The Mouth of the Furnace: Felipe Vargas to direct horror fantasy epic

About two years ago, we heard that Emeraude Toubia, who is best known for playing the character Isabelle Lightwood in 55 episodes of the Freeform TV series Shadowhunters (a.k.a. Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments), had signed on to star in the “high concept” horror film Rosario, which would mark the feature directorial debut of Felipe Vargas. That project has since made its way through production and will be reaching theatres tomorrow, May 2nd – and on the eve of his first movie’s theatrical release, Deadline has broken the news that Vargas is set to direct a horror fantasy epic called The Mouth of the Furnace!

Vargas won a DGA Award for his viral horror short Milk Teeth. For a while, he was attached to direct a reimagining of the cult horror film Leprechaun, but we recently learned that he has walked away from that project. When he was working on Leprechaun, he said he was hoping to do something gory, sexy, crazy, and elevated with the property… But it wasn’t to be. Still, Vargas does have a major IP on his plate, one even bigger than Leprechaun (if you can believe a property gets bigger than that one), as Deadline notes that “Vargas is also set to write the big-screen debut of Bob the Builder for Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel, with Jennifer Lopez producing and Anthony Ramos set to star and produce. Oscar-winning animation and production studio ShadowMachine is also producing. The film marks the latest major Mattel adaptation following the massive success of Barbie and is poised to bring the beloved children’s character to a new generation.”

So far, very little has been revealed about The Mouth of the Furnace, beyond the fact that it’s “a horror-fantasy epic inspired by Latin American folklore that will shoot in the Dominican Republic this fall, with Sterlyn Ramirez producing.” So it sounds like Vargas will be making this movie before he gets to Bob the Builder.

As for Rosario, that one was scripted by Alan Trezza (We Summon the Darkness) and sees Emeraude Toubia taking on the role of the title character, Wall Street stockbroker, Rosario Fuentes, who returns to her grandmother’s apartment after her sudden death. While sorting through her Grandmother’s belongings, Rosario uncovers a horrifying secret—a hidden chamber filled with occult artifacts tied to dark generational rituals. As supernatural occurrences plague her, Rosario must confront her family’s buried secrets and face the truth about the sacrifices and choices they made. Toubia is joined in the cast by David Dastmalchian, Paul Ben-Victor, José Zúñiga, Diana Lein, and Emilia Faucher.

Are you interested in Rosario, and are you glad to hear that Felipe Vargas is moving on from that film to the horror fantasy epic The Mouth of the Furnace? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

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