Horror icon John Carpenter is set to direct a big screen adaptation of Randy Queen’s bestselling comic book series “Darkchylde.” Carpenter’s Storm King Productions and Queen’s Darkchylde Ent. will produce. Effects will be handled by Academy Award-winning effects house Weta Workshop (Lord of the Rings, Avatar).

Queen describes Darkchylde:

[Darkchylde] revolves around a very pretty girl’s curse that allows her to transform into different creatures from her nightmares. Ariel Chylde is a physical pandora’s box, and these creatures borrow her blood and bones to hitchhike over to our world. Everytime Ariel changes, she sets a different creature free in her small southern town.

“Darkchylde” was released in 1996 and featured its heroine in various forms of undress. Not surprisingly, the comic went on to outsell such popular books as Spiderman, Batman, and Superman during its run.

Carpenter made his return to horror after a nine-year hiatus this year with his all-girl madhouse-thriller The Ward, starring Amber Heard, Danielle Panabaker, and model/actress Laura Leigh.