By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Tommy Taffy is coming to the big screen.
Variety reports that Bleecker Street has picked up the Walter Media Group production THE THIRD PARENT, and will give it nationwide theatrical release. The feature writing/directing debut of producer David Michaels, it’s based on the viral creepypasta created by Elias Witherow and stars Rob Lowe (SALEM’S LOT, THE STAND), Crispin Glover (WILLARD, FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER), Roselyn Sanchez, Bethany Milner, Rafael de Belligny and Jack Roberts. The synopsis: “The story follows Mason [Lowe], a middle-aged father who lives with his wife Megan [Sanchez] and two children in an idyllic American suburban neighborhood. From the outside their lives are pictures of the perfect nuclear family, though in private the everyday tensions of contemporary life are all too familiar.
“On a seemingly serene 4th of July afternoon, the mysterious figure of Tommy Taffy [Glover] knocks on their door, triggering a reign of terror as he demands the family enact a series of terrifying and mysterious ‘life lessons.’ Mason and Megan must obey every one of his commands as he threatens to harm their two children. Initially this twisted game provokes pure panic and a chaotic fight for survival, but as Tommy exerts extreme mental and physical pressure on the family through increasingly violent acts of subjugation, they learn to work as a unit to rid their lives once and for all of this monstrous invader.” Also part of the creative team are cinematographer Tim Maurice-Jones (SPEAK NO EVIL, THE WOMAN IN BLACK), editor Jérôme Eltabet (THE SUBSTANCE, REVENGE), production designer Evan Webber, who has worked in the art department on several Guillermo del Toro films, and composer Butch Vig, who has worked with Nirvana, Foo Fighters and Garbage.
