Aditya Chand, Jay Van Hoy, Junji Ito, more serve as producers
© Junji Ito, Asahi Shimbun, Viz Media
Pan-Asian film and entertainment studio Through the Lens Entertainment and horror brand Fangoria Studios are collaborating to produce films based on works by Junji Ito. The first three adaptations are for Ito’s “The Mystery of the Haunted House” Parts 1 and 2, as well as the previously revealed “Bloodsucking Darkness.”
Armen Aghaeian, Tara Ansley, and Abhi Goel are producing at Fangoria Studios alongside Ito. Yasu Kutami and Tsubasa Yamaguchi of Amuse Group USA and Through the Lens’s Aditya Chand and Jay Van Hoy are also producing. Carlos Aguirre is the executive producer, and he also brokered the film deal.
Variety previously reported that Jeff Howard (Resident Evil 2021 series co-executive producer, The Haunting of Hill House supervising producer) was writing the screenplay and serving as executive producer. Ito himself is a producer on the project. Film studio Fangoria Studios is producing the film. The website also previously repoted that Phil Wurtzel is executive producer under Friel Films. Kevin Nicklaus, Ryan Lewis, and Joe Riley were also listed as executive producers.
“Bloodsucking Darkness” is one of Ito’s many one-shot manga short stories. The story centers on a girl named Nami, who is so obsessed with dieting that she finds herself vomiting blood. She dreams about a world that rains blood, and has founder herself waking up with blood all around her. She meets a boy named Kazuya, who expresses worry about her dieting, and tries to get close to her. The story is available in English in Viz Media‘s Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection book.
“The Mystery of the Haunted House” folows two friends who enter a haunted house. The story has a direct sequel that centers on the cousin of a primary character in the original story. She ends up visiting the same haunted house. Both stories is available in English in Viz Media‘s Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection book.
Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, a new anime based on 20 different Ito stories, debuted worldwide on Netflix on January 19. Ito’s Uzumaki manga is also inspiring a four-episode anime mini-series that will premiere on Toonami on September 28.
Junji Ito “Collection”, a previous television anime of manga by Ito, also adapted stories from the Itō Junji Kessaku-shū collection, as well as the Fragments of Horror book. The anime premiered in January 2018 and had 12 episodes. Crunchyroll streamed the series with English subtitles as it aired in Japan, and Funimation streamed an English dub. The anime included an adaptation of Ito’s Tomie story on its second and third DVD sets.
Source: Press release
