Hollywood is finally making good on a threat made to the end back in 2018: Terrified, one of the scariest movies everis getting a new version. The haunting original, from Argentine filmmaker Demián Rugna, premiered in 2017, but gained more attention in the United States the following year after Shudder picked it up. Then Rugna himself saw his profile raised with 2023. When evil lurkswhich is also worthy of the status of “one of the scariest movies of all time.” Now we know who will take charge of the long-delayed Terrified repetition, and although we are big fans of Noah Hawley (Extraterrestrial: Earth)We can’t help but think that there is no point in playing with near perfection.
The Hollywood Reporter got the scoop from Hawley and softens the blow with a little more context. On the one hand, Rugna will remain involved in the project.
“Hawley will direct and produce the film, which is being developed with Demián Rugna,” the outlet writes. “The project will be a reinvention of the 2017 film, which centers on a police officer and a series of paranormal investigators trying to get to the bottom of supernatural events centered on a neighborhood in Buenos Aires.”
That description is accurate in terms of plot details, but it doesn’t capture how you feel while watching. Terrified. The title is well said, of course, but the film also cultivates an atmosphere of pure dread from its harrowing opening scene. You’ll be looking over your shoulder and checking under the bed for weeks. People in the film die in horrible ways and sometimes come back, and the very fabric of reality begins to distort the deeper the mystery deepens.
Furthermore, while Terrified shares some DNA with haunted house movies, the fact that its story spans a particularly unfortunate neighborhood makes it even more unique. We also love any type of paranormal investigator subplotand Terrified puts an especially disturbing twist on the trope.
It could be worse. It might be a less talented name than Hawley to be handed the keys to Rugna’s terrifying concept. Or it could be a less talented name that attempts to recapture the uniquely distressing possession horror of When evil lurks—Presumably, that is a nightmare that we should anticipate will eventually happen.
rugna’s Terrified is still available on Shudder, as is When evil lurksif you want to plan some sleepless nights.
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