DANIEL ISN’T REAL Is Really Coming to Shudder

The Shudder curation team has picked up another title guaranteed to blow your mind: Adam Egypt Mortimer’s Daniel Isn’t Real. Samuel Goldwyn Films will be putting it out in theaters in December before it finds its way to Shudder in 2020.

“So what is Daniel Isn’t Real?”, I hear the Voice in My Head asking. Glad you asked! Co-written by Mortimer and Brian DeLeeuw and based on DeLeeuw’s book In This Way I Was Saved, Daniel Isn’t Real focuses on troubled college freshman Luke (Miles Robbins) who suffers a violent family trauma and resurrects his imaginary childhood friend Daniel (Schwarzenegger) in order to cope. Charismatic and full of manic energy, Daniel helps Luke to achieve his dreams before pushing him to the edge of sanity and into a desperate struggle for control of his mind (and his soul). 

The film made a splash with its world premiere at SXSW, with Trace Thurman at Bloody Disgusting saying, “This is why you go to the movies” and Heather Wixson at Daily Dead saying Daniel Isn’t Real is “an exemplary effort from everyone involved, pushing storytelling boundaries and delivering up some truly nightmarish visuals to boot.” The film currently holds a 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Mortimer took home this year’s Best Director Choice award from BIFAN, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.

“Is there a trailer?”, the Voice whispers, seductively. Why yes, there is…

I’ll wrap it up here because the Voice is suggesting we go watch Mandy, another SpectreVision mind-bender, for the 40th time. For the latest on Daniel, follow the film on Twitter at @DanielIsntReal1.