Tales For A Halloween Night

There were plans to turn the ‘John Carpenter’s Tales for a Halloween Night’ comic book series into a TV program on Syfy, but it has been confirmed that that project is dead.  However, Carpenter has some good news.  When asked if the project was completely dust, the horror-meister replied:

“Oh no, it’s alive at Paramount now.”

Unfortunately, when pressed for details, he replied:

“We’ll see. We’re just getting cranked up.”

Carpenter is, of course, the mastermind behind the seminal 1978 horror film ‘Halloween’, which spawned a slew of sequels and reboots, the most recent of which, 2018’s ‘Halloween’ (different movie, same name) proved to be a breakout hit last autumn.  A sequel to that is in the works.

As for ‘John Carpenter’s Tales for a Halloween Night’, that is a series of graphic novels featuring frightening self-contained stories by Carpenter and some big names from the world of comics, including Jon Bogdanove, Kealan Patrick Burke, Richard Clark, Amanda Deibert, Steven Hoveke, Steve Niles, James Ninness, Jimmy Palmiotti, David J. Schow, Louise Simonson, and Duane Swierczinski.  There are five volumes total, all published by Storm King Productions, whose president, Sandy King edits the books.

It’s King who shed light on why the Syfy planned adaptation was killed.  (For starters, it doesn’t sound like it was going to BE an adaptation.):

“We had one [project] where SYFY wanted Tales for a Halloween Night but it quickly became evident that they just wanted the title. And I really saw a disaster on the horizon.  So I went, ‘No, no, no. This is not a good idea.’ It was a greenlit series but if it’s not gonna be something cool for the fans and for the eventual audience, then I don’t think it’s a good idea to do it.”

It sounds as though SYFY just wanted the title ‘Tales for a Halloween Night’… or more accurately ‘John Carpenter’s Tales for a Halloween Night’, to slap on some generic horror show.

Of course, at this early point, it’s unknown how the project will take shape (Shape, get it?) at Paramount.  Presumably, at least some of the stories from the actual publications will be brought to life.

This project is in the earliest stages, so check back for news as it emerges.

 

Source: ComicBook.com