Sometimes the scariest things happen closest to home, and for a brief moment in the pop culture sphere, bedbugs were the horreur du jour. The subject of countless new stories, cable exposés and more, it seems everyone was worried about bedbugs, and where you might get them: Exterminators enjoyed the brief uptick in business. And of course, those critters are now headed to the big screen. Kind of.
Tango Pictures has picked up film rights to the Ben H. Winters’ bestselling horror novel "Bedbugs" and tasked Ti West ("The Innkeepers," "House Of The Devil") to pen the script. But this isn't some kind of creature feature. Bending in a more psychological vein, the story follows Susan Wendt, who lives in Brooklyn with her family, who gets what she thinks are bedbug bites. But the strange thing is, she’s the only one getting bitten, and soon a more sinister reason for what is going emerges. The story is said to be "light on gore but heavy on menace and dread” but it also sounds very much like William Friedkin's "Bug," at least in spirit. If you want to know more about the book, you can check out the review at the Buffalo News by Playlist contributer Christopher Schobert.
Anyway, West is a solid choice to write these, and shows that Tango are looking to get creative and bring some top talent into the fold. No director yet, and that will likely wait until West finishes up the screenplay so they can send it out. And while we're at it, there's hasn't been much word on his next directorial effort "The Side Effect" since Liv Tyler joined in January, but we hope that's still on the move. [Deadline]
