Will helm an adaptation of the novel that follows a 26 year old guy who awakens from a black-out hangover to find that he has thorns coming out of his head, Hellboy style.
Alexandre Aja, who was once circling a remake of Stephen King's Pet Semetary, has now found himself attached to direct a Mandalay Pictures adaptation of a book written by King's son, Joe Hill. The novel is Horns, and it follows a 26 year old guy wonderfully named Ig Perrish who awakens from a black-out hangover to find that he has thorns coming out of his head, Hellboy style. They are growing too, as Ig sets out to discover who murdered his girlfriend and whether that has a relation to the horns that are coming out of his head which make people confess their darkest secrets. I haven't read the novel but the reviews say it is one that conjures up amazing images and Aja has a track record in this department so he seems like a good choice. Aja is a french filmmaker who has devoted his career to horror. He came on to the scene with the aptly named High Tension before remaking The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha, tackling the latter in 3D and creating a silly and gory fun-filled time that caused mass hysteria last summer. He was also the man behind the 2008 Kiefer Sutherland horror Mirrors. Keith Bunin (In Treatment) had wrote the script that Mandalay was developing back in March and at one point Shia LaBeouf was to grow horns as the lead but it sounds like he's had a change of heart. Now that Aja is attached expect his writing/producing partner Gregory Levasseur to do a new polish just like they did on the Maniac remake Elijah Wood is making right now. The Hollywood Reporter say shooting is expected to begin either in the spring or the summer if financing can come together and the hunt is now on for a star. Aja will direct this movie before taking on Cobra: The Space Pirate, his attempt to adapt the Japanese manga turned popular animated t.v. series into a live-action feature film and which we saw a sales poster of some months back. In a world where we are mostly only given horror remakes, let's support an adaptation of a novel that not only has never been adapted but sounds like it has a cool concept to boot!