Apps are a source of horror in studio projects Gasp and /reddoor

Last Updated on July 21, 2021

Welcome to the modern world, where apps are the newest thing to be terrified of.

Paramount Pictures has decided they're not interested in making a FRIDAY THE 13TH movie and they're hesitant to greenlight a WORLD WAR Z sequel that would be directed by David Fincher, but they have just acquired a new genre project that centers on the dangers of apps.

Offspring Entertainment's Jennifer Gibgot and Adam Shankman are on board to produce a film called GASP for the studio, with Mario Celaya writing the screenplay under the supervision of co-producer Jessica Sharzer, who is a writer and producer on American Horror Story.

In the vein of FATAL ATTRACTION and BASIC INSTINCT, GASP is 

inspired by several true stories of women who are getting killed by men they are meeting on dating apps. A female detective has to go undercover online to catch a killer who is murdering women he meets on a specific popular app. She starts to fall for one of the suspects who has been cleared, only to discover he may in fact be the killer.

Paramount's acquisition of GASP comes just a couple days after Sony purchased a spec script by Teddy Tenenbaum and Minsun Park that is also centered on the dangers of apps. To be produced by Barry Josephson, Liz Bassin and Jim Wedaa, Sony's take on app horror is a supernatural thriller that is described as being in the spirit of THE RING and READY PLAYER ONE.

This one is titled /reddoor and tells the story of 

a young journalist who discovers the new app game he is reviewing has the ability to kill the player once they’ve entered the game world. The journalist must stop the game before both he and his sister end up becoming its victims.

Trying to make the concept of a killer game work is quite a challenge, several have tried and failed. But there's also BRAINSCAN out there, so it can be pulled off from time to time. Maybe /reddoor will be one of the success stories.

While we wait to find out, beware of your apps. Franck Khalfoun already tried to warn you about them a couple years ago with I-LIVED (pictured above).

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