Things are about to get itchy with news that Emile Hirsch, Justin Long, and Kevin Connolly are set to star in an upcoming creeping, crawling horror movie called Lice. Directed by cinematographer Jonathan Bensimon in his directorial debut, the film is reported by Variety to be scuttling into the territory of The Breakfast Club and Lord of the Flies, only coming with a lot more bugs.
The story comes from an original concept by Connolly, who also backs the project through his company, ActionPark Productions, with a script penned by Anthony Musella and Shaun Harris. Set in the 1980s, the film follows an outbreak of lice in a Long Island high school that is forced under lockdown by the military, trapping the students inside. Pretty soon, there’s more getting under the occupants’ skin as they begin to turn on one another, with the school principal (Long) struggling to keep things under control and going a little crazy in the process.
Thankfully, there’s hope in the form of Detective Sikorski (Connolly), who is stuck on the outside trying to figure out how to stop the outbreak from spreading beyond school grounds. One person who could help in his mission is Mr. Shanker (Hirsch), a science teacher who is using all his knowledge to find out how to stop the bugs from breaking loose and where they originated from.
Speaking about the project and its inspiration, Connolly said, “I wanted to make the kind of movies that I loved as a kid. I’m a horror fan, and I wanted to make something for guys like me — fun, weird, scary, and completely unpredictable. It made perfect sense to launch our feature division with a project this bold and ambitious.” Praising his director on the movie, Connolly added, “Jonathan Bensimon is that rare combination of creative mind and brilliant technician. And when you get two incredible actors who can blend comedy and drama the way Emile and Justin can, you’ve really got something special on your hands.”
The film is currently doing rounds at Cannes, and Highland Film Group is handling international rights, so we’ll have to stay on this bug hunt for a while, hoping that something develops. If you’re up for seeing some favorite creature features to have hit the bug screen, check out our list of 15 unsettling insects in movies here.