Top 50 Most Anticipated American Independent Films of 2019: #47. Malik Vitthal’s Body Cam

Body Cam

2018 saw Malik Vitthal win the the Cannes Lions Grand Prix for a Protector & Gamble campaign and saddle into his sophomore feature — a Paramount horror film project not signed off by the Blumhouse folks (yes, they exist). Working from a screenplay signed by filmmakers Nicholas McCarthy and John Ridley, Vitthal began production on Body Cam back in August in New Orleans being cuffed  by Nat Wolff, Mary J. Blige, Theo Rossi and Anika Noni Rose. Moving from low-budget (Sundance NEXT section selection was the Audience winner) stuck between a rock and hard place thug life with 2014’s Imperial Dreams (trailer) here we switch over to what is being coined as a “Get Out” meets “End of Watch. We thought that Vitthal “delivered a timely reflection on those unexpectedly affected by our bloated (and racialized) prison population” back in ’14, so his cinema (and ad campaigns for that matter) have a strong sense of purpose and under the genre horror trimmings could make for a devilish thinking man’s piece.

Gist: Written by Nick McCarthy and John Ridley, this follows several LAPD officers who are haunted by a malevolent spirit that is tied to the murder of a black youth at the hands of two white cops — all of which was caught on a body cam video that was destroyed in a cover-up. Blige will portray a police officer in “Body Cam” who begins seeing visions and starts to investigate the cover-up.

Release Date/Prediction: Paramount Players have not yet dated the film and we’re unsure if a festival playdate is in the plans – perhaps a TIFF Midnight section premiere could be proposed.