It was announced a while back that Brannon Braga (“The Orville”) was developing a small screen adaptation of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood, the six volumes of original Barker stories that were published in the mid-’80s. A few stories from those collections have already been adapted for the screen, including The Midnight Meat Train, Rawhead Rex and Dread.
But Deadline reports tonight that the project has now taken the form of a movie, with Braga co-writing, exec producing and directing and Seth MacFarlane exec producing as well.
The 2009 movie Book of Blood, you may recall, was also based on Barker’s tales.
“Written by Braga and Adam Simon (Salem, The Haunting in Connecticut) based on a short story by Barker with contributing original material, Books of Blood takes a journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three tales tangled in space and time.”
Anna Friel (Marcella) will star alongside Britt Robertson (For the People), Rafi Gavron (A Star Is Born) and Yul Vazquez (Midnight, Texas).
Friel will play Mary, a brilliant, beautiful psychologist who has gained fame as a skeptic that debunks all theories or beliefs that are not solely scientifically based. She loses her 7-year-old son to leukemia and then meets Simon (Gavron) who becomes her lover and convinces her that he speaks for her dead child.
Robertson will portray Jenna, a hypersensitive girl who suffers from “misphonia” — an abhorrence of sound. As she learns her mother is about to send her back to the “Farm,” she steals her mother’s cash and sets out for Los Angeles.
Gavron’s Simon is a handsome, charismatic young man who convinces Mary that he is a “ghost whisperer” who speaks for her dead child.
Vazquez will play Bennett, a professional killer who’s latest “hit” clues him in on a priceless book that may allow him and his wife to permanently retire. On his search for the tome, his quest leads him straight into supernatural territory.
The film is expected to premiere in fall 2020.
