Any good horror movie has to start somewhere and if you are a writer and they want to adapt your story, everyone wins. Except for the studio that loses the rights. That’s what is happening to a recent 39-page short story by Victor Sweetster titled The Occupant.
According to Deadline there was a high-stakes bidding war over his work and that included some big-name studios. On February 9, rights to the haunted house tale went on the Hollywood auction block, and interest in a movie adaptation skyrocketed.
“This is the story of a 100-year-old Victorian home offered up for free, with the caveat the new owner has to put it on a flatbed and move it from the lot it occupies. The story begins cleverly with texts back and forth between a husband and a wife, who cannot get over their good luck to be chosen to take the house. Naturally, we learn there is no such thing as a free house.
The narrator is a teen named Chloe, who lives in the town where the home is being moved. She and her boyfriend Mason are disappointed to see it’s going to be plopped onto The Shole, their nickname for the shithole empty lot where the neighborhood kids go to drink, smoke and lose their virginity. They decide to explore the structure before the homeowners move in.
In a yarn that is one part Poltergeist mixed in with Stephen King, they learn the house is haunted, and its supernatural occupant begins to turn itself loose on members of its new neighborhood, with horrifying results. It becomes a full-fledged scare fest.” — Mike Fleming Jr., Deadline
Since the race was so tight nobody talked about what they were willing to pay. Less than 24 hours later and a winner was announced: New Line. That might be a surprise for some since the studio is scattershot when it comes to successful titles. Last year they had two misses with Don’t Worry Darling and Black Adam. One title, House Party, didn’t even get promoted.
This year seems a little better for New Line with The Nun 2, Shazam! Fury of the Gods and the highly anticipated Evil Dead Rise set to break up any monotony put out by Disney’s cinematic blockbusting.
As far as the short story about the haunted house, it is not easy to find but the site Superpunch thinks they might have found it in this Reddit thread. We can’t confirm this is it, but it has all the earmarks of what Deadline described. Either way, it’s a good read.
*Header image by Texas History.
