An untitled horror movie based  on the Gorgon Medusa is being developed at Fangoria Studios (which launched January of this year), which aims to take a closer look at the popular Greek mythical figure whose gaze turns men to stone. Deadline reports that Anna Chazelle (Narrow, Anemone) will write, direct, and executive produce on the project.

“It’s easy to demonise Medusa, but her story is filled with justifiable feminine rage, both at the gods who created her and the mortals who seek to destroy her,” stated Chazelle. “I’m excited to dive into the tale of her nascence into the Greek pantheon and hopefully challenge the widely-accepted definition of Medusa as a mere monster.”

Medusa has indeed been a long-misunderstood figure. Most popularly regarded and depicted as a monstrous creature (see for example 1981’s Clash of the Titans, or The Lightning Thief), she was beheaded by the Greek hero Perseus, who used her head as a weapon until he gifted it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses however, hints at a much darker origin story: originally a beautiful maiden, Medusa was raped by Neptune/Poseidon in Minerva/Athena’s temple. Upon learning of the act, Athena chooses to punish the victim, transforming her beautiful hair into hideous snakes.

The myth has been altered and retold many times throughout history to reflect contemporary sentiments. In the 19th century for example, Medusa became a symbol of liberty post-French Revolution and was used as a popular emblem of Jacobinism; regarded as a victim of tyranny, she held her own kind of revolutionary power.

More recent portrayals and analyses of Medusa, particularly post-#MeToo, have tended to look more kindly upon her – a statue by Luciano Garbati depicting the Gorgon holding Perseus’ decapitated head, for instance, became an avatar of female rage for the MeToo movement. Things have moved a little slower in pop entertainment, but a recent example of changing views appears in the rebooted series Charmed, where Medusa is summoned to punish members of a fraternity for slut-shaming a young girl; instead of killing or banishing her, Macy (one of the protagonists) expresses empathy with her pain as a rape victim and convinces Medusa to undo her damage.

Let’s just say that we’re looking forward to seeing what Chazelle does with this blank canvas.