Losing filmmaker David Lynch (Eraserhead) was one of those tragedies I’m not sure fans will ever fully get over. He was one of the most unique visionaries to commit his stories to celluloid, and we are forever grateful to have known his work at all. Still, there are projects Lynch was involved in producing still on the way. One of those is the horror pic, Hyena.
Variety reports that the film will soon head to AFM. It’s set to star Kiernan Shipka (pictured above in The Blackcoat’s Daughter), D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Warfare), Edgar Ramírez (Borderlands), and Rosemarie DeWitt (Smile 2).
The film “follows Genevieve (Shipka), who brings her enigmatic new boyfriend Alexei (Woon-A-Tai) home to meet her seemingly idyllic family. Their attempts to welcome him begin to fracture as Alexei turns his attention toward the family, working his way into them and exposing long-buried secrets, desires and hypocrisies — until Genevieve is the only one left willing to see him clearly, and saving what remains of her family demands an unspeakable sacrifice.”
Hmmm. I’m guessing this doesn’t go well for Alexei. That tracks, considering Oz Perkins has helped craft Shipka into an actor known for killer portrayals, as seen in The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Longlegs. She has an incredible ability to unsettle, and I hope we see more of that from her in Hyena.
Scott Coffey will direct from a script he co-wrote with novelist Blair Mastbaum. Fun fact: Coffey appeared in Lynch’s Mulholland Drive.
Said Coffey, “Hyena is a very personal film. I’ve always believed the most unsettling horror isn’t supernatural — it’s the moment grief and love turn feral, when we stop pretending we aren’t wild. Kiernan Shipka, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Edgar Ramírez, and Rosemarie DeWitt will bring extraordinary depth, intelligence, and vulnerability to the movie.”
I have to agree with Coffey here. Sure, ghost stories and the supernatural are always good for an effective scare. But it’s what people are capable of doing to each other when the mask slips that is the scariest of all.
David Lancaster will executive produce.
Production on Hyena is set to begin in Spokane, Washington, early next year.
Categorized:News