One of the rising stars in the world of horror literature today is Grady Hendrixwho first rose to fame with his 2014 novel horrorstor. Since then, he has gone on to write a number of more highly popular books, many of which are now being adapted for large and small screens.
Hendrix has not only had success with novels, however. He began his career as a film critic and was even a founding member of the New York Asian Film Festival. Probably building on this experience, he has written screenplays for horror movies such as mohawk (2017), satanic panic (2019), and the coming The black room. Hendrix has even delved into the realm of nonfiction with Paperbacks from hella history of the horror book boom of the 1970s and 1980s, and These fists break rocks, a history of kung fu movies. The man will certainly stay busy, and now the producers are also getting to work. Here are all the upcoming Grady Hendrix movies and TV adaptations.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism – September 30, 2022
The closest project to coming out is My best friend’s exorcism, an adaptation of the 2016 novel, set in South Carolina in 1988, during the height of the Satanic panic, and follows Abby and Gretchen, two best friends in high school who do absolutely everything together. But one day, Gretchen starts acting strangely and Abby suspects she may be possessed.
The rights to a film adaptation of the novel were acquired by Endeavor Content in 2018; in 2022, the company was bought by South Korean media conglomerate CJ ENM and renamed Fifth Estate. It was written by Jenna Lamia (Uncomfortable, good girls) and directed by Damon Thomas (kill eve2020 Dracula). Golden Globe nominee Elsie Fisher (eighth grade) plays Abby, while Amiah Miller (War for the Planet of the Apes) plays Gretchen. My best friend’s exorcism releases on Amazon Prime Video on September 30, 2022.
Horrorstor – TBA
horrorstor is a 2014 horror comedy set in ORSK, a fictional furniture store inspired by IKEA. Every morning, the store employees come to work and find the furniture littered, vandalized and destroyed. The store loses a huge amount of money from the lost merchandise, and three employees volunteer to stay overnight to find out what’s going on. They soon discover that the store, as Hendrix explained in an interview with Deadline:
“…the ultimate haunted house, full of never-ending aisles, murderous ghosts and incomprehensible fake Scandinavian names.”
After the novel was published, it was picked up by Fox to be developed into a TV series, but the deal fell through. In 2020, the rights were sold to New Republic Pictures, which recently won the Oscar 1917, to make a movie version. While it may seem like a few years before the film is finished, it has an impressive team of producers: Bradley J. Fischer (2018’s Suspiria redo, Zodiac), Brian Oliver (Black Swan, 1917, hacksaw back), and Adam Goldworm (My friend Dahmer). It looks like Hendrix is supposed to be writing the screenplay, so at least the movie shouldn’t slaughter the source material too horribly.
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Killing Vampire – TBA
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Killing Vampires is about a disgruntled housewife named Patricia, whose only joy in life comes from her neighborhood book club. However, when a young man moves into the neighborhood and joins the book club, Patricia notices that something isn’t right about him – and then the kids begin to disappear.
The editing rights sparked a bidding war before the book even came out in 2020. PMK Productions grabbed the rights and partnered with Amazon to distribute. Southern Book Club will be adapted as a TV series, with Hendrix and Brett Cohen serving as executive producers. Hendrix says of the book om Deadline:
“It’s a power ballad tribute to the mothers I grew up with, who seemed wine-drinking, book-reading powder puffs, but who regularly dealt with the kind of darkness that made Jack Reacher cry.”
We haven’t received much information beyond that, but with a big name like Amazon behind the project, it should go fairly smoothly.
The Final Girl Support Group – TBA
The last girl support group is Hendrix’s most recent book and one of his most successful. It centers on a support group for women who survived horrific massacres, all of which are based on characters from famous slasher movies. There’s Adrienne, a camp counselor who survived a deranged killer trying to avenge their son; Marilyn, who was attacked by a pack of cannibals; Dani, whose brother escaped a mental asylum and tried to kill her on Halloween night; Julie, whose boyfriend tried to kill her; Heather, who was hunted by the ‘Dream Killer’; and Lynette, a survivor of the Silent Night Slayings. Each of these latter girls deals with the trauma of their experiences, and as the book progresses, they begin to fear that their stories may not be over.
The novel was published in 2021 and a television series is currently in the works. It is written by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain (The solution) and executive produced by Grady Hendrix, Megan Ellison (Hair), Sue Naegle (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Patrick Chu (Miss Sloane), and Adam Goldworm (My friend Dahmer). Given that the book was only released last year, the series is probably still very early in development. Nevertheless, Annapurna Pictures is currently being distributed once it is ready.