Junji Ito’s Bloodsucking Darkness Manga Getting Live-Action Adaptation

Junji Ito’s short manga story Bloodsucking Darkness is set to be brought to the big screen via Fangora Studios.

As reported by Variety, film adaptation of the story will be first of the three projects that Fangora will develop from Ito’s vampire series, Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection.

Jeff Howard, who has previously worked on Netflix’s Midnight Mass and 2013’s Oculus, will be penning the screenplay and executive producing the film. A director for the project has not yet been announced.

Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection

Thirteen chilling nightmares, presented by the master of horror. Try not to be noticed when you eat the secret nectar, otherwise you’ll get smashed… What horrific events happened to create the earthbound—people tied to a certain place for the rest of their short lives? Then, a strange haunted house comes to town, but no one expects it to lead to a real hell… Welcome to Junji Ito’s world, a world with no escape from endless nightmares.

₹ 1,549.00

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Ito’s Bloodsucking Darkness is about Nami, a woman who goes through a bad break up and develops an eating disorder, which makes her vomit blood. She meets a man named Kazuya Tani, who is concerned about her weight loss and wants to help her. However, this being a Junji Ito tale, you can expect the “help” to make things even worse than they were before.

“When I found out a live-action Junji Ito adaptation was going to happen, I chased after it with everything I had, because I just couldn’t live with anyone else getting there before me. The combination of fear and feelings is where I always want to be,” Jeff Howard said about the project.

Ito’s works have been adapted before, including the recent animated series Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre on Netflix, which features multiple Ito stories. In addition, Toonami will also broadcast a four-episode anime inspired by Ito’s popular manga “Uzumaki.”