Just before her latest slasher Heart Eyes hits theaters, Olivia Holt has already found her next horror project. The teen star turned scream queen has just joined the cast of This Is Not a Test, a new YA horror thriller based on the novel of the same name by Courtney Summers. She’ll be joined by The Strangers: Chapter 1 star Froy Gutierrez and Luke McFarlane, with Adam MacDonald set to helm the project as director.
Holt will star as Sloane, one of five students “who take cover in Cortege High to escape a world plagued by the infected. As danger relentlessly pounds on the doors, Sloane begins to see the world through the eyes of people who actually want to live and takes matters into her own hands.” Filming on the thriller is expected to begin sometime this month in Canada.
“As a longtime horror movie fan, I've loved Adam MacDonald's wildly intense and sharply realized contributions to the genre, and I'm thrilled he's sharing his talents with This is Not a Test,” said author Summers. “From its stellar script to its exciting cast, his and Cybill's enthusiasm for the book and their passion for filmmaking has and continues to define every part of this process. I can't wait to see the story come to life–or should I say death?–and claim its place in the zombie canon.”
“With such a beloved YA novel as our source material by Courtney and an incredibly talented cast in Olivia, Froy and Luke, I couldn’t be more excited to begin filming with Adam, whose work I’ve been a fan of since Backcountry,” added producer Cybill Lui. “It’s going to be an intense ride from beginning to end. We’re dead set on making an intense, emotional, and gripping film set in the ‘90’s – a Breakfast Club meets 28 Weeks Later – as we follow our heroine’s journey and ask ourselves, what do you hold onto when everything is gone?”
No release date has been set for This Is Not a Test, though audiences can catch Holt on screen in Heart Eyes when it hits theaters this Friday, February 7. Stay tuned to FANGORIA for more updates.
