In just a little over a month, Starz will be premiering Ash vs Evil Dead on Halloween night, thus cementing it as one of the coolest TV networks to ever exist. And it seems like the execs are fully interested in keeping the horror comedy train rolling, as they’re putting into development the genre-mashing series Trapped, which boasts the unpredictable executive producer pairing of actress Mila Kunis and rocker-turned-filmmaker (but still rocker) Rob Zombie. This should be interesting.
Beyond his producer duties, Zombie will also serve as a director on Trapped, which is the creation of writer Joey Slamon, who worked on Season 4 of Arrested Development and the TruTV comedy Those Who Can’t. This is a pretty sweet concept, too, as Trapped is being planned as a set of half-hour episodes that all take place over the course of one night. What’s happening on that night, you ask? Only a wealthy family falling under the attack of a murderous cult is all.
It sounds a little bit like You’re Next (and plenty of other home invasion thrillers) mixed with…24 maybe? It’s likely that Slamon got her ideas for Trapped while working on Arrested Development, as Season 4 took an entire season to disjointedly tell the events of a relatively short span of time. It’s not a format that too many shows have tried in the past – it was most recently conquered by Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp – and I’m sure continuity is a nightmare for something like that. But then this show is about a nightmarish situation anyway, so I guess it fits.
Kunis, who hasn’t really been a part of a horror production since 1995’s Piranha (unless you count Black Swan as horror), will be producing under her company Orchid Farm Productions, which was set up last year. The only other film she worked on in the executive producer role was last year’s The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, which she also starred in. She won’t be seen but heard in the upcoming animated feature Hell and Back and Season 14 of Family Guy, which premieres on September 27.
Zombie, meanwhile, has been working within the horror genre for ages, starting with his band White Zombie. He first got into writing and directing films in 2003 with House of 1000 Corpses, and followed that up with The Devil’s Rejects and two wildly polarizing Halloween films. His last flick was 2013’s The Lords of Salem and he’s planning on releasing the Halloween-based 31 next year, followed by a sixth White Zombie album. He’s also got a possible Groucho Marx movie lined up.
Starz also has the intense ballet drama Flesh and Bone coming, as well as the Neil Gaiman adaptation American Gods from Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller. Here’s hoping Trapped is good enough to join those shows on the schedule in the future.
