Junji Ito is one of the biggest horror creators in manga, and his long career has led to numerous adaptations of his work. While much of it as of late has been in anime form, several stories such as Scarecrow and Uzumaki have been adapted in live action.
The next manga of his to get the adaptation treatment is Bloodsucking Darkness. Per Variety, the short story of the same name will be brought to film written and executive produced by Jeff Howard (Midnight Mass, Haunting of Hill House. At time of writing, a director hasn’t been locked in, but Fangoria Studios will be backing the film, and further plans to also adapt two other projects from Ito’s vampire anthology, Smashed. Said Ito (who’ll be producing the film), “I’m so excited to see how it will turn out. I hope I get to see the trailer in my dreams tonight.”
Speaking to Variety, Howard had praise for the source material, saying he “chased after [Bloodsucking Darkness] with everything I had. When I found out a live action Junji Ito adaptation was going to happen […] I just couldn’t live with anyone else getting there before me.”
Originally released as part of the Voices in the Dark anthology back in 2003, Bloodsucking Darkness centers on Nami, a young woman with an eating disorder who starts to vomit blood. Her life takes a turn when she meets Kazuya, and the two form a bond before things…take some turns for the both of them, with vampire bats also getting involved in the mix. The story has been reprinted numerous times under different titles such as Blood-Slurping Darkness or The Dark Drinks Blood.
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Until Bloodsucking Darkness hits theaters (or Shudder), there’s other adaptations of Junji Ito’s work to watch online, or even play in some cases. The most recent of the bunch is Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, which hit Netflix back in January.
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