Voltage Pictures has picked up global sales rights—excluding South Korea—to Nervous, a Sarah Bolger-starring psychological horror from director Abner Pastoll. The company will begin selling the title to buyers at the American Film Market.
The film follows a married couple who move to the Korean countryside to repair their relationship; after discovering a vinyl record that plays only silence, the wife loses the ability to hear men’s voices and starts to unravel. Ko Asung and Sungsoo Yune also star.
The sales hook is sensory, not supernatural
Horror sales often lean on familiar monsters, franchises or gore. Nervous is positioned differently: the central device is sound, or its absence. Once the protagonist cannot hear her husband, the film uses silence as a driver of paranoia. That gives Voltage a simple one-line pitch for buyers sorting through a crowded genre slate.
Alexandra Cocean, Voltage’s President of International Sales and Distribution, described the film as “bold, elevated horror that continues to resonate with global audiences.” The company pairs that positioning with concrete festival receipts.
Festival momentum gives buyers a proof point
- Opening-night slot at FrightFest 2026
- Two Screamfest honors in 2026: Best Musical Score for Matthew Pusti and the inaugural ScareScore Biometric Best Picture Award
- Further selections at MOTELX, Fantasy Filmfest, Tallinn Black Nights, and YAMI Tokyo
The ScareScore recognition is worth noting: the prize uses biometric audience response as a market-facing signal of how the film lands, not just how it is reviewed.
A reunion wrapped in a co-production
Pastoll and Bolger previously worked together on A Good Woman Is Hard to Find, which earned Bolger Best Actress at Screamfest. Nervous was shot in and around Seoul and is a South Korea-UK co-production from Story Robot and February Films, with Superbe Films and MAP in association.
Producer Junyoung Jang said the project began from “what happens when you can no longer hear the person closest to you?” The challenge for sales is to make enough noise about a film built on silence.
What happens after AFM
The next data point is territory sales. A quick sell-through would confirm that sound-driven elevated horror can move beyond festivals into distribution. A slower run would suggest buyers are waiting for a streamer or platform to set a price benchmark.
For sellers, the takeaway is practical: a precise hook and festival validation can do much of the pitching before a screening ends. The risk is staying too quiet in a loud market.
Source: Deadline
