May the Devil Take You's Timo Tjahjanto reveals the title and more details for his new movie, The Handover, written with Sinister creators Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill. The Indonesian filmmaker rose to prominence as part of the directing duo The Mo Brothers alongside Kimo Stamboel before moving on to more individual work with short installments in The ABCs of Death and V/H/S 2. He would subsequently find acclaim with his May the Devil Take You films, of which he is currently developing a third installment, and the action thriller The Night Comes for Us starring iconic Indonesian martial artists Iko Uwais and Joe Taslim.
Derrickson has been well-known for his work in the horror genre since making his directorial debut on Hellraiser: Inferno and co-writing and directing the true-story inspired The Exorcism of Emily Rose. He would later team up with his friend and future frequent collaborator Cargill for Blumhouse's Sinister, which received positive reviews and was a box office hit, and would carry this on into co-writing its sequel while leaving Ciarán Foy to direct and co-writing Doctor Strange with Cargill. After departing the Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel over creative differences, Derrickson attached himself to multiple projects, including the Chris Evans-led action thriller Bermuda, a Labyrinth direct sequel and an adaptation of Joe Hill's The Black Phone, with Cargill penning the latter and reuniting the duo with Blumhouse, where they would sign a first-look TV deal.
A few weeks after first teasing the project's existence, Tjahjanto has taken to Twitter to share the official title for his latest project made with Derrickson and Cargill entitled The Handover, described as "A Christmas story." The writer/director paired the news with a heartwarming look back on his connection to the duo's Sinister when it was originally released. Check out Tjahjanto's post below:
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The continued return of Derrickson and Cargill to the horror genre after The Black Phone is surely exciting, but their partnership with Tjahjanto, one of the minds behind V/H/S 2's terrifying "Safe Haven" segment, is an enticing draw for fans. Though story details are still under wraps for the film, the announcement that The Handover will be a Christmas tale is an intriguing effort for the horror genre. Filmmakers have rarely explored the yuletide season for their stories of terror and when they have, the results have been decidedly mixed.
For every darkly-hilarious Krampus and campy-fun Silent Night, audiences have also been treated to increasingly worse Black Christmas efforts and brainless Gingerdead Man sequels. Given Derrickson, Cargill and Tjahjanto have few misses in their respective filmographies, expectations are certainly high for the trio's partnership and fears of a poor outing are low. With any luck, The Handover will become the rare Christmas horror gem fans watch every season.
Source: Timo Tjahjanto/Twitter