In 2014, Nick Cutter’s (pen name for Craig Davidson) novel The Troop hit shelves and struck a chord with horror fans. Now the tale of parasite-riddled child-on-child violence is being developed into a film. Paramount’s new genre label, Primal, has acquired the rights to do a feature-length adaptation of the novel.
The Troop centers around Boy Scouts out on their annual camping trip on the remote Falstaff Island. While there, a diseased man comes to shore; the scout master quickly gets the 5 teens away from him for fear of what he might spread. Unfortunately, modified killer tapeworms infect him. Soon, the adults succumb, leaving the scouts to fend for themselves against the infection. If that wasn’t bad enough, they soon learn one of them is a remorseless killer, and even if they escape him, they still have to contend with getting off the island.
This film already has a bit of history to it.
Back in 2019 it was announced that James Wan would be directing The Troop for Paramount’s horror label Primal. While this new film will also be attributed to Paramount’s Label, it would appear that James Wan is no longer attached. Wan was also going to direct ANOTHER horror movie for New Line Cinemas but that likely got scrapped as well.
What probably had happened was this got picked up, had some names attached like E.L. Katz set to helm the project alongside Noah Gardner and Aiden Fitzgerald in adapting the novel. Then the pandemic happened and time had literally been lost for so many projects, and James Wan was already contractually obligated to finish up Aquaman 2 by a certain date so this project got put to the wayside.
What we’re glad for however is that it’s still going forward somehow.
Cutter’s novel became wildly popular among genre fans for its take on the infection-based horror subgenre. Without giving away too many plot points, the infection quickly spreads through the few human hosts it has. When death via ravenous hunger isn’t threatening them, they have to fight off their own troop mate, Shelley. A boy who seems hell-bent on killing everyone there faster than the worms can, and when he doesn’t have a human to take his bloodlust out on, he turns to killing animals in horrific ways.
In 2015, The Troop won the inaugural James Herbert Award for Horror Writing. Chris Basler is attached to write the script for the film adaptation. Lyrical Media will produce alongside Tracy Rosenblum for Paramount Primal.
This early in production, there is no set release window for The Troop. We’ll keep you posted on updates as they become available.
