Actor James Russo has signed on to star in the upcoming horror film “Dark Woods” starring Tracy Coogan and John Muscarnero.

Russo appeared opposite Johnny Depp in Roman Polanski’s “The Ninth Gate” (1999), and portrayed mobster Victor Mura in TV’s short-lived “Falcone” the following year. More recently, he offered a penetrating cameo as Frank Sinatra in “Stealing Sinatra” (2003).

Other Russo films include Kevin Costner’s “The Postman” (1997) and “Open Range” (2003), plus “Beverly Hills Cop”(1984), “We’re No Angels” (1989), “Donnie Brasco”(1996), “No Way Home” (1996), and a number of low budget crimers. On stage, he has “Welcome to Andromeda,” “Deathwatch,” “Marat/Sade” and the afore-mentioned “Extremities” to his credit.

Dark Woods follows a couple who moves to a secluded cabin in the woods to cope with a terminal illness of the wife. As the wife’s condition drags her deeper into dementia and darkness, the husband’s friendship with a local teenage girl takes a dangerous and obsessive turn..

The film is said to be similar to Roman Polanski’s Repulsion or the works of David Lynch and Michael Haneke, with the feeling of the 1969 French classic “The Swimming Pool/La Piscine” which starred Romy Schneider and Alain Delon”.

Stay tuned to Toxic Shock TV for the latest “Dark Woods” news.