Halsey has announced she will star in the horror film Replacer, which she has co-written with Avan Jogia. Photo / Getty Images
Halsey is set to make a major move into the horror genre by starring in the new film Replacer.
The 31-year-old pop star has signed on for the “psycho-sexual horror”, which has been co-written by Halsey and actor-and-director Avan Jogia.
The project is being developed with an impressive creative team behind it, including The Matrix film-maker Lilly Wachowski, who has signed on as an executive producer.
Replacer will be directed by Jogia, while production is being led by Kyle Mann of Independent Edge alongside Isabelle Deluce of Soft Focus Films and Damiano Tucci of Getaway Entertainment, in association with Anarchists United. Olivier Picard and David Pierrat of Parce Que Films are serving as co-producers.
Sales for the film are set to launch at this week’s Cannes market, with CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group handling North American rights and Film Mode Entertainment overseeing international sales. Halsey and Jogia are expected to attend Cannes to support the project and meet with buyers as the film is introduced to the global marketplace.
Replacer centres on Proxy, a DJ played by Halsey, who becomes entangled in a disturbing supernatural mystery after arriving in Montreal.
The official synopsis reads: “Stranded in Montreal, Proxy, a troubled DJ, meets an alluring artist and his group of friends who run an underground radio station. The station’s broadcast becomes warped by a mysterious signal hidden deep beneath the city’s subway system. Proxy must escape before the sound turns her, and her new friends, into something raw, primal and unrecognisable.”
Jogia has described the film as a genre-blending horror story with an emotional core.
“Replacer is a bright and electric club horror mashed together with a vulnerable romantic story about belonging and community. Come together. Leave as one,” he said.
Wachowski also praised the screenplay and its unusual tone, suggesting the project draws inspiration from cult film-makers and underground cinema.
Wachowski said: “Avan and Halsey’s script is a surreal hyper-dive into a twitchy, conspiratorial genre-mashing snarl of horror/thriller/comedy, set against the grit and grime of a rarely glimpsed Montreal subculture. This thing is packed! I have the sense that Avan’s eyeballs have gulped down a steady diet of the films I grew up on – David Cronenberg, Alex Cox, Tony Scott, John Carpenter. Anarchists United is beyond excited to join the Replacer team and bring this super cool story to the screen!”
This is not Halsey’s first foray into acting. The three-time Grammy nominee was most recently seen in Ti West’s slasher film MaXXXine opposite Mia Goth, while she also appeared in Tony Tost’s crime thriller Americana alongside Sydney Sweeney.
Jogia, meanwhile, has continued building his film-making career after acting roles in projects including Zombieland: Double Tap and 56 Days. He is also awaiting the release of A24’s Backrooms, which arrives this month.
Gasoline singer Halsey previously revealed she had a spider to thank for her landing a part in 2024’s MaXXXine, the concluding part of West’s trilogy comprising X (2022) and its prequel Pearl (2022).
Appearing on the For the Record show on the Amp app, she said: “I was super nervous because obviously I’m a huge fan of the franchise. I loved X and I loved Pearl. I wanted to tell you guys a funny story about my audition and how I ended up getting the part.
“So I went in and I auditioned just like anybody else. And I was in the audition room with the casting agent, and all of a sudden everybody kind of started freaking out a little bit because there was a spider in the room. And so I walked over and [picked] the spider up by its leg and put it in my hand and just took it out the door of the audition room and through the casting agency and out to the front and put it in a bush, and then I walked back and everybody was kind of like, ‘Okay, you’re a freak’.
“But I told them I’m a witch and spiders are good luck, having a spider in the room is good luck, and I told them, this is a great sign for me. I’m actually really happy about it because it’s good luck for me. And then it turns out he was, because I ended up getting the part and I was so excited about it. So I have to thank my little spider familiar friend because he did a little extra manifesting to help me get it.”