Karyn Kusama, Phil Hay, and Matt Manfredi, the filmmaking team behind the hit cult thriller The Invitation, have boarded the upcoming 20th Century Fox horror film Breed. Filmmaker Scott Frank will serve as producer for the project under his new production deal with the studio.
Kusama is set to direct the film with Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi writing the screenplay and serving as producers alongside Frank. The project reunites the core creative team of one of 2016’s biggest independent successes, the award-winning atmospheric thriller The Invitation, in the same roles.
An adaptation of Chase Novak’s (penname Scott Spencer) acclaimed novel of the same name, Breed signals a continued commitment to sophisticated, adult horror for the team. The story follows a wealthy New York couple who turn to a controversial Eastern European fertility clinic to conceive when all conventional methods fail. Ten years later, the nightmarish side effects of the procedure begin to manifest for—and in—the couple and their twin children.
Breed will be Frank’s initial project under his 20th Century Fox production deal, paving the way for a focused slate of intelligent, adult genre films in the middle budget range of $20-$30 million.
“‘Breed’ was the first piece of material I acquired and was a complete no-brainer—falling right into the sweet spot of the work that I’m trying to do in my partnership with Fox,” said Frank. “The fact that I also get to collaborate with the talented likes of Phil, Matt, and Karyn only makes an already exciting project even sweeter.”
