Hayden Panettiere (Scream 4) and Nikki Reed (The Twilight Saga) will join Rebecca De Mornay (Mother’s Day) in director Nelson McCormick’s (The Stepfather) big screen adaptation of author Micheal Hornberg’s 2001 novel Downers Grove. Bret Easton Ellis (“American Psycho”) is attached as screenwriter.

Panettiere will play Chrissie Swanson, an angst-filled high school student convinced that she will be the next victim of a curse that has seen schoolmates die bizarre deaths every year before graduation. Adding to her daily dose of torment are her dysfunctional family and the jock who attempted to rape her at a party.

Nikki Reed

Reed, who starred in this summer’s indie-slasher Chain Letter, will most likely play Chrissie’s sex-crazed BFF Tracy, while the still insanely sexy De Mornay takes on the role of Chrissie’s single-but-dating mother.

Downers Grove is expected to commence shooting in Louisiana next spring. Myriad Pictures is handling distribution outside of the States.