Genre studio Welcome Villain has announced their acquisition of the festival horror hit Invoking Yell, serving as the studio’s first Spanish language film. Co-written and directed by Patricio Valladares, with co-writer Barry Keating, this shocking, anxiety-inducing, and genuinely horrifying found footage film premiered at the Unnamed Footage Festival, went on to play at several other genre film festivals including PanicFest, Chattanooga Film Festival, and is set to play at Popcorn Frights later this Summer, as well as Sanfic19 in Chile where it will have its Latin America premiere.
Set in 1997 south of Chile, Invoking Yell is a love letter to black metal that follows a trio of metalhead twenty-something girls who venture into the woods to shoot the demo tape for their black metal band, Invoking Yell. However, things take a sinister turn as they document their disturbing and unorthodox process of recording paranormal phenomena to be used in the album’s final track.
“This film was always meant to be an ode to the found footage films of the 90s, but with a black metal twist. I was lucky enough to shoot the film in my home country of Chile, taking advantage of the region’s natural splendor while also giving audiences a unique perspective into our local music scene.”
Patricio Valladares, Invoking Yell Director & Co-Writer
The film was shot on location in May of 2022 in Los LLeuques, Ñuble, a small town near Valladares’ home in Chillán City, in the South of Chile. María Jesús Marcone, Macarena Carrere, and Andrea Ozuljevich star as the members of Invoking Yell who go to extreme lengths to ensure their demo is the most evil tape ever made. With cinematography by Vittorio Farfan and Evelyn Belmar serving as the art department, Invoking Yell was a bare-bones crew. This hasn’t stopped the film from becoming an indie horror darling from its multiple festival appearances over the past year where it has been embraced by genre audiences.
Welcome Villain is distributing the film domestically, with an exact release date yet to be announced, and will also be handling international sales for the film.
