It was teased at the beginning of the year that Brannon Braga (“Star Trek: The Next Generation", "The Orville") was developing a small screen series adaptation of Clive Barker's Books of Blood, based on Barker's six volumes of original stories that were published in the '80s. Multiple stories from the Books of Blood have already been adapted to the screen, including Dread, The Midnight Meat Train and Rawhead Rex.
Well, Deadline now reports that the adaptation has now taken form as a feature film, with Braga co-writing, executive producing and directing what will be his feature directorial debut. Seth MacFarlane will also executive produce.
"Written by Braga and Adam Simon ("Salem", The Haunting in Connecticut) based on a short story by Barker with contributing original material, Books of Blood takes a journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three tales tangled in space and time."
Anna Friel (Marcella) stars in the film alongside Britt Robertson (For the People), Rafi Gavron (A Star Is Born) and Yul Vazquez (Midnight, Texas).
The site also details the cast's roles: Friel will play Mary, a brilliant, beautiful psychologist who has gained fame as a skeptic that debunks all theories or beliefs that are not solely scientifically based. She loses her 7-year-old son to leukemia and then meets Simon (Gavron) who becomes her lover and convinces her that he speaks for her dead child.
Robertson will portray Jenna, a hypersensitive girl who suffers from "misophonia" — an abhorrence of sound. As she learns her mother is about to send her back to the "Farm," she steals her mother’s cash and sets out for Los Angeles.
Gavron’s Simon is a handsome, charismatic young man who convinces Mary that he is a "ghost whisperer" who speaks for her dead child.
Vazquez will play Bennett, a professional killer who’s latest "hit" clues him in on a priceless book that may allow him and his wife to permanently retire. On his search for the tome, his quest leads him straight into supernatural territory.
The film comes from Fox 21 Television Studios and MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door Productions, and is slated for premiere in fall 2020.