Ever since author Brian Keene burst onto the literary scene with his revisionist take on zombies with The Rising, Keene has been riding a non-stop wave of mid-list paperback success. While Keene certainly hasn’t permeated the horror zeitgeist in the same way as King or Koontz (Let’s face it, few have!), his titles have always been a solid read despite some of their lackluster endings. It’s always been puzzling to me why more of his titles haven’t been scooped up for development by the brass at major studios in Hollywood.
Be that as it may, things are slowly changing for this talented scream scribe, as Nimble Pictures is forging ahead with the development of one of Keene’s lesser known titles, Dark Hollow.
For those of you unaware of this title, the official synopsis:
“After two miscarriages, writer Adam Shay’s (Senft in the book) marriage is on the rocks. On a walk through local woods rumored to be haunted, Adam comes across a strange sight: a statue of a half-man, half-goat creature, a satyr from ancient legends, which comes to life before his eyes. Soon, all the women in town begin disappearing, summoned to the woods by the satyr’s hypnotic piping. When Adam gathers the menfolk to hunt down the satyr and retrieve the women, what they uncover is an unholy evil bent on protecting itself and spreading its seed.”
Nimble Pictures, which also has Terminal under development, another Keene title, has given the directorial reigns to Award winning short film director Paul Campion (Eel Girl, Night of the Hell Hamsters). He’ll direct from a script adapted by Paul Finch, with Elisabeth Pinto (Eel Girl, Night of the Hell Hamsters) producing.
In addition to Campion, Finch and Pinto jumping on board, actor Shane Rangi (The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) is attached to play the role of the malevolent satyr Hylinus.
Furthermore, a tiny little FX shop you may have heard of, you know, WETA (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy), will supply the FX on this one, so at the very least you know the blood and guts will be handled with the utmost care and attention.
Shooting will take place in Kent, England, with Richard Bluck, another Lord alum, attached as director of photography. When said shoot will be taking place, however, is still up in the air.
In the meantime, keep your eyes here for further updates. You can bet with this being a smaller production it probably won’t get a wide release, so you’ll have to keep your ear to the ground on this one.