Liv Tyler To Star In Clever-Concept Space Thriller, The Side Effect

[Brendon Connelly]

The most recent film from Ti West was The Innkeepers, a horror film set in a largely-empty, haunted hotel. It was just about as scary as a chocolate bar, except when it acted like one of those "screamer" videos from YouTube and the scares were cut in half.

But it did work, fairly well, when it was about the characters left in charge of the hotel, chatting, disagreeing, interacting. It made me wish that West would consider a new bias, perhaps trying a talky character comedy instead.

His next film hinges on a large, empty location too, but he's going to crank the isolation up even further. According to Deadline, the film will be about<b></b>:

a woman who spends several months alone in space as an experimental subject for a global pharmaceutical company, and finds herself inexplicably pregnant.

That's an interesting hook, and there's scope for a lot of interesting stuff about pregnancy and the body and so on, but if she's all alone... none of the bantery bits that worked so well in Innkeepers. Shame.

The role of Catherine Rigby, lost in space lady, has gone to Liv Tyler. West says, of his lead actress:

It was essential that I find an actress who could portray a wide range of emotion and always earn the audience?s sympathy no matter what the situation. As soon as I sat down with Liv, it was obvious she was the one.

Sympathy, eh? Oh... I think I can see where this is going.

Tyler may have been producer Ted Hope's idea - they recently collaborated on Super.

Steven Soderbergh is gearing up to start production on a pharmaceuticals thriller, Side Effects. I'm sure somebody will change their title before long.

[thoapsl]

Aw, I really have to disagree with your dismissal of The Innkeepers! I'm sure its style of quiet, odd, slow-burn horror wouldn't be for everyone, but I thought the naturalistic atmosphere (you're right, great banter) and suspenseful tension were excellent – for me, it was genuinely one of the most frightening films I've ever seen, just fantastic. See it in a silent cinema, alone, for maximum absorption; it's not a popcorn horror that rewards keeping yourself at any sort of ironic distance from it.
I've seen a lot of horror films, but Innkeepers would probably be in my top five of "genuinely scary" films (along with the original Japanese Ring, Lake Mungo, The Descent...) Of course, what people find scary seems to vary as much as what they find funny, I guess...