Skill House stars TikTok-er and social media personality Bryce Hall. That’s fitting enough, as the movie is a satire of social media influencer culture, albeit a sure-to-be bloody one. Here’s what we know so far about the film, and when horror fans can expect to see it on the big screen.
Skill House will be produced by Ryan Kavanaugh’s Proxima Studios, and is based on Kavanaugh’s original idea. So far, the production hasn’t announced a firm release date, but according to Deadline, fans can expect the film to hit screens in early 2023. The movie will begin principal shooting in June. Josh Stolberg, writer of Spiral: From the Book of Saw, has recently been tapped as the film’s director. Stolberg also wrote the film’s script.
In a statement to The Wrap, Stolberg describes Skill House as
“a dark satire of social media and influencer culture, exploring how far people will go for online fame.” As far as the commentary the film offers on social media obsession Stolberg added, When a young kid from Maryland, like Bryce, with nothing but a cell phone and a ring light, can attract tens of millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram, it evens the playing field for everyone. But there’s a dark side to this new entertainment landscape, and I’m excited to flip that rock over.”
Stolberg appears to relish the idea of combining the popularity contest of social media culture with the gory world of gruesome shock horror.
“The film will be a “hard R” horror film and will have a gritty approach to what it takes to succeed in a business that relies on fans “liking you.” the director told The Wrap, “there’s nothing I love more than writing a watercooler kill scene… and we’re already over budget with the amount of blood we’re going to use. While this concept could play for parody, I’ll be taking a more serious approach and leaning into scares and horror over humor. I’m not pulling punches. I’ve been given the green light to go for it. And I can’t wait!”
How this will affect the perception of Hall, who is making his horror and feature film debut, is not known, but Kavanaugh believes his social media presence combined with the topic matter of Skill House will make Hall a crossover star. “This film intends to break the boundary between the short-form social media phenomenon and long-form content,” Kavanaugh told Bloody Disgusting.
“Bryce is one of the most recognized and polarizing influencers with over 50 million followers and will certainly be a crossover star. The film digs deep into the human psyche and the new generation’s thirst for stardom, asking how far they would go? It will be bloody, it will be dark, and it will certainly be talked about.”
Daniel Herther, producer of the Nic Cage thriller Inconceivable and currently overseeing production and creative development at Proxima, will serve as the film’s executive producer.
