MUMBAI: Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma on Wednesday announced his return to the horror genre with his next release.

Titled "12 'o' Clock", the film stars Mithun Chakraborty, Makrand Deshpandey, Divya Jagdale, Manav Kaul, Ali Azgar, Ashish Vidyarthi, Dalip Tahil, Flora Saini and debutant Krshna Gautam. The psychological horror film comes with the tagline "Andhar Ka Bhoot".

"I always believed that horror works more on a psychological level because people get more scared when we stimulate their imagination. The horror genre always excites me and I have tried new techniques in this film to scare the audience," said RGV, who has previously directed films such as "Raat", "Bhoot", "Phoonk", and "Vastu Shastra".

"Also music director MM Keeravani of 'Bahubali' fame has done a horror film background score for the first time," said the filmmaker.

The film is scheduled to release on January 8, 2021 in cinemas.