Perhaps best known for her recurring role in the Halloween franchise, Danielle Harris has also appeared in multiple horror properties and standalone projects over the years. The actress directed her first feature-length film, Among Friends, back in 2013, and is now making a new movie with Joe Dante. Titled Sequel, the picture is expected to take a meta approach to the genre, with Harris recently revealing a bit more about what it will focus on.
The actress shared some details about the project as part of an interview with Instinct Magazine, and alluded to how the “final girl” trope will be a big part of the production, commenting as so:
“I’ve directed a film in the past, but now I’m directing a horror film that is the ultimate Final Girl horror film. It’s about Final Girls who have survived mass murders in rural areas who are going to come together for [the ultimate battle]…The girls are written — it’s fire. Imagine if all of horror’s Final Girls got together? Imagine if Heather Langenkamp was in a movie with other Final Girls? [That’s what this is.]”
We’re certainly keen to see how Sequel will pull off this ingenious premise, which works from a script by James Moran of Doctor Who, Torchwood and Severance fame. From Harris’ description, it does sound like the pic will have a lot to say about the “final girl” trope, while also providing a showcase for actresses in a narrative that will foreground their collective power.
Of course, there’ve been other movies with similar ideas, most notably the underappreciated The Final Girls from 2015, which sees a teenager and her friends sucked into a slasher story. Furthermore, the plot of Sequel does have some echoes of Riley Sager’s book Final Girls as well, wherein three survivors of killing sprees find themselves drawn together for a new mystery.
Based on the talent behind the project, though, we’d expect it to deliver its own unique take on the concept and the “final girl,” with plenty of comedy and meta-textual awareness. The involvement of Joe Dante is also encouraging, meaning that Sequel could end up being something quite special. Given where things are at the moment with filming schedules, we’d hope to see Danielle Harris‘s latest effort arrive on screens in 2021, but will more likely have to wait until 2022 for a release.
