It’s a good time to be a horror fan, as another franchise was just announced by the creators and producers of The Conjuring series. Chad and Carey Hayes have named Darren Lynn Bousman to direct the new franchise called The LaLaurie Mansion. Bousman is currently coming off the recently released Spiral, as well as the last three Saw movies. The Hayes brothers have already written the screenplay, and will be joined by Faster Horse Pictures as producers.
The LaLaurie Mansion will set up a series of movies about the haunted property of the same name in New Orleans. The film is hoping to be released in Q4 of this year, and is looking to start production as soon as possible, with some of the shoot being filmed on location. Based on the success of Spiral and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It this past year, it’s clear that we may have another profitable franchise on our hands.
The legend behind the house began with its resident Madame LaLaurie, a socialite and serial killer who tortured and murdered slaves during the 19th century. If this sounds familiar, you may remember the third season of American Horror Story, in which Kathy Bates portrayed the real-life Delphine LaLaurie. LaLaurie escaped during a fire in 1834 and manage to elude authorities, and it’s unclear what happened in the later years of her life. The mansion burned down, but was rebuilt into the appearance it has today.
Bousman is a prolific horror director, who is arguably behind the success of the wildly popular Saw series, as he directed four out of nine of the films in the franchise. He is also the director of the underrated cult film Repo! The Genetic Opera, a dark rock opera featuring Alexa Vega and Paris Hilton. In addition to The LaLaurie Mansion, he has several horror films in the works, including an untitled thriller set in the world of flash mobs, a film about two scammers who flip NY apartments, as well as a sci-fi film that follows a Special Ops team as they battle against an alien race.
The LaLaurie Mansion will most likely start filming shortly, so we will likely have more casting and production news coming soon.