“Pretty Little Liars” creator Marlene King will bring “The Merciless” to the big screen.
The film is based on Danielle Vega”s horror novel, which will be released on June 12 by Razorbill Books. It was inspired by a real-life incident.
“The Merciless” takes place at a small-town high school where a new girl falls in with the popular kids, who coax her into taking part in an attempted exorcism of a school outcast.
King will write the screenplay, and serve as an executive producer on the film, along with Alloy Features's Les Morgenstein Elysa Dutton.
“Like everyone, we are big-time 'Pretty Little Liars' fans; and like everyone, we can't wait to see Marlene writing about teen girls exorcising the devil out of other teen girls!” said Lionsgate's Erik Feig in a press release.
“We know we have something special with this project that'll entertain, shock and make audiences rethink what evil truly means,” added Morgenstein. “Working with Marlene on the film is exciting because it continues a great relationship that started with our work together on 'Pretty Little Liars.'”
“I've had a great time collaborating with Les Morgenstein and Alloy on 'Pretty Little Liars' and have enjoyed the thrill of scaring millions of teenagers every week. I intend to be merciless with the script and hope our audience will need to sleep with their lights on after seeing the movie,” said King.