a film by Brian Gottlieb
His Body. Their choice.
LOGLINE
after his girlfriend dies,
a grieving man awakens
pregnant
impossibly
and becomes the captive
of her fanatical family who will
stop at nothing to see the child born.
Teaser
SYNOPSIS
Following the death of his parents, Hollis Reed falls for Locasta Larkin, a mesmerizing young musician who invites him to meet her family in rural Connecticut. By the time he arrives, Locasta is dead.
That night, she visits him in a fever dream unlike anything he's ever experienced. When he wakes, something impossible is growing inside him.
Long awaiting this ancient miracle, Locasta’s family imprisons Hollis in their secluded farmhouse and prepares for the birth. As his body changes in ways he cannot comprehend, escape from the house and his fate becomes increasingly impossible.
Blending horror, dark comedy, and surrealism, GROW is a psychosexual nightmare about bodily autonomy and what to expect when he’s expecting.
Cast
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Peter Vack is an actor, filmmaker, and novelist from New York City. On Television, he was a series regular on HBO MAX’s Love Life, the lead on MTV’s I Just Want My Pants Back created by Doug Liman, and a series regular on Amazon Studio’s Golden Globe winning Mozart in the Jungle. He had recurring roles on Freeform’s The Bold Type and Showtime’s Homeland, and has appeared in over 40 feature films including The Sweet East (Cannes 2023), The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (Cannes 2023), Someone Great (Netflix) and PVT Chat (opposite Julia Fox). In 2017, he released his directorial debut feature Assholes followed by www.RachelOrmont.com in 2024.
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Annet Mahendru is an Afghan-American actress of Indian-Russian origins and speaks six languages. Annet portrayed the mysterious spy, Nina Krilova, on the Emmy Award winning TV series The Americans, which earned her a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination. Other credits include The Walking Dead: World Beyond, the Sundance hit Escape From Tomorrow, Manifest West, Father Stu, and many more. Upcoming films include The Fix and Return From Tomorrow. In her free time, Annet loves to watch her garden GROW.
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Instagram
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Janis Dardaris is an American stage, film, and television actress with over 40 years of professional experience. Active within the East Coast theater scene, she has earned 10 Barrymore Award nominations, winning twice, and has won the 1998 Charlotte Cushman Award for A Moon for the Misbegotten. On screen, Janis is best known for her role in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense (1999), her recurring portrayal of Zohara in The Chosen, and her performance as Judge Marilyn Cross in Starz's Power, alongside appearances on The Sopranos, Bull and Law & Order. She continues to perform on stage, most recently in Marsha Blovotnick and the Marvelous Magical Chicken Soup at Theatre Ariel in Philadelphia.
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Instagram
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Philip Tabor is an American actor working in off-Broadway theater, television, and film. He has appeared in high-profile feature films including Merchant Ivory’s The Golden Bowl (2000), Le Divorce (2003), Heights (2005), and many international independent films including Refuge (2002). His television credits include NYC procedural and episodic staples such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the sitcom Hope & Faith.
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Key crew
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Director/Co-Writer/Producer/Editor
Brian Gottlieb is a writer, director, producer, and former documentary cinematographer from Queens, New York.
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Co-Writer/Producer/Editor
Aimee Scher is a writer, producer and former magazine editor based in New York City. She launched her media career working for Time Out New York, Paper Magazine and Playgirl, where she was the youngest Editor-in-Chief in the publication’s history. Turning her storytelling talents toward filmmaking, she served as co-writer, editor, and producer for her debut indie feature, GROW and is actively developing a slate of new projects with creative partner and director, Brian Gottlieb.
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Producer
Michael Tipps is a producer and entrepreneur who brings a 30-year career building and operating hospitality businesses across New York, Los Angeles, and national markets to independent film. That background is the operating system behind his work in film development and production. Michael served as executive producer on the western Manifest West (2022) and produced the documentaries After Porn Ends (2012) and its sequel After Porn Ends 2 (2017). He is also known nationally as a featured bar specialist on Paramount’s hit series Bar Rescue.
IMDB Profile
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Executive Producer
Annet Mahendru is an Afghan-American actress of Indian-Russian origins and speaks six languages. Annet portrayed the mysterious spy, Nina Krilova, on the Emmy Award winning TV series The Americans, which earned her a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination. Other credits include The Walking Dead: World Beyond, the Sundance hit Escape From Tomorrow, Manifest West, Father Stu, and many more. Upcoming films include The Fix and Return From Tomorrow. In her free time, Annet loves to watch her garden GROW.
IMDB Profile
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Executive Producer
Joe Dietsch began his career directing commercials and music videos, as well as a variety of international travel projects across the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. He has worked as a writer/director, cinematographer, and producer on multiple features alongside longtime collaborator Louie Gibson. He currently serves as the CEO and Creative Director of Wolf Haus Games.
IMDB Profile
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Executive Producer
Louie Gibson is a writer/director/producer based in Nashville and LA. His feature debut Happy Hunting (2017) garnered numerous festival awards and a 100% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. His second feature was Manifest West, distributed by Samuel Goldwyn. He is a founder at Wolf Haus Games, a Montreal based game studio. He recently got roped into a timeshare. He doesn’t regret the decision but he’s looking for someone to take it over for him. It’s really nice. It has seven 5 star restaurants.
IMDB Profile
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Director of Photography
Bart Cortright is an American cinematographer based in New York City, celebrated for crafting atmospheric visual styles for acclaimed indie films such as The Cathedral (2021), which won the John Cassavetes Award at the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Bart’s other credits include The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (2023), Hamish Linklater's Downtown Owl (2023), Eugene Kotlyarenko's The Code (2024), Lucio Castro's Drunken Noodles (2025), and Rob Rice's horror-comedy Ponderosa (2026). His work has been featured globally at Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Tribeca, the Toronto International Film Festival among others.
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Post-Production Supervisor/Editor
Steven Lambiase is a New York based film editor with a passion for telling complex stories across genres. His films have premiered at festivals including TIFF, Mammoth Film Festival, and the Tallgrass Film Festival. His recent work includes the political thriller PH-1, released theatrically in 2026, and All Happy Families, a Chicago International Film Festival Best Film nominee starring Josh Radnor and Rob Huebel. Other credits include acclaimed drama Once Upon a River, the psychological thriller Oxalis, and NOWNESS Pick, As They Slept, starring Maya Hawke. He is currently editing Young Blood, the directorial debut of screenwriter Ari Schlossberg.
tech specs
- Genre
- Horror, Body Horror, Folk Horror
- Country
- United States of America
- Language
- English
- Completion Year
- 2026
- Runtime
- 1:23:22
- Aspect Ratio
- 2.40:1
- Frame Rate
- 24 FPS
- Camera Used
- Red Gemini
- Audio Format
- 5.1 surround
- Exhibition Format
- DCP
- Festival Acceptance/Awards
- Screamfest 2026
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