Hollywood has found its next “Backrooms.”
Warner Bros. Pictures has won a bidding war for a cinematic adaptation of the viral internet horror phenomenon “Siren Head.” “Weapons” and “Resident Evil” filmmaker Zach Cregger is attached to the package as a screenwriter, penning the script alongside “Whalefall” and “No One Will Save You’s” Brian Duffield, who will direct the feature.
You might not be familiar with Siren Head, a viral internet creepy pasta phenomenon in the same vein as Backrooms and Slender Man. The concept was spawned by online creator Trevor Henderson in 2018, who posted an image of a giant, lanky cryptid with sirens for a head on social media sites like Tumblr and Twitter.
The concept — once just an ominous, surreal image — evolved over time as other creators got their hands on it. Short films, online clips and video games soon spawned from Henderson’s concept, with the internet creating a world of lore around this giant, lumbering, shape-changing creature that blends into suburban and rural environments.
It’s the exact same trajectory that Backrooms went on, evolving from an image and caption posted by two anonymous 4chan users into the highest grossing feature ever made by A24. Though Kane Parsons eventually became known as the Backrooms auteur through a mix of his online short films and eventual high-grossing movie, he was but one of many creators who jumped onto the communal project over time.
The difference here is that “Siren Head” will be helmed by two established feature filmmakers without direct tie to the source material. Cregger gained massive critical acclaim for “Weapons,” which featured an Oscar-winning performance from Amy Madigan for Best Supporting Actress. Duffield, meanwhile, has a few features under his belt as a director and screenwriter, and will soon hit theaters with “Whalefall,” which sees Austin Abrams (who appears in Cregger’s “Weapons” and “Resident Evil”) get swallowed by a whale.
Warner Bros. can hope that this online adaptation can find the same success as “Backrooms,” which has made more than $330 million at the global box office. It surpasses “Marty Supreme,” which made $191 million worldwide, as A24’s highest grossing film.
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