‘The Ring Franchise’s Mike Macari To Produce Horror Film ‘The Bells’ From Rising Genre Filmmaker Virat Pal

EXCLUSIVE: Mike Macari, an executive producer behind iconic horror franchise The Ring, is set to produce The Bells, a feature adaptation of filmmaker Virat Pal‘s viral seven-minute short of the same name.

A supernatural horror film in the vein of The Ring and Smile, The Bells centers on a cursed phenomenon where victims hear mysterious bells tolling before meeting a deadly fate. Amassing over 9 million views on YouTube for his short, Pal co-wrote the feature screenplay with Danny Barclay and will helm the adaptation in his feature directorial debut. Alex Elliott will also produce the pic.

Pal is coming off of Shudder’s V/H/S Beyond, for which he helmed “Dream Girl,” a segment infusing sci-fi horror with a Bollywood aesthetic. The film was nominated for Best Movie Made for Television at the 30th Critics Choice Awards held earlier this year.

“I’ve been a huge fan of Virat’s work since I first saw his V/H/S segment,” said Macari. “So when I read his feature script for The Bells, I was immediately hooked. The concept of the bells tolling is deeply unnerving and eerie in a way that stays with you long after the credits roll. What Virat and Danny have crafted is something truly special. It has that rare quality of being both terrifying and emotionally resonant. I’m thrilled to be working with him.”

Prior to V/H/S Beyond, Pal helmed a number of other genre shorts including 2023’s Night of the Bride, which won the Audience Award for Best Asian Short at Fantasia and the Jury Award for Scariest Short Film at the Overlook Film Festival, and more recently featured at Fantastic Fest 2025.

In addition to the three American Ring films based on the ’90s Japanese classic Ringu — The Ring (2002), The Ring Two (2005) and Rings (2017) — Macari has worked as a producer or executive producer on titles like The Invisible, Fractured, Alone and Sound of Violence.

Pal is repped by Navigation Media Group; Barclay by Bellevue Productions.