Legendary Entertainment and Sam Raimi‘s Ghost House Pictures are teaming up to bring an adaptation of My Best Friend’s Exorcism author Grady Hendrix’s best-selling horror novel How to Sell a Haunted House to the screen, Variety reports. Hendrix is writing the screenplay adaptation himself, and James Ashcroft – who made his feature directorial debut with the 2021 horror film Coming Home in the Dark – is on board to direct.
Hendrix’s novel (pick up a copy HERE) has the following description: When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world. Most of all, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she’ll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it’ll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market. But some houses don’t want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them…
Raimi and Rob Tapert are producing How to Sell a Haunted House through their company Ghost House Pictures. Hendrix is also a producer on the film, as is Adam Goldworm of Aperture Entertainment. Romel Adam and Jose Cañas are overseeing the project for Ghost House.
Variety points out that the New York Times review of the novel said, “Hendrix has created a wholly original creature in Pupkin, one as iconic as Chucky or Pennywise. Pupkin represents the losses of growing up. He’s the vehicle of an unfulfilled mother’s pain, her regrets and loneliness. He’s childhood trauma incarnate, delivered from one generation to the next.” I haven’t read How to Sell a Haunted House yet, but Pupkin sounds like a very interesting character. I was already sold on this project as soon as Sam Raimi put his name on it, but this gives me even more reason to look forward to it.
How does How to Sell a Haunted House sound to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and if you’ve read the novel, definitely let us know what you thought of it.