Bill Hader to Write, Direct and Star in MRC Horror Film They Know

Bill Hader steps into horror with They Know, his feature directorial debut for MRC.

There may be no more interesting pivot in modern genre filmmaking than watching elite comedic minds step fully into horror — and now Bill Hader is officially next in line.

In his first feature behind the camera since HBO’s Barry, Hader has locked in plans to write, direct and star in They Know, a new horror film for MRC. Production is set to begin this spring in Los Angeles.

The premise is deceptively simple — and quietly unsettling.

Hader will play a divorced father who becomes increasingly suspicious that his ex-wife is secretly dating a mysterious man exerting a strange influence over their children. What begins as paranoia reportedly spirals into something far darker. Given Hader’s mastery of tonal whiplash in Barry, expect something psychological, uncomfortable and potentially pitch-black in its humor.

The project is based on an original story Hader created with his longtime collaborator Duffy Boudreau, who served as a writer and producer on Barry. Boudreau’s credits also include The Lowdown, Hit-Monkey, Documentary Now! and Big Mouth — a résumé that suggests sharp character work layered beneath genre framing.

Hader will produce under his Hanarply banner alongside Bob Graf, with Alyssa Donovan co-producing. MRC is financing the project.

If this feels like part of a larger movement, that’s because it is. Comedy-to-horror crossovers have become one of the most compelling pipelines in the industry. Jordan Peele transformed social satire into modern horror canon. Zach Cregger delivered Barbarian with unnerving confidence. More recently, Curry Barker has been carving out space in the indie lane. The connective tissue? Comedians understand tension, timing and audience manipulation — three core pillars of effective horror.

Hader’s sensibility makes this move feel less like a surprise and more like an inevitability. Barry often functioned as horror-adjacent storytelling anyway, exploring violence, trauma and moral collapse through absurdist framing. Translating that tonal control into a full horror feature could be electric.

There’s also something inherently unnerving about the domestic setup at the center of They Know. Divorce. Blended families. Outsiders entering intimate spaces. Suspicion rooted in parenthood. That’s fertile ground for psychological dread — especially in a cultural moment hyper-aware of influence, radicalization and the fragility of family dynamics.

No additional casting has been announced, but production begins this spring in Los Angeles.

Nexus Point News was first to report the development.

If Hader delivers on the promise of this premise, They Know could mark the arrival of another major genre voice stepping out from behind comedy’s curtain — and straight into something far more sinister.

We’ll be watching closely.