‘Weapons’ Director Zach Cregger Re-teaming with Warner Bros. for Siren Head Movie
Yes, it definitely feels like Warner Bros. is learning the wrong lesson from the success of Backrooms…they are embarking on an adaptation of the 2010s Internet meme/urban legend “Siren Head.” But unlike with Supergirl, they aren’t playing around by the looks of things.
Zach Cregger, who gave them a major win last summer with Weapons, is teaming with the studio again to co-write the screenplay for the Gen Z cyber horror entity. Joining him in the task is Brian Duffield, who will help pen the script and direct the resulting picture.
Duffield is best known for the alien abduction thriller No One Will Save You, which was a pretty big deal when it debuted on Hulu. His next thriller, Whalefall, takes to the high seas later this year with Weapons star Josh Brolin resurfacing to participate. Cregger, not to be outdone, is coming out with a new Resident Evil.
Warner Bros. won an astonishing five-studio bidding war for the rights to make Siren Head into a movie. Created by Canadian horror artist Trevor Henderson in 2018, the creature is the center of another heavily lore-based social media sensation. The film is expected to draw heavily from Henderson’s original art, which he shared on his socials and which went viral after Modus Interactive created a short indie game based on his concept.
Siren Head stands 40 feet tall and has a skeletal frame that appears to be made up of coiled wires and electric cords. Atop his shoulders is a cranium shaped like two emergency sirens, similar to the type used for tornado warnings. What else, right? They emit emergency broadcasts, static, and the distorted voices of loved ones the being uses to hunt victims in dense forest landscapes. So, no, it ain’t friendly.
Warner Bros., seeing how Backrooms and Obsession are doing and wanting some of that dinero (which they need badly), is chasing a growing demo. Gen Z is showing up to theaters in greater numbers than their elders and are flocking to the genre fare. As Backrooms proves, they love seeing interpretations of the creepypasta viral trends they grew up with. Slender Man is another prime example, and perhaps a better one since Siren Head fits that mold perfectly
Scary stuff, right? Right! Now here is where the real scary part begins… When Hollywood sees a trend, they beat it into the ground. Let’s face it, as with superheroes and Westerns, this is destined to happen with the viral horror subgenre. The first sign came when studios decided to comb Reddit for ideas once Backrooms hit number one at the box office and made its killing.
A Siren Head movie might be good – possibly bone-chilling – but I’d urge all to err on the side of caution. In the film industry, quality isn’t always victorious over quantity.
