Did you see DC’s big-screenShazam!adaptation? It’s pretty delightful, right? At least when,as our own Matt Goldberg pointed out, it’s not being shockingly dark. How did such intense horror imagery sneak its way into a family-friendly, four-quadrant superhero flick? Because it was directed byDavid F. Sandberg, who broke out with horror hits likeLights OutandAnnabelle: Creationbefore getting scooped up by DC. Now, Sandberg will be combining these two impulses – comic books and horror – into one Netflix package. As reported by Deadline, Sandberg will be adapting horror graphic novelThe Unsoundinto a feature for the streaming service.
If you’re a fan of gothic-tinged horror – particularly works set in spooky insane asylums – you will find much to gleam onto inThe Unsound. It’s about a psychiatrist who goes to an asylum where her mother used to work. But she’s not visiting professionally as a consultant. She’s there as a patient. And she will unlock all kinds of dark, bloody secrets about the hospital, her mother, and herself. The original graphic novel comes from writer Cullen Bunn (The Damned) and artist Jack T. Cole (Epicurean’s Exile), who published the piece through BOOM! Studios. Skylar James, whose spec script29 Mole Streettopped the BloodList, will adapt the novel for Netflix.
Here’s my hot take about Sandberg directing this material, which otherwise sounds exactly up my alley. I found his depiction of – and implied solution to – clinical depression inLights Outto be quite insensitive. Normally I eat up horror films interested in allegorizing mental health struggles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I found Sandberg’s treatment of the sensitive issues to be way off the mark. WithThe Unsoundalso wading into the murky waters of “mental health as horror,” I’m weary of what kind of ill-informed statements he’ll be making next. However – I foundAnnabelle: Creationto be quite an improvement fromLights Out, and enjoyed the hell out ofShazam!for both its spookiness and sappiness. So perhaps my opinions of him before were… unsound.
