The late '80s into the early '90s is when I was first digging into the horror genre, and one of the names that I would run across in the pages of Fangoria again and again at that time was Anthony Hickox. Hickox was one of the genre's most prominent new directors then, making his feature directorial debut with 1988's WAXWORK (pictured) and kicking off a five year horror spree that included SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT, WAXWORK II: LOST IN TIME, HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH, WARLOCK: THE ARMAGEDDON, and FULL ECLIPSE. As if he weren't busy enough directing all of those, he also made a cameo in RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD III during the same time frame.
Hickox started branching off into other genres after 1993 and I honestly lost track of his career, but it has been announced that the filmmaker will soon be handling genre material once again with a sci-fi thriller called THE SHRINE.
THE SHRINE's worldwide sales rights are in the hands of Carnaby International, who are currently presenting the project to potential buyers in Cannes. Sebastian Pearson will be producing the film, which Hickox is set to direct from his own screenplay.
The story is
set against the backdrop of war in the middle east, when a US drone strikes a rebel convoy, a blackout engulfs the Syrian-Turkish border. The US and Turkish military team up to investigate, stumbling upon a shrine at a mosque in a deserted town. What they find buried beneath will test the soldiers’ faith.
Pearson had this to say about THE SHRINE:
Our original idea was to take a high concept, action sci-fi idea and set it in a Mosque amongst the Syrian conflict to highlight the craziness of all religious prejudices. Much like Get Out used classic horror to highlight racism in the US."
Production is expected to begin in early 2018.