John Carpenter to direct adaptation of comic Darkchylde

Darkchylde Entertainment and Weta Workshop (@wetaworkshop) announced today that a project Weta has worked on for some time has found a director. And it’s none other than ‘cult cinema icon’ John Carpenter.

John Carpenter is onboard to direct Darkchylde, based on the comic by Randy Queen about a good hearted southern teen cursed to become the creatures from her many recurring nightmares. Every time Ariel Chylde transforms, she sheds her skin and a new nightmare emerges from her Id to act out her deepest, darkest impulses.

John Carpenter and Sandy King’s Storm King Productions have teamed up with Randy and Sarah Queen’s Darkchylde Entertainment to produce the film, following the release of test footage created by Richard Taylor’s Academy Award Winning Weta Workshop (The Lord of the Rings, Avatar, King Kong, The Hobbit).

John Carpenter said, “Randy Queen’s hijacked angel, Ariel Chylde, is the best young female character since Laurie Strode in Halloween. Bringing Ariel and her dark mysteries to life should be quite an adventure for us all.”

Adds Queen, “I’m beyond thrilled that John Carpenter, one of our most important, and legendary genre directors, and the man responsible for such landmark films as THE THING, and HALLOWEEN has come onboard with Weta Workshop to help bring the nightmarish tale of Ariel Chylde to the silver screen. As a horror fan, the thought of Carpenter and Weta together, beautiful dreamscapes, and multiple transformations, makes me incredibly excited. There is a reason nearly his entire catalogue has, or is being remade, and it’s because Carpenter is a genius.”

Offering a stark contrast to traditional hero comics, Darkchylde was a breakout sensation of the late 90’s and early 2000’s, garnering immediate acclaim and a large female fanbase. The property went on to outsell Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman in both domestic and foreign audiences, and has been realized in toys, trading cards, apparel, lunch boxes, mini busts, and more recently a hit crossover with Top Cow, and a statue from Pop Culture Shock Toys. A trade paperback collecting the “Legacy” and “Redemption” series of Darkchylde books also ships in January from Image Comics.

Check out the teaser poster from Darkchylde below.