The Occupant

[Sawyer]

New Line Wins Victor Sweetser Horror Short Story Occupant In Outright Buy; 9 Studios Bid – Deadline

A highly competitive bidding war ended with New Line Cinema paying high six-figures in an outright buy for Victor Sweetser’s hot horror short story, Occupant. Barbarian’s Zach Creggers, Vertigo’s Roy Lee and Ground Control’s Scott Glassgold are on board to produce alongside, John Poliquin. Deadlinerevealed the auction as it was heating up today. It is a testament to the power of genre IP.

With the story only on the market for less than 24 hours, a tremendous amount of interest was generated around town for what is being described as the reinvention of the haunted house movie. The story attracted all sorts of suitors and quickly the team of Lee and Creggers (Barbarian) coalesced with Glassgold who originated the project with the author and Poliquin. Creggers and Lee were just the subject of a heated auction for Weapons, a horror film that led the writer/director to make a first look deal at New Line.

Horror Short Story ‘The Occupant’ Scares Up Torrent Of Movie-Rights Bids – Deadline

This is the story of a 100-year-old Victorian home offered up for free, with the caveat the new owner has to put it on a flatbed and move it from the lot it occupies. The story begins cleverly with texts back and forth between a husband and a wife, who cannot get over their good luck to be chosen to take the house. Naturally, we learn there is no such thing as a free house.

New Line is really going to town with horror under the new management.

 

[Sawyer]

Gonna be incredible if a horror movie written by a former G4 host and produced by one of the stars of The Whitest Kids U Know ends up being legit great.