Kevin Connolly’s ActionPark Productions alongside partner Patrick Marino are making their feature film debut with the horror film Lice, starring Emile Hirsch (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Into the Wild), Justin Long (Barbarian, Goosebumps), and Connolly (Entourage) himself. The film, a gruesome throwback to ‘80s high school classics, begins production this week in Canada.

Highland Film Group is repping international rights, handling sales at the Marché du Film.

Director/Cinematographer Jonathan Bensimon makes his feature directorial debut with a script written by Anthony Musella and Shaun Harris (The Hemingway Thief), from an original concept by Connolly. The film is produced by Connolly, Jeremy Alter, and Gary Goldman, who recently collaborated on Entourage creator Doug Ellin’s Ramble On, which starred Charlie Sheen, Connolly and Kevin Dillon.

Lice, described as a horror mashup of The Breakfast Club and Lord of the Flies, follows a deadly outbreak of the parasite at a Long Island high school in the 1980s. When the school goes under military lockdown, the itch-crazed students turn on each other in a desperate struggle to survive. Emile Hirsch stars as burned-out science teacher Mr. Shanker, who finds new purpose as he investigates the bloodthirsty mites, Justin Long as Principal Van, a man who is out of his depth and soon out of his mind, and Connolly as the tenacious Detective Sikorski, the desperate cop on the outside racing against time to contain the outbreak before it consumes the entire town.

“I wanted to make the kind of movies that I loved as a kid,” said Kevin Connolly, who founded ActionPark Productions. “I’m a horror fan and I wanted to make something for guys like me – fun, weird, scary, and completely unpredictable. It made perfect sense to launch our feature division with a project this bold and ambitious. Jonathan Bensimon is that rare combination of creative mind and brilliant technician. And when you get two incredible actors who can blend comedy and drama the way Emile and Justin can, you’ve really got something special on your hands.”

Director Jonathan Bensimon commented, “Kevin Connolly sent me a script that was a real pager turner and with him and Shaun Harris we turned it into a pulpy horror feature with a cast that deftly mixes darkness and levity to create something truly unique. I’m especially excited to collaborate with Kodak and Cinestill, blending stylistic techniques, to design visuals to give LICE a signature look.”

“Lice is stylish, visually arresting, and hilariously disturbing—everything I love in a project,” said producer Jeremy Alter. Fellow producer Gary Goldman added, “Kevin and I have been looking to do a movie like this together since Entourage. It’s just such a great concept and something that is a core fear for most parents.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to unleash this wild and original project brought to us by producer Kevin Connolly, with the talented Emile Hirsch and Justin Long leading our cast,” said Highland Film Group CEO Arianne Fraser. “Lice strikes a balanced blend of gut-wrenching terror and dark humor, surrounding the universal experience of getting lice, which audiences around the world will relate to,” added company COO Delphine Perrier.

U.S. casting was handled by Sheila Jaffe and Bryan Riley, while Canadian casting was led by Sarah Kay Casting.

Production is currently underway in Canada with French Toast Films handling local production services.

Hirsch is best known for starring in features Into the Wild, Speed Racer, Lone Survivor and Oscar-nominated films Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Milk.

Long recently starred in the first season of the Disney+/Hulu anthology series Goosebumps, Indy horror film Night Patrol and crime thriller Stranglehold. He recently wrapped production on the survival thriller Coyote.

Highland Film Group’s current slate also includes the espionage action thriller Stratagem starring Noomi Rapace and Teo Yoo; Gary Fleder’s thriller Just Play Dead starring Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Green; Justin Chadwick’s action spy-thriller The Mark starring Jessica Alba; the action crime thriller Wardriver starring Dane DeHaan and Sasha Calle; the action-thriller Dedication starring Daisy Ridley; Adrian Grunberg’s action-thriller Protector starring Milla Jovovich; Justin Chadwick’s action thriller Sierra Madre starring Kiefer Sutherland; Allan Ungar’s action-comedy London Calling starring Josh Duhamel and Jeremy Ray Taylor; and the sci-fi thriller The Astronaut from producer Brad Fuller and starring Kate Mara and Lawrence Fishburne, which had its world premiere at SXSW.

Hirsch is represented by Stride Management and UTA; Long is repped by Independent Artist Group and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.