Hannah Macpherson is in final talks to direct The Merciless, the Lionsgate adaptation of the Danielle Vega horror novel about good girls gone evil, Deadline reports.
The book centers on a new girl at a small-town high school who is taken in by the popular clique, only to have them compel her into joining them in a dangerous exorcism of a punky, rebellious classmate. It sounds like it carries a The Craft vibe, only with possession instead of witchcraft. Here’s how Amazon describes it…
Brooklyn Stevens sits in a pool of her own blood, tied up and gagged. No one outside of these dank basement walls knows she’s here. No one can hear her scream.
Sofia Flores knows she shouldn’t have gotten involved. When she befriended Riley, Grace, and Alexis on her first day at school, she admired them, with their perfect hair and their good-girl ways. They said they wanted to save Brooklyn. They wanted to help her. Sofia didn’t realize they believed Brooklyn was possessed.
Now, Riley and the girls are performing an exorcism on Brooklyn—but their idea of an exorcism is closer to torture than salvation. All Sofia wants is to get out of this house. But there is no way out. Sofia can’t go against the other girls…unless she wants to be next.
By the shockingly twisted end, readers will be faced with the most haunting question of all: Is there evil in all of us?
The script has been written by Marlene King, creator and showrunner of the hit ABC Family teen series “Pretty Little Liars”. She is exec producer. Alloy Entertainment packaged and will produce the film, with Alloy president Les Morgenstein and Alloy Features SVP Elysa Dutton producing.
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-president Erik Feig is overseeing with VP of Production & Development Jeyun Choi Munford and development director Nirokhi Raychaudhuri. Macpherson, directed and wrote the horror thriller Sick House. She’s repped by CAA and Madhouse.