Yahoo News ‘Knock at the Cabin’ Scribes Tackling Horror Thriller ‘Wilderness Reform’ for Paramount (Exclusive)
Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman, the writing team behind the M. Night Shyamalan thriller Knock at the Cabin, have been tapped to adapt Paramount Pictures’ coming-of-age horror thriller Wilderness Reform, based on the novel of the same name written by Harrison Query and Matt Query.
Lindsey Anderson Beer, who wrote and made her feature directorial debut with the horror movie Pet Sematary: Bloodline for the studio last year, is producing the feature through her Lab Brew production company as part of her first-look deal with Paramount.
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Also producing is Scott Glassgold through his production company Ground Control.
The story is set in a wilderness camp for troubled teens and tells of a 13-year-old boy named Ben who is sent there as part of a reform program. Although the counselors are overly happy, a sinister current runs through the place. The boys Ben befriends seem to have unique skills, which is lucky, because the group is going to need all the help it can get in uncovering the mystery behind mysterious events and disappearances, and the evil lurking beneath the camp itself.
The book has been described as having shades of classic Stephen King stories and dealing with themes of loss of innocence.
Lab Brew, which Beer runs with VPs Alexandra Banks and Spencer Walken, has several projects, original and IP-based, set up around town. Beer is tackling an American Girl feature for Paramount, and she is writing and will direct Optimize for the studio. The banner is also with UCP and James Wan’s Atomic Monster on a reimagining of the 1964 classic The Munsters, titled 1313. Beer’s Pet Sematary movie debuted as the No. 1 title on Paramount+ and broke the streamer’s record for the most-watched Paramount+ original movie within the first 30 days of a film’s release in the U.S.
Desmond and Sherman are best known for penning, along with Shyamalan, the 2023 thriller Knock at the Cabin, which starred Dave Bautista and Jonathan Groff. They broke onto the screenwriting scene when they sold their original and Black List-landing spect script Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers to Warner Bros. in a competitive bidding war.
The duo is repped by CAA and Ziffren Brittenham.
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