Seth Grahame-Smith – who is one of the hottest names in horror right now – and his partner David Katzenberg have picked up the right to the 2008 novel ALIVE IN NECROPOLIS with an eye toward turning it into a movie. The duo, who recently signed a deal to resurrect BEETLEJUICE, are looking to produce the film as part of their deal with Warner Bros.
Pitched as CHINATOWN meets THE SIXTH SENSE, here’s how the Doug Dorst-penned novel breaks down:
Colma, California, is the only incorporated city in America where the dead outnumber the living. The longtime cemetery for San Francisco, it is the resting place of the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Wyatt Earp, and aviation pioneer Lincoln Beachey. It is also the home of Michael Mercer, a rookie cop trying to go by the book as he struggles to navigate a new realm of grownup relationships–including a shaky romance with an older woman; a growing alliance with his cocky, charismatic partner, Nick Toronto; fading college friendships; and an aching sense of responsibility for a local rich kid who Mercer rescues from a dangerous prank in the cemetery.
But instead of settling comfortably into adult life, Mercer becomes obsessed with the mysterious fate of his predecessor in the police unit, Sergeant Featherstone, who seems to have become confused about whether he was policing the living or the dead. And as Mercer delves deeper into Featherstone’s story, it appears that Mercer’s own sanity is beginning to slip–either that, or Colma’s more famous residents are not resting in peace as they should be.
Grahame-Smith, who recently scripted ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER and DARK SHADOWS, said this about the project to Entertainment Weekly:
“The book is about a murder mystery, told through the eyes of a young detective who may or may not be going crazy, and may or may not be seeing ghosts that are helping him. It’s a very rainy streets, brooding, straight-forward supernatural thriller.”
No word on whether or not Grahame-Smith and Katzenberg will write the screenplay themselves or hand it over to someone else.
DARK SHADOWS star Eva Green
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