HERZOG'S 'ABYSS' ACQUIRED BY SUNDANCE

Spirited director Werner Herzog's last film, the 3D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, opened in five theaters in the country a few months ago and had the highest per-screen average ($25,500) of any movie that weekend. It is his most successful documentary, more so than probably his most well known non-fiction film, 2005's Grizzly Man.

Continuing his penchant for exploring darker and less- subjects, the man who once ate his own shoe (seriously), Herzog has completed his most recent film Into the Abyss, which tells of the events and people surrounding and involved in a triple homicide in Conroe, Texas. One interview is held with one of the men convicted of the crime, who was then executed 8 days after his one on one with the director.

According to Deadline New York, Sundance Selects, an indie distribution company, has picked up the film one week ahead of it's Toronto International Film Festival debut. No word yet on a North American release date, but expect to the see the film hit a few theaters by the beginning of next year, and expand in the Spring.

I originally thought the subject matter - which sounds like it would be covered on MSNBC's weekend trash-fest Lockup - seemed a little tedious for a man of Herzog's taste. But then I checked out these three clips from Indiewire and changed my mind. It looks like the man who once got shot with an air rifle during an interview (seriously) is approaching this subject with the same intense wonder he has shown in all of his previous documentaries.