Tubi has acquired horror-thriller Please Don’t Feed the Children, and it will premiere this month as a Tubi Original Film. The film is directed by Destry Allyn Spielberg, who certainly has the pedigree for directing, since her father is the legendary Steven Spielberg.
Please Don’t Feed the Children features Michelle Dockery (The Gentlemen), Giancarlo Esposito (Abigail, MaXXXine), Andrew Liner (Vampire Academy), Zoe Colleti (Fear the Walking Dead), Dean Scott Vazquez (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), Emma Meisel (American Horror Story: 1984), Regan Aliyah (XO, Kitty), Vernon Davis (The Ritual Killer) and Josh Melnick (Saint X).
The story is set in the near future, when a very deadly virus hits, affecting all of the adults. After the outbreak, orphaned kids band together to go in search of a place to settle, but they are kidnapped by a strange woman who seems to have secrets.
Please Don’t Feed the Children was filmed in New Mexico in 2023. Since this was during the SAG-AFTRA strike, special permission had to be granted in order to film the movie. It made its world premiere at 2024’s Sitges Film Festival.
Spielberg has claimed the film was shot in only 18 days, and it is her first feature-length film as a director. Prior to Please Don’t Feed the Children, she directed a short film called Let Me Go (The Right Way), which was based on a story by Owen King, who happens to be the son of Stephen King. It starred Sean Penn’s son Hopper Penn.
Spielberg was originally an accomplished equestrian. But after she was injured on a horse, she decided that she wanted to become an actress like her mother Kate Capshaw, who met Steven Spielberg on the set of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But after a few small roles, she changed her focus to directing. She claims that her inspiration comes from animated films, listing Spirited Away and Coraline as being among her favorites.
After watching Please Don’t Feed the Children, she says her father hugged her, and she could tell he was proud of her, but also knew there were some things about the film that he didn’t like.
Spielberg said that she is “incredibly grateful to be doing what I love with a hard working cast and crew. It has been a wild ride getting here, and I can’t wait to share this film with everyone.” Tubi’s Content Acquisitions and Partnerships head Samuel Harowitz proclaimed that fans of horror-thrillers will be “in for a chilling experience” and that Tubi is grateful Spielberg chose Tubi as its streaming outlet.