Bryan Singer has a bit of a history with comic book movies. We know, we’ll give you a moment to pick up the pieces of your mind after that brain-bursting revelation, but it’s true! The evidence is all over the covers of the current Empire. His production company, Bad Hat Harry, is always on the look out for new source material, and has zeroed in on indie company Red 5 Comics’ **Haunted.
The title, which will be out at the end of April, follows what happens when the barrier between our world and the spirit realm is mysteriously torn apart, leading to an invasion by all manner of ghosts, demons, poltergeists and more. Creatures long thought mythological swarm the Earth and civilization, as you might expect, collapses. Thirteen years later, we meet Sarah McCallister, a young woman who survives by keeping to herself, but when a chance to return the world to normal arises, she finds she’ll have to trust strangers for the first time.
“The problem with most ghost stories is that if the characters simply leave the haunted house, all of their problems are over,” says **Haunted **writer Scott Chitwood, who worked on the book with artist Danny Luckert and colourist Ivan Plascencia. “But if the entire world is the haunted house, there’s nowhere to run or hide. Imagine the end of Ghostbusters, but with the heroes failing and Gozer taking over the world.”
No details were released about what form the adaptation – assuming it goes ahead – might take, whether on the big or small screen. Given that Singer is busy with his mutant chums on both this year's **Days Of Future Past **and 2016's Apocalypse (assuming he does indeed direct that), it’s more likely he’ll develop it for someone else to make.
“As a long-time fan of The Usual Suspects and Singer’s X-Men films,” Chitwood says, “it was very gratifying to find Bat Hat so enthusiastic about the story and premise of Haunted. They have been incredibly supportive and great to work with.”