Junji Ito’s Bloodsucking Darkness manga series is about to be developed into a live-action feature film, says Fangoria Studios. Jeff Howard, whose credits include Midnight Mass, Oculus, and The Haunting of Hill House, has been tapped to do the honors as scriptwriter. A director has not yet been selected for the film. Bloodsucking Darkness will be the first of three projects that Fangoria is aiming to develop from Ito’s vampire series Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection.

Ito, who will also serve as a producer for the upcoming film, was ecstatic at the news, telling reporters “Fangoria Studios is going to adapt my manga!

I’m so excited to see how it will turn out. I hope I get to see the trailer in my dreams tonight.

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Howard, who will also be contributing his talents as executive producer, was equally thrilled. He was quoted as saying: “When I found out a live action Junji Ito adaptation was going to happen, I chased after it with everything I had, because I just couldn’t live with anyone else getting there before me. The combination of fear and feelings is where I always want to be.”

Junji Ito began sinking his fangs into the manga horror genre while working as a dental technician. His breakthrough came in 1998 when he began writing and drawing Uzumaki in Big Comic Studios. Other titles he’s credited with include Gyo and Smashed.

Fangoria Studios debuted in 2021 to produce films, television programs, and podcasts, specializing in the horror genre. Armen Aghaeian, its senior vice president, expressed his endorsement of the Bloodsucking Darkness project by saying: “Ito’s stories and visuals are pure nightmare fuel. The team at Fangoria is honored to be working alongside Junji Ito. We are excited to bring the horror found in the pages of his work to life onto the biggest screens possible.

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Most recently, Ito’s stories have been adapted in Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, which was released by Netflix in January.

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