“Grass, but make it scary” may seem like a dubious set-up for a horror story, but the first trailer for Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of Stephen King and Joe Hill’s novella actually makes the humble lawn plant quite terrifying indeed.
Even before the premise is introduced, the clip opens with shots of breeze passing unsettlingly through the titular tall grass. This freaky field of green is then revealed to be unfathomably large, and inside, there’s a young boy yelling for help. Siblings Becky and Cal get out of the car to look for him, and what starts off as a simple Good Samaritanic deed devolves into an unending night (or week, or month) of disorientation, dehydration, lost signals, unsavory technological glitches, mud (yes, the mud is scary here, too), vultures, and mind-bending hallucinations (or are they???).
The source material, written by the father-son duo, was first published back in 2012 by Esquire magazine. Released in two parts, it can be read on the Esquire website here and here, and there’s an e-book and audiobook edition as well.
In the Tall Grass is directed by horror vet Vincenzo Natali, who tweeted some truly horrifying concept art by the film’s conceptual designer, ero-guro manga artist Shintaro Kago, back in 2018, and stars Patrick Wilson, Laysla De Oliveira, Avery Whitted, and more. It comes out on Netflix October 4.
I am deeply honored and proud to announce that @shintarokago is the conceptual designer of my adaptation of @joe_hill ‘s and @StephenKing ‘s IN THE TALL GRASS pic.twitter.com/FoBOFCCqOn
— Vincenzo Natali (@Vincenzo_Natali) May 28, 2018