Exclusive: Tobe Hooper’s ‘Djinn’ NOT in trouble, releasing later this year

Imagenation Abu Dhabi’s second Emarati production after ‘Sea Shadow’ titled ‘Djinn’, a horror movie by classic director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) has been gaining a lot of media attention internationally thanks to the talent involved. But rumors hit the internet yesterday that the film’s release may be getting blocked by producers after a member of the Abu Dhabi Royal family objected to the film saying that it’s “unfit to provide an accurate image of the UAE.” and hence the studio would not be releasing the film at all. Well, we’ve got a statement from Imagenation themselves to confirm that the rumors are absolutely untrue.

In an e-mail to us, a spokeperson from the studio tells us:

“These rumours are unfounded.  Djinn is in active post-production, and Image Nation looks forward to releasing the film in theatres later this year.  As for offers, there have been no formal offers were made for Djinn.”

The rumor swept pretty much every major horror website because it did sound somewhat believable but we also got new screens for the film that same day which wouldn’t make sense if the studio is trying to not release the film. You can see the two stills here, and I’ve got to say that it definitely looks promising and this might just be the return of Tobe Hooper to horror with a story that’s unique and creepy in its own right. Plus, it’s actually shot on location in Ras Al Khaimah which has got to be a risk but it looks all the more effective.

DJINN tells the nightmarish story of a young Emirati couple who return home from the U.S. and discover that their new apartment in a luxury high-rise built on the site of an abandoned fishing village is also home to the malevolent beings known as Djinn.

Strangely enough though, we do not have any sort of a trailer or official marketing material for the film yet which was supposed to be released this month. Hitting delays is not an uncommon thing especially since the UAE film industry is still fledging, and the studio couldn’t confirm a new release date for us but insisted that it will release later this year. There was also no release date for a trailer given, but we’ll be sure to get you the trailer as soon as it is released.