With the major onslaught of comic books headed to the big screen, it’s nice to see a small-press non-superhero book make the cut. Scott Hampton’s ‘Trespassers’ is about “a group of mythbusters, set on debunking the legend of a famous allegedly haunted house”. Of course, when the group actually get to the house, things go awry when they discover that the house is sitting on top of a gate to Hell and that “not all of them are exactly who they claim to be”.

‘Trespassers’ has been optioned for film treatment by producer Ryan E. Heppe with Bob Gale set to adapt the book to a screenplay. Gale is the writer most famous for co-creating and writing the ‘Back to the Future’ franchise in the mid-80s. Gale has dabbled in the horror genre with an episode of ‘Tales from the Crypt’ and he came up with the story for ‘Bordello of Blood’. Heppe is currently producing the ‘Short Circuit’ reboot.

Heppe had this to say about the adaptation:

“A good horror flick needs one thing: a simple, original premise that’s terrifying as hell. Add to that obvious franchise potential, and the opportunity to combine “found footage”-style scares with traditional filmmaking frights and you’ve got something really unique.”

I’m not a big fan of ‘Ghost Hunters’ or Paranormal State or… well anything with bumbling paranormal “experts” searching for ghosts. But the idea of a group of researchers actually finding something demonic sounds like cheesy fun. And, with Gale at the writer’s desk, I have no doubt that it’ll be a blast.

I haven’t read the graphic novel on which ‘Trespassers’ is based, but I may have to check it out before this one hits the big screen.