Bret Easton Ellis Will (Finally) Make His Feature Directorial Debut with Horror Film ‘Relapse’ Starring Joseph Quinn

Samantha Bergeson
·3 min read
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Bret Easton Ellis is finally taking a seat in the director’s chair.

After his slated feature directorial debut “The Deleted” was pivoted into a web series on the since-defunct social platform Fullscreen, famed author and screenwriter Ellis will direct horror film “Relapse.” Ellis penned the script about a man (played by “Stranger Things” breakout Joseph Quinn) who witnesses a brutal death during a drug party and is thrust into an unsteady existential crisis upon entering rehab. Variety first reported the news of the project.

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The film’s official synopsis reads: “Fueled by his unstable personality and the invading power of social media, Matt Cullen’s paranoia grows, messing up with his rehabilitation program. As he starts using again, a mysterious presence starts growing around Matt, and a monster that has been haunting him since he was a teenager reveals itself. His therapist tries to help, convinced that the monster is actually in Matt’s head.”

Ellis’ novels have been adapted into films like “American Psycho” and “The Rules of Attraction.” His latest semi-autobiographical novel “The Shards,” set in 1981 Los Angeles against the backdrop of a serial killer’s reign, is set to be adapted into a limited series for HBO. Ellis has penned four films prior to “Relapse,” including Paul Schrader’s “The Canyons” and Tim Hunter’s “Smiley Face Killers.”

“I grew up watching the iconic horror movies of the 1970s. I’ve written ‘Lunar Park,’ a horror novel, as an homage to Stephen King. It seems appropriate that my first feature would be a horror film,” Ellis said in a statement to press. “There is a simplicity to ‘Relapse’ that seems like the perfect form for my directing debut: something direct and impactful.”

Ellis said “Relapse” will be a first-of-its-kind within the horror genre.

“[I’ve] never seen a monster movie in the kind of upscale L.A. setting I wrote about and I am familiar with,” Ellis said. He went on to call the film “personal” and said that it will have his “signature characters — young, handsome, rich — at the center.”

“It will have my strokes: sex, drugs and paranoia. It will also be a fun, lush, and commercial feature film for a lot of people to enjoy,” Ellis said.

“Relapse” is produced by SND, Adrian Guerra’s Nostromo, and Simon Wallon’s Kiss & Kill. SND will handle worldwide sales on “Relapse,” as well as French distribution. SND producers bill “Relapse” as a body-horror mix of “The Thing,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Host,” and “Alien.”

The creature found in “Relapse” that torments Quinn’s Matt character will be designed by Oscar-nominated VFX company DDT Studios, whose work was recently on display in J.A. Bayona’s “Society of the Snow.”

“Relapse” actor Quinn is becoming a bit of a horror staple due to his “Stranger Things” breakout role and an upcoming appearance in franchise prequel “A Quiet Place: Day One.” Quinn additionally will also star in the “Gladiator” sequel alongside Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal.

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