Going all the way back to A Horrible Way to Die, director Adam Wingard has proven himself to be someone who can ably work with lots of contrasting tones throughout the horror genre. He gets good performances from his actors, makes interesting choices, and generally makes the movies he's involved with look like they cost a lot more than they actually do. After You're Next and The Guest (both movies are lots of fun if you haven't seen them), I'm excited to see him go a little bit bigger budget with The Woods (which he starts shooting for Lionsgate quite soon).

Now we're getting news he'll tackle Death Note for Warner Bros. after that. I hadn't actually heard of the original Japanese film of the same name until today, but the premise sounds fantastic. Per THR the film "centers on a student who discovers a supernatural notebook that allows him to kill anyone by writing the victim's name who then decides to cleanse the world of whom he deems evil. The student is tracked by a reclusive police office with a cat-and-mouse game ensuing."

Death Note will start shooting after Wingard wraps up The Woods. He also shot the pilot for Robert Kirkman's new series Outcast, which will air on Cinemax later this year. Death Note will be produced by Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Jason Hoffs and Masi Oka. Shane Black was previously attached to direct the project, and a cursory search reveals that Gus Van Sant was once onboard as well. I'm taking it as a good sign that this material attracts interesting filmmakers.

Check out the original Death Note trailer below. I'm assuming that this new version will be live action: