Taka Ichise and QWGmire Team on New Horror Slate, With Graveyard Apartment and Momo in Play

A new horror slate emerges as Taka Ichise returns to U.S. filmmaking.

Taka Ichise and QWGmire Team for New U.S. Horror Slate, With Possible Clues Pointing to The Graveyard Apartment and Momo

QWGmire has entered a development and financing pact with Japanese horror producer Taka Ichise, one of the key figures behind the global rise of J-horror through titles like Ring and The Grudge. The deal will see Ichise and QWGmire develop and finance a new slate of horror films for the U.S. market, with four projects already in development and plans to begin shooting within the next 18 months.

Specific titles have not been officially announced, but two projects tied to Ichise’s recent development history are worth watching closely: The Graveyard Apartment and Momo.

The Graveyard Apartment has been listed as an English-language supernatural horror project from Ju-On and The Grudge filmmaker Takashi Shimizu, with a screenplay by Shimizu and Paul Harris Boardman. Boardman’s credits include Deliver Us From Evil, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Hellraiser: Inferno and Netflix’s Archive 81, giving the project a strong horror pedigree if it is part of this new slate. Earlier reporting described the film as an adaptation of Mariko Koike’s novel, centered on a family moving into an apartment building beside a graveyard, where the basement becomes the source of disturbing activity.

The other title to keep an eye on is Momo. IMDb currently lists a project by that name with a synopsis involving a father named Mark taking his son Evan to a family cabin after his father’s death, only for the trip to turn violent when they encounter a vengeful Bigfoot creature on the property.  

That is especially interesting for Midwest horror fans because “Momo” also refers to the Missouri Monster, a Bigfoot-like cryptid tied to Louisiana, Missouri. The legend famously centers on reports from the early 1970s near Marzolf Hill, where witnesses described a large, foul-smelling, hairy creature.  

There was also a separate 2019 report that Orion Pictures, Vertigo Entertainment and Ichise were developing a horror film based on the viral Momo Challenge hoax, with producer Roy Lee noting that the film would not center on children harming themselves.   Whether that project connects to the Bigfoot-focused Momo listing is unclear.

What is confirmed is that Ichise’s return to the U.S. horror market is significant. His work helped define the J-horror wave that reshaped global genre storytelling in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Ring and Ju-On: The Grudge became international horror landmarks, later fueling major American remakes and sequels.

QWGmire’s recent credits include The Life of Chuck, Oh, Hi! and Normal, and the company’s partnership with Ichise suggests a push toward atmospheric, psychologically driven horror with international appeal.

If The Graveyard Apartment and Momo are among the four projects in development, the slate could already be shaping up as a strong mix of supernatural dread and creature-feature folklore. The remaining two titles have not yet been identified publicly.