CONFIRMED
Craig Zobel is set to direct Blumhouse’s feature adaptation of Something Is Killing the Children, Deadline reports. The news came out of Blumhouse’s 2027 slate presentation at New York Comic-Con. The “prequel” making the rounds alongside it is not a new film. It is a prose novel, Hope Is a Knife, which Penguin Random House lists as on sale October 13, 2026.
What we know
Deadline’s Matt Grobar reports that Zobel will direct the film. Deadline describes him as known for Mare of Easttown and The Penguin. Jason Blum produces for Blumhouse. Stephen Christy and James Tynion IV produce for BOOM! Studios/Penguin Random House. Werther Dell’Edera, the comic’s co-creator and artist, is co-producer. Deadline lists Shaun Sutton, Ryan Turek, Adam Yoelin and Mette Norkjaer as executive producers.
Deadline says the announcement came during Blumhouse’s slate presentation at New York Comic-Con. Other outlets date that BlumFest panel to Friday, October 9, 2026.
The film is one of two Blumhouse projects. Deadline reports that an adult animated series is also in development, with Tynion shepherding it. The Hollywood Reporter also mentioned both projects.
The rights deal itself is a year old. BOOM! Studios and Blumhouse announced that Blumhouse had secured film and TV rights to the series. BOOM!’s archive page is undated, but Comic Book Club places the pickup around October 24, 2025. Longtime fans will remember that Netflix set up a live-action series in 2021 with Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy attached. That version never happened.
For newcomers: BOOM! launched the comic in September 2019, from Tynion and Dell’Edera. It follows monster hunter Erica Slaughter as she deals with the creatures preying on kids in the town of Archer’s Peak.
Now for the prequel. Penguin Random House, through its Crown imprint, lists Something Is Killing the Children: Hope Is a Knife by James Tynion IV and Kiersten White for October 13, 2026, in hardcover, ebook and audiobook. The publisher calls it the first full-length novel of the Slaughterverse. CBR’s headline article gave October 14, but the publisher’s date is October 13, and the Amazon and Goodreads listings agree with it.
The Hollywood Reporter covered the novel deal months earlier. The publisher and author describe the book as a standalone original adventure set within the Slaughterverse. Penguin Random House and Comics Beat say it is a standalone story set in Badwater, Idaho, before issue #1.
There is also a comic prequel. BOOM! Studios released Something Is Killing the Children #0 on November 6, 2024. BOOM! says it was first announced for September 2024 and later sold out at the distributor level.
What we don’t know yet
There is no release date. Deadline says only that the film was part of Blumhouse’s 2027 slate announcement. As of October 24, 2026, none of the reports we reviewed mention casting. That includes who will play Erica.
Some credits are not settled across outlets. Deadline lists Jon Watts as an executive producer, but the other reports we checked do not. Treat that credit as Deadline’s alone for now.
We also have a quote we could not check against the original. iHorror cites Dread Central’s report from the panel, which says Zobel described the script as having “firehoses of blood.” We have not seen Dread Central’s piece ourselves, so this is secondhand.
What it means
This is a real step forward. A rights deal is a promise, but a director with a named producing team means the movie is moving. Zobel’s best-known work, as Deadline frames it, is prestige television such as Mare of Easttown and The Penguin. That is an interesting match for a comic where the monsters matter as much as the grief and secrets of the people in Archer’s Peak.
The prequel news has been overstated. Nobody has announced a prequel film. If you want more Slaughterverse before the movie, the novel and the #0 comic are the official options. Both are standalone, so neither one requires you to have read the whole series.
Everything else, including the date, the cast and the final look of the film, is still unknown. We will update this when Blumhouse or BOOM! announces more.