From the “missed it” file: Clive Barker’s new Midnight Picture Show production shingle, which plans on producing a series of horror films including several adaptations of short stories from Barker’s seminal (in more ways than one) Books of Blood. Among the tales slated for translation to the screen are two of my favorites, “The Midnight Meat Train” and “Pig Blood Blues.” (Besides being great stories, they have fabulous titles.) Apparently things are already underway, with The Plague, based on a new high-concept idea from Barker that’s maybe the best I’ve heard in years, already in production. (Starring James “Dawson” Van Der Beek!)
And once again, I’m a little wary. Books of Blood was, quite frankly, brilliant; a raft of movies made on the cheap and on the quick by comparatively unexperienced directors and starring WB refugees will, let’s say, likely be less so. And we’ve all seen what happens when Barker’s work falls into the wrong cinematic hands. On the other hand, the source material really is strong enough that it would take a concentrated effort to louse it up; moreover the fact that Midnight Picture Show will be mounting what amounts to its own mini-movement of horror films that don’t fall into any of the current horror camps (riffs on Scream, riffs on The Sixth Sense, riffs on Ringu, remakes of ’70s classics, and the Dark Castle widget factory) alone makes it a promising development.