One of the surprise hit horror movies of 2015 was The Invitation, about a man who shows up to a dinner party thrown by his ex wife and her new husband — and everything goes horribly wrong. We have three people to thank for that: director Karyn Kusama and screenwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. If you want to see more from them, your wish has been granted as all three are reuniting to work on a new horror film.
The film is housed in 20th Century Fox and called Breed, based on the novel of the same name by Scott Spencer under the pan name Chase Novak. The story centers on a wealthy couple living in New York who are having trouble conceiving a child. They turn to a controversial Eastern European fertility clinic and their treatment seems to be a success. However, 10 years later, the procedures side effects turn nightmarish when they begin developing in the couple and twin children.
Kusama is on board to direct, while Hay and Manfredi will pen the screenplay and serve as producers. Breed will also mark the first film from producer Scott Frank under his production pact with Fox to develop a slate of “intelligent, adult genre films” within the $20-$30 million budget range.
Prior to The Invitation, Kusama, Hay, and Manfredi collaborated together on Aeon Flux with Charlize Theron, which is probably something they’d like to forget about. But Hay and Manfredi have also teamed on screenplays for Crazy/Beautiful, The Tuxedo, Clash of the Titans, and the Ride Along movies.
If we think back to Jason Blum, he helped foster a new era of inventive horror, but now more studios want in on the game because — as we’ve seen with stuff like Insidious, The Purge, and Sinister — horror movies made on minimal budgets can make top dollar at the box office if they’re done well.
Here’s the plot description for the Breed book from Amazon:
Alex and Leslie Twisden lead charmed lives--fabulous careers, a luxurious home in Manhattan, a passionate marriage. What's missing is a child, and as they try one infertility treatment after another desire becomes obsession. As a last-ditch attempt to make their dream of parenthood a reality, the Twisdens travel to Slovenia, where they undergo a painful procedure that gives them what they've so fervently wanted...but with awful consequences.
Ten years later, coddled and living in a house of secrets, the twins Adam and Alice find themselves locked into their rooms every night, with sounds coming from their parents' bedroom growing and more disturbing. Desperate for answers, the twins set out on a quest to uncover the truth about the man and woman who raised them. What they discover will reveal a threat so terrible that it must be escaped, at any cost.
