With the Saw series (finally) over, screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan are moving onto bigger and better projects. After scribing the last four Saw movies, Melton and Dunstan are currently working on an adaptation of their own novel, Black Light. [Deadline]
The novel, which they also wrote with Shock Festival creator Stephen Romano, revolves around private eye Buck Carlsbad who has unique gifts that help him solve supernatural cases. He’s obsessed with the killings of his mother and father and uses a black light to try and remember his past, as well as contact his parents. After being hired by a reclusive billionaire, pieces to his mysterious puzzle begin to fit together.
If we’ve learned anything from the final Saw movies, Melton and Dunstan are definitely interested in the gorier side of life and I think Black Light will fit in just perfectly. Although the final Saw films were basically panned by critics, you have to give it to the guys for writing some over the top scripts that bring in serious amounts of money. The final installment, Saw 3D, made over $130 million dollars last year. The team has also hired big time producer Michael De Luca (Blade, Magnolia, American History X) to produce the project.
Dunstan and Melton are currently doing production rewrite work on Guillermo del Toro‘s sci-fi thriller, Pacific Rim; as well as post work on The Collection, which Dunstan directed and is the sequel to their 2009 horror film The Collector. It currently has a 2011 release date.
Do you like Melton and Dunstan as a screenwriting duo? What do you think of this project?