Stephen King’s ‘In the Tall Grass’ Heading to the Big Screen With the Director of ‘Splice’

If Stephen King wrote it, chances are it will become a movie. King’s next project to head to the big screen is In the Tall Grass, a short story he wrote with his son, fellow author Joe Hill. Vincenzo Natali, best known for films like Cube and Splice, is writing and directing the adaptation, and although his last film wasn’t all that impressive, Natali’s visual talents should translate well to this particularly chilling tale.

While talking to Screen Daily, Natali confirmed In the Tall Grass as his next project, describing the effective nature of the simple story written by King and Hill:

Who would think that grass could be frightening? Trust Stephen King and Joe Hill to find a way. They have transformed an otherwise innocuous Kansas field into a stage for some of the most disturbing horror fiction I have ever read.

In the Tall Grass was first published in Esquire back in 2012, but is now available as an eBook. The story follows Cal DeMuth and his pregnant sister Becky, who make an unfortunate pit stop while traveling through Kansas. Heeding the cries of a little boy lost in a vast field of very, very tall grass, the siblings wade in only to discover that there’s something disorienting and dangerous about this seemingly normal field. Natali further describes the plot:

When they go to assist the boy, they discover that strange forces are at work. Space is warped so that one minute they are together and the next they are miles apart. The field is an ineffable maze from which there is no escape. Before long they have lost their bearings and each other. But they are not alone…

You should really give In the Tall Grass a read when you’ve got about an hour to kill. At just 62 pages, it’s an efficient and unnerving piece of short fiction, and it’s easy to imagine the story expanded to a feature-length film.

Natali, who has also directed episodes of Hannibal, is great at crafting strong, beautiful and deeply unsettling imagery. His last film, Haunter, was a bit of a disappointment, but it did have some nice visual work. In the Tall Grass already sounds more promising than that film, and should provide the director with ample opportunity to flex his creative muscles.