Joe Hill’s graphic novel LOCKE & KEY is an awesome little horror comic that was on the verge of being a television series over at Fox a few years ago. The pilot was directed by Mark Romanek (ONE HOUR PHOTO, NEVER LET ME GO) but never picked up to series. Fox decided to develop AMERICAN HORROR STORY instead. The trailer for the pilot made the rounds on YouTube a while back and it looked pretty great. Having read the comics, I was devastated to learn it wouldn’t be a series. But, looks like there is new hope.
Uber-producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who helped shepherd the LOCKE & KEY pilot, have worked out a deal with Universal to bring the comics to life as a trilogy of films. The pilot featured Miranda Otto and Nick Stahl in lead roles and even had Steven Spielberg as an executive producer. No word on how the films will be broken out/combined to fit into three movies.
Plot: Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them…. and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all…
LOCKE & KEY is definitely a closed story but with the events of the comics building up the tension slowly, I am not sure exactly how it would work as three movies. A television series was ideal to allow the characters to develop and the evil elements to fester, but I won’t argue with Joe Hill getting another project onto the big screen. HORNS with Daniel Radcliffe and LOCKE & KEY will make next year a good one for Stephen King’s son.