Variety reports that British production company Hereford Films has acquired movie rights to the upcoming novel “Chase” from prolific horror writer Shaun Hutson. “Chase” is due to be published in the U.K. by Caffeine Nights in October.
“It follows a couple who take their eight-year-old daughter on a dream U.S. holiday, unaware of a series of child abductions and murders and a crazed cult that have spread terror across the area they intend to visit. As they travel along the highways of Colorado they are pursued not just by the forces of an unimaginable evil but also by the darkness within themselves. Nothing can prepare them for the violence, terror and depravity they are to face.”
“This is an edge of your seat horror thriller in the style of The Wicker Man with a very wide mainstream theatrical appeal,” said producer producer Damien Morley.
The option is part of a deal with the British author and his publisher Caffeine Nights that will also see Hereford take rights to Hutson’s 1988 novel “Assassin,” as well as form a new publishing brand with Caffeine Nights.
The author will adapt both “Chase” and “Assassin” for Hereford Films.
Hutson has written nearly 40 novels including 1982’s “Slugs,” which was adapted into a 1988 cult movie by Spanish director J.P. Simon, released in the U.S. by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. His work had included movie novelizations of Hammer Film Productions as well as the U.K. novelization of James Cameron’s “The Terminator.”