Visionary filmmaker Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City) is set to get back behind the camera for his first feature since 2016’s God of Egypt with the horror-thriller Sister Darkness.
Described as a macabre female-driven fever dream of revenge and gothic terror with deep franchise potential, Sister Darkness takes place in 1930s UK at a time when women were marginalised and exploited. It follows the newly wed but unhappy Alice who stumbles across her doppelganger Isla, whose existence is a mystery seeped in a tale of bloody retribution against her oppressors, the hellish supernatural nightscape, and a dread uprising against the deceitful aristocracy.
Proyas is writing and directing the film, which is inspired by UK horror movies of the 60s and 70s with deep reverence to legendary films such as The Innocents and The Legend of Hell House. The film will shoot in Australia in late 2022, using a unique, fully virtual production process specially developed and refined by Proyas’ own VFX studio Heretic Foundation, which is co-producing the movie with UK-based 108 Media.
“We are excited to be embarking with 108 Media on what we genuinely believe will be the first step of a long and fruitful journey together,” said Proyas. “Sister Darkness will be a milestone in the use of virtual production at this scale and Heretic’s talented team will allow us to establish production values at much higher levels in this budget range than ever before thought achievable. This is the future of filmmaking.”
SEE ALSO: Alex Proyas is developing a Dark City TV series
Proyas made his feature debut with 1988’s indie sci-fi Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds, which led to Hollywood and 1994’s The Crow. His subsequent films included 1998’s cult classic Dark City, along with Garage Days (2002), I, Robot (2004) and Knowing (2009). His last film Gods of Egypt was a critical and commercial disaster, being savaged by fans and critics and losing around $90 million after a poor box office run.
