The Babadook director Jennifer Kent is turning her attention to Clive Barker’s The Thief Of Always for her next movie.
It’s been six years since Jennifer Kent made 2018’s The Nightingale, a follow-up to her incredible 2014 debut horror feature The Babadook. Considering that The Nightingale also met with positive reviews, it seems surprising that Kent hasn’t returned to feature filmmaking before now – but that’s about to change.
Kent herself recently revealed that an official announcement regarding her next project would soon be made, and World Of Reel seems to have landed the news on this one.
The outlet reports that Kent’s next feature will be an adaptation of Clive Barker’s The Thief Of Always. The 1992 novel, written and illustrated by Barker, is about a boy who visits a mysterious house owned by a villain who zaps the lifeforce out of his victims. A bit like that 1985 film, Lifeforce.
Given that Kent was able to work wonders with young actor Noah Wiseman and plenty of haunted house conventions in The Babadook, The Thief Of Always feels like it will play to her sensibilities as a filmmaker. From the outside looking in, it’s seemed like Kent is the kind of filmmaker who needs to feel an unusually strong connection to the material she’s working with to move forward with a project, and so we’re looking forward to hearing her discuss what has drawn her to Barker’s tale.
Speaking of Barker, the author is considered to be one of the greats in the horror genre, with previous takes on his work giving us memorable horror flicks such as Hellraiser, Candyman and Nightbreed. We’re still hoping that the author’s 1987 fantasy novel Weaveworld will get the film treatment at some point.
The Thief Of Always is said to be in the advanced stages of development and you can expect it to be officially announced soon, perhaps even with some casting news. We’ll let you know more as we hear it.
