Even though I'm still relatively certain that the imminent Goosebumps adaptation, which stars Jack Black as series author R.L. Stine, is just a repurposed script from a purposed Jumanji sequel, it's been getting quite a lot of hype as a better-than-average family-centric entertainment. This might explain why today brought news that Stine's Fear Street series, which focused more on teenagers than Goosebumps, is being developed into a major motion picture of it's very own. The news comes via The Wrap, which reports that 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment are already deep in the works to bring the series to the big screen. Asked about Fear Street, Stine could only confirm that the deal is currently being negotiated, and that no talent has officially signed on in terms of cast and crew.
Fear Street would seemingly be tooled as a project for horror lovers, and considering the series focus on teens being confronted by horror and terrors of all sorts, inside and outside of high school, there could be some futile ground to both comment and celebrate the genre. On television, this would be an ideal project for someone like Ryan Murphy, though I'm hoping that Fear Street doesn't take such obnoxious pride in how dark the material can get as can be felt throughout Scream Queens and American Horror Story. But in the hands of some of modern horror filmmaking's more inventive artists, from Adam Wingard and Ti West to Rob Zombie and Ben Wheatley, Fear Street could end up being a revelation for honest-to-god horror fans, though its more likely that Fox would go the full comedy route here and look for campy laughs over any sort of gore. Time will tell, but as long as Fear Street doesn't end up involving a paperback bringing a bunch of angry monkeys and dolls, or whatever the hell Jack Black is dealing with in that movie, I'll be content.
