Scream VI Directors Have Signed on to Make a Universal Monster Movie

Fresh off the back-to-back successes of Scream (2022) and Scream VI, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett already have their next project lined up, and it sounds amazing. Deadline is reporting that the directing duo have signed on to make a monster movie for Universal, and their Radio Silence partner Chad Villella is set to produce the film.

Universal has said that this movie, much like The Invisible Man and Renfield, “provides a unique take on legendary monster lore and will represent a fresh, new direction for how to celebrate classic characters. Universal monster films are rooted in the horror genre, with no restrictions on budget, rating or genre. They are not part of a shared interconnected universe, which allows each film to stand on its own. This new direction is filmmaker-driven, inviting those with original, bold ideas to develop stories and pitch them.”

I don’t know about you, but this news excites me to no end. I’m a huge fan of the Universal Monsters, so I love the idea of bringing them back to the big screen in fresh, creative ways. And if The Invisible Man and Renfield are representative of that new direction, I have high hopes for this movie. While I haven’t seen Renfield yet, the early reviews are fantastic, and The Invisible Man was my favorite film of 2020.

Plot details for the project are being kept under wraps, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie was at one point titled Dracula’s Daughter. It “centered on a group of kidnappers who abduct a band of young people, one of whom ends up being the titular character. Woe then befalls the kidnappers.”

We don’t know how much of that original story Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are going to keep, or if they’re planning on scrapping it entirely and starting from scratch, but either way, I can’t wait to see their take on this classic material. Not only did they do a great job with their Scream movies, but their entire filmography is loaded with great work too, like the 2019 gem Ready or Not and a couple of segments in the 2015 anthology film Southbound. So I’m sure they’ll knock it out of the park again with Universal, whatever story they choose to go with.