This week Horror Happenings has news on a potential director for a popular franchise plus behind the scenes details from fan favorite Bear McCreary on his 10 Cloverfield Lane score. Let’s get to it!

Annabelle 2 Wants Lights Out Director David F. Sandberg

The Conjuring is a horror franchise that has no intentions of slowing down. After James Wan‘s horror film hit theaters to critical and commercial success, Annabelle, the spin-off featuring the doll from hell was announced. Wan would serve as a producer and his long time DP John Leonetti would take the reins as director. Annabelle came to theaters during Halloween 2014 and was a huge financial success. Now with The Conjuring 2 just a few short months away, this week Bloody Disgusting has learned that it is looking as though another James Wan protege, David F. Sandberg, will be sitting in the director’s chair.

If you follow Horror Happenings you know that we’ve been telling you about a feature film adaptation of Sandberg’s terrifying short Lights Out, slated to hit theaters this July. The word on the James Wan-produced indie is overwhelmingly positive and it appears that Warner Bros. is so happy with Sandberg that they’re not going to let him go, allegedly working to lock him in to direct Annabelle 2 after Leonetti opted not to return to the franchise. While there is no reported premise for the sequel, it’s a good sign for horror fans that the studio has enlisted the new director with an installment in one of their most lucrative properties.

Are you excited for Annabelle 2? Tell us your thoughts in the comments! The Conjuring 2 hits theaters on June 10, 2016 and the follow up to Annabelle is expected to arrive in cinemas in 2017.

Listen to Bear McCreary’s Hypnotic Score for 10 Cloverfield Lane

When it comes to film and television, I would argue that science fiction has produced some of the most memorable scores and 10 Cloverfield Lane is no exception. Since the movie premiered earlier this month, fans have been raving about Bear McCreary’s hypnotic score and this week the composer posted the music video for the titular track along with a blog post about the making of the soundtrack.

“Walking out of our first meeting, I had the sensation that J.J. [Abrams] had just given me permission to write the score I’d always wanted to write,” McCreary wrote on his blog. “10 Cloverfield Lane allowed me to draw inspiration from my favorite composers, to work with inspiring filmmakers, to fulfill dreams of exotic instruments and experimental orchestras, and to write a melodic, thematically driven score in the style of those I have always admired.”

McCreary goes into detail about the lengthy process of working on the film, having been hired well before the movie was even cast. He also discusses the the favorite instrument garnering lots of fan attention, the Blaster Beam! “It is a sound that reminds me of the classic science fiction scoring of the ’70s and ’80s, and for good reason: Craig [Huxley, performer and builder of the instrument] told me decades have passed since the last time the Blaster Beam was featured prominently in a film score! This knowledge only inspired me more to feature the instrument in 10 Cloverfield Lane. Blaster Beam can be heard in every single cue in the film.”

Have a listen to the track below. What are some of your favorite science fiction scores? Tell us!

HT: Bear McCreary

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Featured Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

Clarke Wolfe writes Horror Happenings for Nerdist every Sunday. You can follow her on Twitter @clarkewolfe.