Hey guys! Horrorella here...
Interesting development. A few months ago, it was announced that Nicholas Winding Refn would be taking on a horror project as his next film. The project in question was THE BRINGING, which would center on the true story of Elisa Lam, a Canadian tourist who was mysteriously found dead in the water tank of the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. Eventually, a security video from the hotel's elevator surfaced online, showing her erratic and bizarre behavior prior to her death. The story will focus on a man investigating her death, as well as the generally unseemly history of the hotel itself.
It was an interesting project for Refn, who hasn't really directed a straight-up horror film before. But it was not to be. Refn left the project, and now Deadline has announced a new prospect.
Sony is reportedly in talks with Jeremy Lovering to take over. In addition to some televsion work (including episodes of SHERLOCK and MI-5), Lovering also directed the psychological horror film IN FEAR, which was released stateside early this year. It was a simple story of a couple getting lost in the countryside and harrassed by some spooky locals, but Lovering managed to inject it with a crazy amount of suspense and claustrophobia. What could easily have been a bland story was instead and anxiety-inducing 90 minutes.
It will be exciting to see what he does with this material. No release date has been set, but the project is said to be a high priority for Sony, so we can probably expect things to move pretty quickly.