Actress Katja Herbers is taking matters into her own hands by fighting back against the people who are defaming her in the the upcoming Dutch horror movie, ‘The Columnist.’ The performer’s eponymous protagonist of Femke Boot has become so stressed out and consumed by the hate-filled messages she’s been receiving on social media that she decides to strike back against her attackers in real life.
The writer’s latest defensive assault is against actor Achraf Koutet’s character of Tarik Bos in ShockYa’s exclusive clip from the drama. In the clip, Femke shows up at Achraf’s house with a gun, and emotionally and aggressively asks him if he knows what if feels like to be called damaging names, to which he quickly apologizes. But she refuses to accept his excuses, and also asks why he couldn’t just be nice over the fact that they have different political views.
Film Movement is set to release ‘The Columnist’ in the U.S. via Virtual Cinema, VOD and Digital tomorrow, May 7, and then on DVD this Tuesday, May 11. The thriller, which is in Dutch with English subtitles, was written by Daan Windhorst and directed by Ivo van Aart. In addition to Herbers and Koutek, the movie also stars Genio de Groot, Rein Hofman, Bram van der Kelen and Claire Porro.
‘The Columnist’ follows Femke Boot as she’s pushed to the edge and into writer’s block by online trolls, who are sending her endless abusive posts and death threats on social media. She becomes obsessed by these hate-filled messages, and starts to spend every moment checking her Twitter feed. Her obsession begins to consume her life, and her work suffers as she fails to write her columns and novel.
The one day, all Femke’s pent-up anger and frustration explode in a moment of shocking and unexpected violence. This brutal and bloody act inspires her to write again. However, her writer’s block later returns and with it, her addiction to social media. Secretly, Femke believes there’s only one solution to her ever-growing frustration: she surrenders to her murderous rage and alternates the killing and maiming of her social media tormentors with writing her debut novel.
But how long can she continue this double life? Can she hide her nightly murders from her teenage daughter and her new boyfriend, horror writer Steven Dood (van der Kelen)? Is fighting hatred with hatred really the best solution?
ShockYa is premiering an exclusive clip from director Ivo van Aart's crime horror film, 'The Columnist,' which features actress Katja Herbers and actor Achraf Koutet.