Jordan Downey, Director of Horror Film The Cycle, Signs With Verve

The director of the horror film The Cycle, Jordan Downey, has signed with the talent agency Verve, Deadline reported on Thursday 5 November. Verve will represent him on an exclusive basis in all areas, which means it will handle his work across film and other projects.

Downey co-wrote and directed The Cycle. The film stars Deborah Ann Woll as a forensic anthropologist, a scientist who studies human remains. Her long-estranged father's body turns up beside two mutilated corpses, and she is pulled into the investigation.

The film premiered at Fantastic Fest, the genre festival in Austin, Texas, where it earned a Special Mention. It later premiered on Shudder, the horror streaming service, in October. Horror author Stephen King called it "a terrific fright flick," Deadline said. It had a 95% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the review aggregation site, which means 95% of the critics it tracks gave it a positive review.

Downey's path to the director's chair started with The Head Hunter, an independent medieval thriller that first brought him recognition. He also directed Stork, one segment of the anthology V/H/S/Beyond, which earned a Critics' Choice Award nomination as a whole. His feature debut was ThanksKilling, a horror comedy about a demonic turkey. He made it while he was a senior at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

He has also recently finished filming Override, a sci-fi survival thriller starring Maria Bakalova and Frank Grillo. Deadline reported that the shoot has wrapped, so the film is now in post-production, the stage where editing, sound and visual effects are completed.

Downey will keep his existing team. Peter Heller of Heller Highwater Productions continues to represent him, and attorneys Brandon Milostan and Matt Galsor at Greenberg Glusker remain on his legal side.