UPDATE: As per Simon Barrett’s Twitter (you really should follow him, he’s a funny guy), we would like to clarify that Simon Barrett is not working on TEMPLE, he merely wrote the script back in 2011 with J.T. Petty (THE BURROWERS). He is not involved with its current incarnation in any way.
The Vicious Brothers (the stage name of Colin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz) are a spectacularly committed duo. The directing/writing team behind GRAVE ENCOUNTERS have never made a film outside the horror genre, a relative rarity, even for our favorite directors. Their newest feature is no different.
Teaming with THE GUEST and YOU’RE NEXT scribe Simon Barrett, the horror-thriller, titled TEMPLE, will be financed by the Japanese company Toei Animation and shot in Japan later this year. As a tie-in with the film, a book of ghost stories written by Eiji Otsuka will be released. The plot will:
[Surround] various real temples in Japan… The book will be featured in the film because one of the chapters focuses on the fictional temple in the project.
Toei will also create a 15-part anime series based on the book, because Japanese marketing companies are terrifyingly good at their jobs.
Interestingly, this project (which Barrett is doing without his longtime partner Adam Wingard) has another anime-related counterpart. Recently, it was announced that Wingard would helm the American film adapation of DEATH NOTE, another anime property, without a Barrett-penned script.
But not to fear! Their relationship is as strong as ever. Their collaboration THE WOODS is currently in production, so their time apart is just some good old fashioned branching out. Sometimes people just need space.