‘It Follows’ Filmmaker Tackling Horror Thriller ‘They Hear It’ (Exclusive)

Auteur director David Robert Mitchell has been tapped to adapt the horror short They Hear It for Legendary Entertainment and producer The Picture Company.

Mitchell will write the script for the adaptation, but the filmmaker behind the 2014 cult horror hit It Follows and the upcoming Under the Silver Lake will not direct it. Rather, They Hear It is to be helmed by Julian Terry, the filmmaker who originated the short earlier this year.

The story revolves around a mysterious presence called “The Sound” that once heard by anyone has terrible consequences. Sources say the expanded feature will have the Alfred Hitchcock classic The Birds and Stephen King’s adaptation It as touchstones.

Legendary picked up the rights to the short in July and is moving fast. Jon Silk and Blake Avery will oversee for the studio.

The Picture Company’s Alex Heineman and Andrew Rona are producing the adaptation. Jacob Chase, the writer-director of Larry, another horror short being turned into a feature, will executive produce. 

It Follows established Mitchell as a voice to watch in the genre sphere. His follow-up, Under the Silver Lake, which stars Andrew Garfield and debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is set to be released Dec. 7 by A24. He also captured the teen voice with 2010’s The Myth of the American Sleepover.

The filmmaker mostly directs what he writes but has, on rare occasion, stepped out to just hit the keyboard. Mitchell recently penned the sci-fi film Man Alive for Fox, which Atlanta helmer Hiro Murai is set to direct. 

Mitchell is repped by CAA, Good Fear Film + Management and attorney David Fox of Myman Greenspan.