Exclusive: Compelling Pictures is coming on to produce and finance the high-concept psychological horror thriller The Blur, written and being directed by emerging director Joe Miale. Denis O’Sullivan and Jeff Kalligheri are producing for Compelling, alongside Scott Carr and Josh Crook. Carr brought the project to Compelling back in 2020 as a pitch and Miale wrote the script.

The film follows a visually-impaired family tormented by a ghost only seen by those who have severe myopia. It introduces a villain named Smudge to the horror pantheon, and will use innovative visual techniques–largely in-camera–to bring the terrifying character to life. Producers cited a 2021 study by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness estimated that 43 million people worldwide are considered legally blind, while 295 million people worldwide live with moderate-to-severe visual impairment. And also noted the World Health Organization has estimated that approximately 2.2 billion people worldwide have some level of near or distance vision impairment.