New Spicer-produced feature film in theaters today

Thursday, March 24, 2022
With the picturesque dome of West Baden Springs Hotel as the backdrop, hotel worker Dylan (Kevin Cahoon) and discusses the mysteries of the place with documentary fillmmaker Erica Shaw (Bethany Joy Lenz) in the new thriller “So Cold the River,” in theaters today. The film was produced by Indiana-based Pigasus Pictures, which was co-founded by Greenastle native Zach Spicer.
Courtesy photo/PIGASUS PICTURES

FRENCH LICK — The next feature film produced by a Putnam County native hits select theaters on Friday.

“So Cold the River,” a thriller inspired by and shot at the West Baden Springs Hotel, is being released to select theaters, including nearby in Spencer, before it is made available digitally and on-demand on Tuesday, March 29.

The film was produced by Greencastle’s own Zachary Spicer, CEO and co-founder of Indiana-based Pigasus Pictures, which has produced past features “The Good Catholic” (2016) “Ms. White Light” (2019) and “The Miseducation of Bindu” (2020).

While Spicer was part of the cast of the first two Pigasus features, he has moved to a behind-the-scenes role for the two most recent.

From award-winning writer and director Paul Shoulberg, the star-studded film is a shocking, suspenseful adaptation of a book by the same name, by New York Times bestseller Michael Koryta.

It is the highest-scale movie made in Indiana since “The Good Catholic,” another Pigasus and Shoulberg collaboration.

An Indiana native, Koryta used the iconic West Baden Springs Hotel and French Lick as the setting for his novel. In turn, “So Cold the River” was filmed on location entirely at West Baden Springs Hotel and the surrounding community.

The film was executive produced by Carl Cook, Pete Yonkman, Koryta and Bethany Joy Lenz in collaboration with Cook Group, the parent company of French Lick Resort, which encompasses both West Baden Springs Hotel and French Lick Springs Hotel, and Pigasus Pictures.

Zachary Spicer

“With its rich history and eye-catching architecture, the West Baden Springs Hotel inherently became a character of its own in the film,” Spicer said. “From the original inspiration for the storyline to the film’s release, this is a true full-circle moment. We are proud to bring this thrilling storyline to the big screen and with it, highlight an Indiana landmark.”

Hotel visitors will recognize several spots around the hotel in the movie, most strikingly the atrium. Room 4626, now dubbed “The Movie Room,” is preserved as it appeared in the movie’s filming as the room of the movie’s main character, documentary filmmaker Erica Shaw, played by Lenz (“Dexter” and “One Tree Hill”).

In the film, Erica is hired by Alyssa Bradford-Cohen (Alysia Reiner, “Orange Is the New Black”) to profile her dying father-in-law, the enigmatic millionaire Campbell Bradford. Erica is presented with a substantial sum of money and an antique bottle filled with water from a local West Baden spring, one of the few clues connecting Bradford to the town he once dominated.

While researching Bradford as a guest of a massive, opulent resort with a dark past, Erica meets unofficial town historian Anne McKinney (Tony Award-winner Deanna Dunagan), fanatical intern Kellyn (Katie Sarife, “Annabelle Comes Home”) and hotel maintenance worker Josiah (Andrew J. West, “The Walking Dead”), a descendant of Bradford’s who reveals the familial curse of mysterious deaths and suicides. As Erica continues her research, an unspeakable evil is unearthed.

With the mystery around her deepening, Erica Shaw (Bethany Joy Lenz) examines an antique bottle filled with spring water in the new Pigasus Pictures film “So Cold the River.”
Courtesy photo/PIGASUS PICTURES

Among the participating theaters in Indiana, the closest for Putnam County film buffs is the Tivioli at 24 N. Washington St., Spencer. The Tivioli will screen the film at 7 p.m. on Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Other participating Indiana locations include Glendale 12 in Indianapolis, Mary Max in Logansport, the Indiana Theater in Washington and Springs Stadium in French Lick.

To learn more about the film, visit www.pigasuspictures.com/so-cold-the-river. Watch the trailer below.

Pigasus Pictures was founded in 2015 by two Indiana University alumni — Spicer and Brownsburg native John Armstrong. It’s award-winning arsenal of films includes “The Good Catholic,” starring Danny Glover, Spicer and John C. McGinley; “Ms. White Light,” featuring an ensemble cast including Roberta Colidrez, Spicer, John Ortiz, Judith Light and Taylar Fondren; and “The Miseducation of Bindu,” starring David Arquette and Megan Suri.

The company has two more films entirely made in Indiana in production with five more slated to film in the next three years.

Aside from his work with Pigasus, Spicer has produced one other feature-length independent film, “What She Said” (2021), with others in the works.

Spicer is also the founder and president of Pigasus Institute, a non-profit dedicated to engaging, educating and elevating Indiana communities through the diverse storytelling of film and theater.

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