11 horror scripts landed on this year’s Black List

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

As you may know, the 11th edition of The Black List was released today, detailing the best unproduced scripts in the industry today. Voted on by 250 executives, the list contained 81 scripts (the most popular being a film from the perspective of Michael Jackson's monkey, Bubbles). Of those titles, a whopping 11 were horror or horror adjacent. At least Hollywood has good taste in the films they don't make!

Check out the titles that made the cut:

BUMP (21 votes) by Ori Guendelman, Rob McClelland:

After an accidental hit and run, a young lawyer’s entire life unravels over the span of one night as he attempts to dispose of a corpse that turns out to be much more than an innocent victim.

ELI (21 votes) by David Chirchirillo:

Having moved into a “clean house” to treat his auto-immune disorder, eleven year old Eli begins to believe that the house is haunted. Unable to leave, he soon realizes that the house, and the doctor who runs it, are more sinister than they appear.

THE WATER MAN (18 votes) by Emma Needell:

A young boy tries to save his mother from terminal cancer by seeking out the town’s bogeyman, The Water Man, who is fabled to have conquered death.

THE WRETCHED EMILY DERRINGER (16 votes) by Chris Thomas Devlin:

Gleefully terrifying her small town as a serial killer known as “The Misfit Butcher,” 13-year-old Emily Derringer becomes annoyed when a new killer comes to town and residents begin attributing his sloppy murders to the Misfit Butcher. In a macabre coming of age story, Emily must deal with her competition while also taking on the other trials and tribulations of junior high school life.

PANDEMONIUM, SPLENDIDLY MANAGED (15 votes) by Brett Conrad:

A local Phoenix newscaster at the pinnacle of local celebrity slowly descends into the depths of madness as he sees his world around him start to crumble piece by piece all while trying to become a game show host in Los Angeles.

UNTITLED SOCIOPATH PROJECT (10 votes) by Topher Rhys-Lawrence:

A successful New Yorker’s seemingly perfect life starts unraveling once he’s suspected for the murder of his co-worker, and his only alibi is the doppelganger that’s begun stalking him.

SALEM (9 votes) by Mark Bianculli, Jeff Richard:

Fifteen years after the witch trials, the scars of Salem are reopened when young women begin showing up dead. Desperate for answers, the town elders turn to a man of science to uncover the truth behind its terrifying events plaguing their community.

BED REST (8 votes) by Lori Evans Taylor:

An expectant mother who is confined to bed rest starts to experience paranormal events.

THE BOY (7 votes) by Owen Egerton:

Sixteen years after stabbing a classmate to appease a legendary phantom known as the Boy, a repentant woman returns to her hometown to live with her sister and nephew, but as the Boy continues to haunt her she must face her deepest terror and discover the truth about the Boy before he claims her nephew.

GREEN RIVER KILLER (6 votes) by Michael Sheen:

Based on the Eisner Award winning graphic novel of the same name. Detectives in the Green River Killer case attempt to unravel both the facts behind the gruesome murders that plagued the Pacific North West for over a decade and the psychosis of the killer they find themselves face to face with.

WISH UPON (6 votes) by Barbara Marshall

When Claire, a sixteen year old misfit, finds a magic box that promises a chance at the life she has always wanted, she never could have guessed that each wish would demand a deadly payment.

Side Note: WISH UPON has been picked up and is slated to be directed by Catherine Hardwicke.