Caliber Media Co., Sundial Pictures and Preferred Content have started production on thriller Dark Was the Night. Shooting begins Sunday, February 19th. Kevin Durand (Real Steel, Robin Hood) and Lukas Haas (Contraband, Inception) will star in and battle with a never-before-seen monster in director Jack Heller's upcoming horror feature. The script, from Tyler Hisel, appeared on the 2009 Black List of best un-produced scripts, a rarity for the monster genre, under the title "The Trees."

“Respectful to the success of vampire and zombie movies, we were immediately attracted to Tyler’s all-new monster mythology,” said producer Dallas Sonnier. “Jack has a great vision for bringing it to the big screen.”

Dark Was the Night centers on the isolated town of Maiden Woods, where a nearby logging company has disrupted the balance of the life in the woods. From the frozen forest, an evil will emerge and threaten the local citizens; their only hope being the local Sheriff and his trusted Deputy.

Rounding out the cast are Sabina Gadecki (Freaky Deaky), Heath Freeman (Skateland), and Nick Damici (Stake Land). Director Jack Heller is producing with his Caliber partner Dallas Sonnier and Sundial's Stefan Nowicki. Preferred Content's Kevin Iwashina and Ross Dinerstein will executive produce the film alongside Sundial's Joey Carey and The Molecule's Ted Markovic; the latter will be handling the visual special effects. Screenwriter Hisel and manager Alexander Robb are also executive producers. Iwashina will handle domestic sales.