The stylish, pulse-pounding reimagining of the long-lost 1922 Lon Chaney thriller “A Blind Bargain,” from writer-director-producer Paul Bunnell (“The Ghastly Love of Johnny X”), is getting a limited theatrical release. Captured on Kodak film and set for select 35mm screenings, the film will begin its limited theatrical rollout in New York City on April 24, 2026, followed by a Los Angeles premiere on May 8, with further national dates to be announced.
A stylized throwback to 1970, the film stars Jake Horowitz (“Bones and All”) as Dominic, a Vietnam veteran struggling with addiction. Having hit rock bottom, Dominic faces a heartbreaking ultimatum from his mother (Amy Wright, “Breaking Away”).
Desperate to settle a dangerous debt with a volatile drug dealer (Rob Mayes, “Mistresses”), Dominic accepts a lucrative, yet mysterious, offer from a charming nurse at his clinic. Without fully grasping the horrific consequences, he signs his mother up as a patient of the enigmatic Dr. Gruder—played by the legendary Crispin Glover (“Willard”).
Gruder is a morally ambiguous physician whose radical, secret research aims to reverse the aging process. While his mother initially appears to thrive, he soon realizes that he failed to read the fine print and that every bargain has a price—Things at the Gruder Institute are far more sinister than he ever imagined…
The ensemble cast is rounded out by Lucy Loken (“Teen Wolf”), Annalisa Cochrane (“Cobra Kai”), Sean Whalen (“Never Been Kissed”), and Jed Rowen (“Pretty Boy”).
The psychological thriller serves as a bold resurrection of the 1922 silent horror film of the same name. The original “A Blind Bargain” famously featured Lon Chaney in a dual role that defined his reputation as “The Man of a Thousand Faces.” Though the original was a critical and box-office triumph, it was deemed too unsettling for its era and was eventually lost to time.
Today, with no surviving film prints known to exist, the original stands as one of the most coveted lost works in cinema history. Bunnell’s reimagining bridges the gap between the silent era’s macabre roots and the visceral tension of 70s genre cinema.
The film arrives in theaters with significant momentum, having already secured “Best Feature Film” at the 2025 HP Lovecraft Film Festival and serving as an Official Selection of FrightFest 2025.
“A Blind Bargain” is produced by Paul Bunnell and Bing Bailey, co-produced by John Duffy, and executive produced by Jon E. Falotico.
