Chroma Acquires South African Thriller Dinner to Die For Following Fantastic Fest World Premiere

Diana Mills Smith’s Dinner to Die For—a dark, seductive thriller about desire and danger—was acquired by Chroma following its Fantastic Fest debut.

Chroma has acquired distribution rights in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and other English-language territories for Dinner to Die For, the seductive genre thriller and feature debut from South African filmmaker Diana Mills Smith. The film made its world premiere earlier this week at Fantastic Fest 2025 as part of the festival’s celebrated Burnt Ends lineup, a showcase for daring, micro-budget, and boundary-pushing genre cinema.

Equal parts dangerous and delicious, Dinner to Die For follows Hannah (Shamilla Miller), a culinary photographer, and her friend Evan (Steven John Ward), who share an obsession with true crime. When Evan suggests they roleplay their own twisted crime fantasy — a “killer dinner” that involves their neighbor Blaire (Nina Erasmus) — the pair’s fascination with darkness turns disturbingly real.

Produced by OC House Productions and written by Cameron Scott, Orr Koren, and Mills Smith, this stylish horror-thriller marks the first feature project from the South African studio founded by Scott, Koren, and cricket star Kagiso Rabada.

“Dinner to Die For is a wickedly fun film,” said Ahbra Perry, VP of Chroma. “It’s dark, sexy, queer, and bloody delicious. To top it off, Diana serves up a kill so satisfying it lingers long after the credits. Chroma is thrilled to champion such bold new voices in genre film.”

For Mills Smith, the acquisition is a validation of her vision for the film — one that merges sensuality, playfulness, and brutality in equal measure.

“I set out to make a film that is as sexy and playful as it is bloody and twisted,” Mills Smith said. “Dinner to Die For is about desire, validation, and the dangerous games we play to feel seen. To have Chroma embrace my feature debut is incredibly exciting, as their commitment to innovative and boundary-pushing genre filmmaking makes them the perfect partner to bring this story to audiences.”

Following a strong reception at Fantastic Fest, Dinner to Die For is quickly emerging as one of the year’s most anticipated new titles in international genre cinema — a bold, provocative debut destined to leave audiences both unsettled and hungry for more.

For more on Dinner to Die For, visit ChromaPresents.com.