Earlier this year, Backrooms proved that online horror stories can lead to big success at the box office. The viral creepypasta about liminal spaces was adapted into a film by YouTuber Kane Parsons for $10 million, and the movie made over $400 million by the end of its run in theaters. In other words, you can count on seeing many more internet scary stories on the big screen in the near future.
Back in July, just a few weeks into the run of Backrooms, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the internet horror phenomenon Siren Head will be adapted into a film by Zach Cregger (Weapons, Resident Evil) and Brian Duffield (Whalefall, No One Will Save You). The two of them are writing the film together and, according to the report, Duffield will likely direct. Siren Head is a tall, thin, skeleton-like creature whose head resembles two sirens.
Created by creature designer Trevor Henderson, Siren Head began as a mere cryptid drawing, but once Henderson posted it online, it took on a life of its own, with others creating animations and developing lore to go with it. After the success of Backrooms, Hollywood had its own Siren Head frenzy, which erupted in a bidding war with Warner Bros. Pictures coming out on top.
Exactly how far into the development process Cregger and Duffield currently are is unclear. Cregger has been busy with Resident Evil and his upcoming sci-fi thrilller, The Flood, starring Jennifer Lawrence, while Duffield is on the Whalefall press circuit. At New York Comic Con, Duffield was promoting Whalefall, so Polygon asked him for an update on Siren Head.
"I owe Zach Cregger a phone call because I've been so busy with press, and then he was on the Resident Evil press tour. It's something that we've got to get into," Duffield tells Polygon. It was something that he brought to me a couple of months ago, and it's been really fun to get to know Trevor Henderson, the creator of Siren Head, in that time.
It's been really fun asking him questions like, 'Can Siren Head do this?' 'Can it not do this?' and getting answers, and feeding him the ideas that Zach and I are coming up with and seeing him get really excited." Duffield adds, "I think the idea that Zach Cregger came up with is not what people are expecting, but I think it's really exciting. It's something that Trevor, so far, has seemed really excited about. I can't wait to dive in after I take a long, long nap after [Whalefall]." Whalefall arrives in theaters on Oct. 16 and Resident Evil is playing now.
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