Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal has been quietly going about his business of building up a reputation as one of the horror genre’s finest and most reliable talents for the better part of a decade, and we’re now at the stage where any new project he signs on for is guaranteed to draw interest from fans of being frightened.
Øvredal followed up his breakout feature Troll Hunter with the atmospheric and dread-laden The Autopsy of Jane Doe, before proving he was a dab hand at conjuring up PG-13 scares in the box office success Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. His upcoming slate includes Dracula spinoff Last Voyage of the Demeter and Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk, but he’s just added another project to his plate.
As per Deadline, eOne have come out on top in what was described as a competitive bidding war to land the pitch for Tarot, which was scripted by Jason Pagan and Andrew Deutschman. Øvredal will executive produce as well as direct, with Fuller Media’s Brad Fuller and Alex Ginno also in talks to join the producorial team.
Details are scarce, but Tarot has unsurprisingly been named as a high concept thriller based on the titular cards, and you’d imagine there’s going to be a heavy horror element in there as well. Øvredal is an expert at building tension and maximizing the potential of a jump scare, so we’re excited to see how this one comes together.