricio Valladares' Horror Adaptation of Dante's 'Divine Comedy' from Skincrawl

Skincrawl Studio has unveiled its first look at Chilean filmmaker Patricio Valladares' supernatural horror film 'The Divine Comedy', a modern retelling of Dante's 'Inferno'. The Irish production and distribution company, which specializes in horror and adjacent genres, is handling worldwide sales of the film, which recently wrapped principal photography. 'The Divine Comedy' is a […]

The Dublin-based company is planning to present a teaser trailer for the supernatural horror feature from the director of Invoking Yell at the upcoming AFM.

Skincrawl Studios has released the first look at Chilean filmmaker Patricio Valladares' supernatural horror The Divine Comedy, a modern retelling of Dante's Inferno.

"Divine Comedy" is a joint production of two Italian companies "Anxor Films" and "Skin Crawl Limited". Alessandro Gatto is producing for Anxur, and Corrado Camilla and screenwriter Loris Corci are producing for Skincrawl. Related Stories 'Breaking Bad' star RJ Mitte's heartbreaking performance as Walter White Jr. was a breakthrough for disability representation

Starring Christopher Rigg ("Vikings: Valhalla"), Matthew Metcalfe, Tilda Metsula and Faziullah Osman, the film is a contemporary adaptation of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century narrative poem that describes a journey to hell. Popular in Variety

Valladares directs from a script by Corci ("Monday Ghosts," "Havana Dark"), which follows Dante, a grieving writer who descends into the realm of the dead in an attempt to bring back his deceased wife, Beatrice. Guided by former priest Virgil, he travels through the nightmarish circles of Hell, encountering supernatural beings and manifestations of sin, desire, and suffering.

The challenge here was to turn Dante's "Inferno" into a visual experience, Corci tells Variety. We only considered the Hell section of the Divine Comedy. Of course, considering the context and complexity of the epic poem, we tried to focus mainly on the relationship between Dante and Virgil and their journey into hell. "We also took the liberty of giving Beatrice a different, more dramatic role."

Taking a cue from Dante himself, Corci also borrowed motifs from popular mythology.

"When I wrote the script, I thought I would use elements of Greek tragedy. Dante filled his realm of Hell and Purgatory with figures, monsters, and moral frameworks borrowed directly from classical Greek and Roman mythology. He borrowed a lot from them, and then I did the same. But our 'Divine Comedy' is definitely a horror film, which we really are a modern film. I worked on Skincrawl, although the budget has a little

Corci co-wrote Skincrawl's recent thriller The Sarajevo Murders with Valadars longtime collaborator Barry Keating, and also directed the company's upcoming film Minotaur Island. He had previously worked with Valadars in the director's 2017 horror film The Night World.

"The Divine Comedy" marks Valadars' latest international genre production following his recent works, "The Calling Shout" and "The Shout Out," both co-written with Keating. Previous credits include "Hidden in the Woods" starring Michael Bain ("The Terminator," "Tombstone").

The 2023 found footage horror feature "Invoking Yell" is available now in various territories on AMC's Shodder horror streaming service. His latest film, The Summoning Scream, recently bowed at FrightFest in London and is set to hit theaters in Chile next year.

Dublin-based Skincrawl Studios will present "The Divine Comedy" to international buyers at the American Film Market next month and at the Berlinale European Film Market early next year.

"We'll have a teaser trailer ready for AFM and we plan to show the film at the Berlin Film Market in February," says Skincrawl's Camilla. From then on, he organizes as many festivals as possible. "We're very aware that this is not your average horror film, so we're going to reach out to all kinds of different markets and see how they react."

Another recent Skincrawl title is Giorgio Bruno's "Sarajevo Murders," about the disappearance of a documentary film crew in Bosnia, distributed by Cleopatra Entertainment in the United States. Currently in post-production, "Minotaur Island" follows an archaeologist and his team who discover more than they bargained for after an ancient, bull-headed monster awakens deep in the bowels of a forbidden island.