Los Angeles-based genre label Spooky Pictures, Abu Dhabi-based studio Image Nation, and Los Angeles and United Arab Emirates-based production company Longevity Pictures, through their genre label Sixth Dimension, have signed a financing deal for the upcoming horror thriller Home Safety Hotline with renowned European production and distribution giant Studiocanal.
Scheduled to begin production in South Africa in early 2027, Home Safety Hotline is based on Night Signal Entertainment’s acclaimed puzzle video game of the same name. Directed by Durban-born Michael Matthews (Love and Monsters) (pictured above) from a script written by Nick Tassoni (The Lure). The film will be produced by Spooky Pictures’ Steven Schneider (“The Devil”) and co-produced by Longevity Pictures’ Majid Nassif (“Mercy”) and Kamek Lucas Teitt (“Love and Monsters”).
For Studiocanal, joining the ‘Home Safety Hotline’ underlines its commitment to the South African industry, following parent company Canal+’s recent acquisition of local pay-TV company The MultiChoice Group.
Executive producers for Home Safety Hotline include Image Nation’s Ben Ross (The Watcher), Spooky Pictures’ Jacob Pollack (Weapons) and Sixth Dimension head Jed Benedict.
According to the synopsis, the movie is set in the United States and tells the story of an unemployed, lonely man who takes a job as a telephone operator at a mysterious home security company, only to discover that the company specializes in protecting customers from terrifying monsters that come out at night.
Home Safety Hotline was co-developed and co-financed with Six Dimensions, and will also be responsible for worldwide distribution, with the film being released theatrically in Studio Canal’s jurisdictions in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Benelux, Poland, Australia and New Zealand.
“What we love about ‘Home Safety Hotline’ is the way it takes the most mundane areas of a home – the walls, the basement, the attic – and turns them into something truly frightening, and then plays out the entire nightmare through a struggling company and the unlikely people who support it. It’s both fun and horrifying and unlike anything out there,” said Nassif, president of Longevity Pictures. “Together with our partners at Spooky Pictures and Image Nation, and with support from Studiocanal’s Sixth Dimension, we have found the perfect team to bring this work to life.”
Sixth Dimension head Benedict said: “Just as I wish every night that the creepy humming noises coming from my crappy refrigerator downstairs come from my cheap fridge, I hope every day that a project like Home Safety Hotline would pass by our radar. Spooky Pictures, Image Nation From the moment our good friends at Longevity Pictures first told us about Night Signal Entertainment’s cult game (of the same name), we knew we wanted to be a part of it. And when we found out that Michael Matthews would be directing, this was exceptional.” Nick Tassoni, a filmmaker and a proven monster whisperer himself, devised Our Handbook in hellish conditions, making it impossible to resist. ”
