Macpherson to helm The Merciless, scripted by Pretty Little Liars creator

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Hannah Macpherson, writer/director of SICKHOUSE, the movie that was made in real time through Snapchat videos uploaded over the course of five days, is now in talks to direct a genre film that will presumably be made in a more traditional manner.

Set up at Lionsgate, this new project is THE MERCILESS, an adaptation of the Danielle Vega novel of the same name. The book tells the story of 

a new girl at a small-town high school who is taken in by the popular clique, only to have them compel her into joining them in a dangerous exorcism of a punky, rebellious classmate.

The screenplay has been written by Pretty Little Liars creator and showrunner Marlene King. (The Pretty Little Liars themselves are pictured above.)

King will also serve as executive producer on THE MERCILESS, which is being produced by Alloy Entertainment's Les Morgenstein and Elyssa Dutton. Erik Feig, Jeyun Choi Munford, and Nirokhi Raychaudhuri are overseeing the production for Lionsgate.

I haven't seen SICKHOUSE yet, have never watched an episode of Pretty Little Liars, and haven't read Vega's book, so I'm pretty well in the dark on this one. The story sounds interesting, though, and I'm left wondering if there will really be any demonic forces involved at all…