Fantasy and horror virtuoso Ray Bradbury soon will have one of his lesser-known masterworks adapted to the Silver Screen.
The Halloween Tree–a 1972 chilling journey through the fantastic–will be brought to cinematic life by Warner Bros., according to Deadline.
The feature film–with Will Dunn handling the screenplay–will be based on the Bradbury story that draws the audience into the world of “Tom and his schoolmates, who begin to investigate the strange happenings in their small town on Halloween night.”
The official film synopsis says the horror truly begins when one of the schoolboys, Pip, “is abducted by a powerful demon from the Land of the Dead. With the help of an unlikely ally–a mysterious figure named Moundshroud–Tom and his pals must journey into the Land of the Dead to save their friend.”
This quest to rescue their friend leads the boys and Moundshroud “across time and space to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome” as well as to “Notre Dame in medieval Paris and the Day of the Dead in Mexico.”
Along the way, they learn “the origins of the holiday they celebrate and the role that the fear of death, ghosts and the haunts has played in shaping civilization.”
The Halloween Tree–“with its many branches laden with jack-o’-lanterns–serves as a metaphor for the historical confluence of those traditions.”
This book already has a history with the small screen, having been made into an animated TV movie released by Hanna-Barbera in 1993. Bradbury himself penned the adaptation and took home a 1994 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program for his efforts.
Perhaps Bradbury’s most celebrated novel —Fahrenheit 451–enjoyed a film adaptation by HBO in 2018. That film starred Michael B. Jordan, Michael Shannon and Sofia Boutella.
Keep reading Horror News Network for all updates on this adaptation of The Halloween Tree.
