Posted in: Blumhouse, Horror, Movies, News | Tagged: blumhouse, joe hill, robert cargill, scott derrickson, sinister, the black phone
Scott Derrickson To Adapt Joe Hill's The Black Phone For Blumhouse
Not announced at yesterday's BlumFest, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson has signed on to direct new Blumhouse pic The Black Phone, an adaptation of a short story by Joe Hill. Robert Cargill will pen the script for the film, continuing his partnership with Derrickson. Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw will star. Derrickson has worked with Blumhouse before, having made Sinister for the studio in 2012 and scaring up $87 million with no budget to speak of. The adaptation news was first reported by Deadline.
The Black Phone Book Synopsis: A Derrickson Film For Sure
"Imogene is young and beautiful. She kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead and waiting in the Rosebud Theater for Alec Sheldon one afternoon in 1945. . . . Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with big ideas and a gift for attracting abuse. It isn't easy to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town. . . . Francis is unhappy. Francis was human once, but that was then. Now he's an eight-foot-tall locust, and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing. . . . John Finney is locked in a basement that's stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead. . . ."
I wish Derrickson would just keep making horror films. I am glad that he feels the creative pull to make other things, but so few directors in Hollywood know how to truly scare an audience these days, and that is a rare gift. I am happy to see him come back to Blumhouse as well; Sinister was one of the films that put them on the map; this should be a fun reunion of sorts. Hopefully, we get this film sooner rather than later.