Temple Hill Entertainment, the producers behind Smile and this year's Smile 2, have lined up their next feature, a screenlife horror named Monitor from directors Ryan Polly and Matt Black.
Reporting the news earlier today, Deadline detail that UK sales outfit Protagonist Pictures are also working with Temple Hill on the feature, due to start production in 2025.
Based on Polly and Black's short film of the same name, Monitor is being described as The Ring for the social media generation:
In Monitor, when a group of social media moderators refuse to publish a horrifying video, a demonic creature starts following them across every screen in their lives. Feeding off fear, the creature hunts them down one by one and attacks them until it gets what it wants… to be let out beyond the screen.
Screenlife horrors such as Host and (the criminally underrated) Unfriended: Dark Web make up a new subgenre that capitalizes on our current screen-addicted zeitgeist.
In a statement, Polly and Black went into more detail surrounding Monitor‘s particularly relevant themes:
“The more we use screens in our daily lives, the more we learn we can’t trust them. It’s a universal anxiety that we think is ripe for a killer new horror concept. Temple Hill have been dream collaborators for us and their record in the genre speaks for itself. We can’t wait to summon this monster to the screen.”
Protagonist Pictures’ CEO Dave Bishop adds:
“Our friends at Temple Hill have an incredibly successful track record for making films that connect with global audiences. They deliver once again with this audacious and bold film that is sure to scare the hell out of cinema goers worldwide.
Monitor is a horror as terrifying as it is timely, with its contemporary take on the frightening online world we’re all forced to navigate. Ryan and Matt have the talent to deliver all the scares and more, and we can’t wait to jump into production early next year.”
Given that Parker Finn's Smile was originally also based on a short (Laura Hasn't Slept) and went on to conjure up a gargantuan $215 million at the box office, it's no wonder that Temple Hill are keen to give another promisingly creepy short a shot as a full feature.
Casting discussions for Monitor are currently under way. We'll keep you updated (and remember to cover your webcam in the meantime.)
