One of Hollywood’s Best Scream Queens Joins John Travolta in New Creature Feature

Melissa Barrera has spent two films facing off against the black-and-white-clad Ghostface killers of the Scream franchise. In her next film, she’s set to fight for survival against some very different killers with a nevertheless familiarly monochrome color scheme. She’s set to star in the new action horror film Black Tides, which will center around a family under attack from a ravenous pod of killer whales.

According to reports, Barrera will co-star with John Travolta in the film, which will be helmed by veteran director Renny Harlin. She’ll star as Rebecca, a woman with a young son, Sebastian (Dylan Torrell, Islands). They’ll meet with her estranged father, Bill (Travolta), on his sailboat off the Spanish coast, but the reunion soon turns into a fight for survival when they’re besieged by yacht-capsizing orcas. The film also stars Travolta’s daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta (Old Dogs), and Álvaro Mel (Killer Book Club).

Says director Harlin, “Melissa brings both fire and vulnerability to a role that demands it all—emotionally, physically, and cinematically. She and John are movie magic together, and they elevate every beat of this story.” The film’s script is by Chris Sparling (Greenland) and Ángel Agudo (Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End); it is currently filming on location in Gran Canaria, Spain.

What Other Orca Horror Movies Are There?

The orca is one of the most fearsome predators on Earth; however, due to their status as icons of the environmental movement and the relative rarity of orca attacks on humans, movies have typically treated the killer whale as a protagonist, rather than an antagonist. Movies like Free Willy and its sequels and the documentary Blackfish have treated the animals as majestic, intelligent creatures. Even one of the rare horror films to feature the creature as a threat, 1977’s Orca, made the animal surprisingly sympathetic. The film was producer Dino De Laurentiis‘ attempt to outmuscle Jaws, and centered around an orca whose pregnant mate was inadvertently killed by a grizzled fisherman, Nolan (Richard Harris). The orca rampages through Nolan’s port of call and devours a number of citizens before Nolan joins forces with marine biologist Rachel Bedford (Charlotte Rampling) to bring the beast down.

Black Tides‘ director, Harlin, is a veteran of both the horror (Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) and seafaring (Cutthroat Island) genres. He previously combined the two in the super-shark horror film Deep Blue Sea, and recently completed another aquatic predator film, Deep Water, with Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley.

Black Tides is currently filming; no release date has yet been announced. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.