Universal Picks Up 'Grim Night' Spec (Video)

With the town still shaking off the eerie $52.5 million opening of scary movie Paranormal Activity 3, Universal has won a bidding war for Grim Night, a spec written by Brandon Bestenheider and Allen Bey.

Unbroken Pictures, the shingle run by The Strangers director Bryan Bertino and his partner Adrienne Biddle are attached to produce. Universal-based Marc Platt is also on board to produce.

The producers and writers’ camp strategized ahead to make sure the timing was right for the script. They knew they were going to take it to the market after Paranormal became a hit (the only question regarding the sequel was how high was the opening weekend number going to be) and they stoked the flames with a visual aid: a trailer hit the Internet late last week just before Paranormal opened and got some attention on various horror sites. The newbie scribes work at a post-production house and were able to make the trailer.

Grim Night’s conceit is that one night every year, strange creatures attack Earth and kill thousands, targeting different place with no one knowing why. The story centers on a family in small town America that gets attacked and has to defend themselves.