As the author of House of Psychotic Women, director of Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, and acquisitions executive for Severin Films, Kier-La Janisse is a staple of the horror community.
Now she’s making her narrative directorial debut with The Occupant of the Room, which just wrapped principal photography in Canada.
Adapted by Janisse from the 1909 short story by Algernon Blackwood, the film is described as a special in the tradition of the BBC’s “A Ghost Story for Christmas.”
It’s about a schoolteacher whose late-night arrival at a hotel in the Alps without a reservation leaves him with no option but to accept the room of a missing hotel guest — leading to a sleepless night full of strange and uncanny occurrences.
Don McKellar (eXistenZ, Crimes of the Future) stars alongside Ben Petrie (BlackBerry) and Delphine Roussel (ABCs of Death 2). Karim Hussain (Infinity Pool, Orphan: First Kill) serves as cinematographer.
Janisse’s Spectacular Optical produces with Ruby Mannequin Films’ Liane Cunje and Shannon Hanmer (In a Violent Nature). Severin Films’ David Gregory (Color Out of Space) and Carl Daft executive produce alongside Yer Dead Productions’ Rob Cotterill (Infinity Pool).
The Occupant of the Room is expected to be ready for film markets and festivals in the fall.
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