You have to respect Jason Blum’s ability to play things close to the vest. Aside from Sinister 2 – which they only had to announce because Eli Roth tweeted about it – he only really lets you in on stuff when he’s ready to start shooting (which seems to be the case here). Blumhouse Productions has announced the start of production on their new film Scary House.

It stars Patrick Wilson (Insidious, Watchmen), Amy Seimetz (The Sacrament), Jessica Tyler Brown (Paranormal Activity 3) and Patton Oswalt (Young Adult) in what’s described as “a haunting slow burn inside a typical suburban home that may or may not be infested with supernatural forces.” The film will be directed by Scott Stewart (Dark Skies) from a script by Chad Hayes (The Conjuring).

In a way, the title leads me to wonder if they’re using something so general as part of some meta The Cabin In The Woods approach, but apparently not. It seems like they’re swinging for the fences to make the “ultimate” suburban haunted house movie.

Per the official synopsis, “After suffering a loss, Jonathan (Wilson) and Lindsay (Seimetz) and their young daughter Amethyst (Brown) move into a modest home in a quiet suburban enclave where they intend to mend their family back to normal. While Jonathan struggles with unemployment and Lindsay yearns for the man he used to be, the tensions between them worsen as things slowly start going wrong with the house itself. Unwilling to move out of the house and unable to suffer one more night of ‘things happening’, they consult paranormal expert Aleksandar (Oswalt) hoping to find solace. Instead, they find that they are living in their greatest nightmare.”

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Blum states, “When Chad [Hayes] approached me with the script, I knew I had to say yes. This movie just takes so many themes that are universal to everyone and it just nails them in a way we haven’t seen before. That’s what’s so scary about these movies, everyone has to live somewhere, right? But the twist here is that we really put you in the characters’ shoes and then we slowly turn up the tension until it’s just unbearable.”

Per co-producer Jake Stein, “Oh I knew we had to do this right away. It combines so many things that audiences respond to with Jason’s love of a contained setting. The script, can I tell you that the first time I read it I couldn’t go to sleep at night? I could just picture all of my possessions in my house being slowly rearranged and it just terrified me all night. By the time I got to the end, I was just reeling.”

Head of production Jeanette Brill adds, “I really think Jason just hates house. And apartments. I mean think about it. PA1, PA2, PA3, PA4, PA5, Insidious, Sinister, Dark Skies and Lords Of Salem. I once asked him what the most terrifying movie of all time was and I’ll never forget his answer – ‘The Money Pit’. Jason f*cking hates ‘The Money Pit.’“