EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures is now developing a feature take of Grady Hendrix‘s novel The Final Girl Support Group, which will be adapted and directed by Christopher Landon, the creative force behind horror hits like Freaky, Heart Eyes and several films in the Paranormal Activity franchise. 

The project reteams Landon with Hendrix after the former produced the author’s My Best Friend’s Exorcism with Amazon Studios.

The Final Girl Support Group was previously set up at HBO Max as a series with Andy and Barbara Muschietti producing in addition to Charlize Theron under her Denver and Delilah Films. Theron is no longer attached to the project at the Melrose Avenue lot, but the It filmmakers remain, producing under their Double Dream label. Adam Goldworm’s Aperture Entertainment, which reps Hendrix, also continues to produce.

Paramount Pictures is also developing Hendrix’s novella Bad Asstronauts. Todd Garner and Goldworm are attached to produce and Hendrix is executive producing that project.

The title of Hendrix’s New York Times bestseller from Random House/Berkley refers to a Los Angeles–based therapeutic support group for six “final girls”— survivors of mass-murderer rampages whose experiences inspired the slasher franchises that saturated horror cinema in the 1980s and ’90s, earning them minor celebrity. The Final Girl Support Group also received the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror Novel of 2021. Hendrix will serve as an EP on the film. 

Landon most recently directed the Blumhouse thriller Drop starring Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar for Universal Pictures. Previously, Landon was brought into the Paranormal Activity franchise by Paramount, writing and producing Paranormal Activity 2, 3 and 4, as well as writing and directing its spinoff Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. Additionally, he directed Paramount’s feature Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. He also directed and wrote the Happy Death Day franchise. The filmmaker also co-wrote and directed Freaky, starring Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton for Universal, and Netflix’s We Have a Ghost, starring David Harbour, Anthony Mackie and Jennifer Coolidge.

Landon is repped by WME, Mosaic and Goodman Genow Schenkman Smelkinson & Christopher.

Goldworm is producing Hannibal at Netflix with Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua. Goldworm/Aperture is active in the horror space with Alpha at Netflix UK with Taron Egerton, and several Hendrix projects including The Blanks at Netflix, Ankle Snatcher at Sony with Ben Leonberg directing and Escape Artists producing, and Horrorstör at Searchlight with Jonathan Levine directing.  

Hendrix’s books have sold 3 million copies around the world. His novel Horrorstör is also a New York Times bestseller. Among his novels are We Sold Our Souls, How To Sell a Haunted House (set up at Legendary with Ghost House producing), Ankle Snatcher, The Blanks (set up at Netflix with 21 Laps) and Witchcraft For Wayward Girls. His nonfiction releases include the Bram Stoker Award-winning book Paperbacks from Hell and These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Changed the World. The author is repped by Aperture, JABberwocky and Gang Tyre.