David F. Sandberg is continuing his return to horror. The Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation director has signed on to direct Mommy’s Home, a new psychological horror movie in development at Lionsgate. Written by James Morosini, Mommy’s Home follows a young father whose family life takes a terrifying turn when his mother is unfrozen after being cryogenically preserved. And there’s an especially strange detail to that setup: she was only 24 years old when she was frozen.
According to the film’s official logline, the story centers on “a young dad whose family life becomes terrifyingly unhinged when his cryogenically preserved mom is unfrozen and sent to live with him.”
That premise gives Mommy’s Home the potential to mix psychological horror with some seriously uncomfortable family dynamics. Morosini has previously (during a 2024 interview with Men’s Health) described the project as having the family tension of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, but with big horror swings like Barbarian and M3GAN. He said it would be “a really fun, scary, sexy genre blend of a movie.”
Sandberg is no stranger to horror. He broke into feature filmmaking by expanding his viral short film Lights Out into a 2016 feature starring Teresa Palmer. The movie was a major box office success, earning nearly $150 million worldwide on a reported budget of less than $5 million. He followed it with Annabelle: Creation, one of the more successful entries in the Conjuring Universe, before moving into superhero territory with Shazam! and Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Sandberg returned to horror with 2025’s Until Dawn, a big-screen adaptation of the PlayStation video game. He has made it clear that he intends to remain active in the genre, with several horror projects now in development.
In addition to Mommy’s Home, Sandberg is attached to direct A Little Slice of Hell for Paramount Pictures. That movie is based on a short story by John Goodrich and follows two underpaid supermarket employees who encounter a customer from Hell… literally. Sandberg is also developing a new The Amityville Horror movie for Amazon MGM. He has previously described his approach to that project as “supernatural, classic horror.”
Interestingly, Mommy’s Home has been in development for a while. Morosini originally wrote the screenplay and was attached to direct the movie himself. The filmmaker previously wrote, directed and starred in the 2022 dark comedy I Love My Dad, which won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at SXSW. Morosini also appeared in the 2024 Netflix horror comedy It’s What’s Inside.
Craig Flores, Dawn Olmstead, and Anonymous Content are producing Mommy’s Home. Sandberg and his wife / frequent collaborator Lotta Losten will also produce through their company Mångata. Nathan Kahane, Morosini, David Levine, Garrett Kemble, and Ryan Schwartz are executive producers.
There is currently no release date for Mommy’s Home, and casting details have not been announced.
Sandberg certainly seems to be embracing horror again. Between Mommy’s Home, A Little Slice of Hell, The Amityville Horror, and the newly revived Lights Out 2, the filmmaker has a pretty interesting collection of scary movies in various stages of development, and Mommy’s Home might be the strangest of the bunch.
Are you interested in seeing what David F. Sandberg does with Mommy’s Home? Let us know in the comments.
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