Rob Savage, who directed one of the first pandemic-themed films in the form of last year’s Host – a horror movie about a seance on Zoom gone wrong – has signed on to adapt Stephen King‘s short story The Boogeyman for the screen.
King’s story revolves around a teenage girl and her little brother who are reeling from the tragic death of their mother, and find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house. They struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention – before it’s too late.
Mark Heyman (Black Swan) is writing the script from original drafts by Scott Beck & Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place) and Akela Cooper (Malignant).
The film was originally in the works at Fox, but since they were taken over by Disney – and obviously this isn’t hitting Disney+ anytime soon – the studio will instead release it on Hulu (also owned by Disney, as is everything).
King’s story was originally published in 1978 in The Night Shift, which contained a bunch of short stories he had written for magazines.
Other titles from that collection include Children Of The Corn, Maximum Overdrive, and The Mangler, so it’s a little curious as to why The Boogeyman has taken this long to get a big screen adaptation.
It has been adapted into two short 27-minute films, and been performed at the Edinburgh Fringe festival as a full-length play, but this will be the first time we’ll see a full-length film version of The Boogeyman.
Savage’s Host was well received and got him a three picture deal at Blumhouse. His first project within that deal is another computer screen horror – Dashcam – which received a mixed but passionate response when it premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival. No word yet on when that will get a wide or VOD release.
With his Blumhouse deal and now King adaptation in the works, Savage’s stock is well and truly on the rise.
#Peace.Love.TheBoogeymen
