Earlier this year, New Line Cinema acquired the rights to a horror short story titled The Tenantand THR reports today that Blair Butler (Hell Fest, The Invitation) has been hired to write the script. Previously announced, Zak Kreger (Barbarian) will produce the film.
At just 39 pages long, the original horror story was written by Victor Sweetser.
THR notes, “New Line is keeping the logline of the shoot in the basement, but the story is a spin on the traditional haunted house story where a family moves into a haunted house. In this case, when a mysterious, old house is moved to a small town, something sinister comes with it.”
Roy Lee and Scott Glassgold will produce the film adaptation alongside Cregger.
Deadline previously provided the following synopsis…
“This is the story of a 100-year-old Victorian house offered for free, with the caveat that the new owner has to put it on a flat bed and move it off the grounds it occupies. The story cleverly begins with texts back and forth between a husband and wife, who can’t get over their good fortune to be chosen to take home. Of course, we learn that there is no such thing as a free house.
“The narrator is a teenage girl named Chloe who lives in the town where the house is moved. She and her boyfriend Mason are disappointed to find that she’s going to end up in The Shole, their nickname for the empty lot where neighborhood kids go to drink, smoke and lose their virginity. They decide to explore the structure before the homeowners move out.
“In one thread that is one part Poltergeist mixed with Stephen King, they learn that the house is haunted and its supernatural occupant begins to turn on the members of his new neighborhood, with terrifying results. It’s becoming a full-on scare-fest.”
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