Frank Marshall to Produce Horror Thriller CROPSEY Based On Killer Urban Legend

I'm not a huge horror movie fan, so I'm not tapped in to the culture of urban legends and things that go bump in the night. But I have heard about the legend of Cropsey, a summer camp employee who was disfigured by a horrible prank and took his revenge on the campers. It predates Jason Voorhees and the Friday the 13th franchise, gaining steam in New York in the '60s and '70s, and has been loosely adapted on film a few times before: 1981's The Burning (written by Bob Weinstein and current Paramount CEO Brad Grey), 1982's Madman, and the 2009 documentary Cropsey, which explores the origins of the urban legend before shifting to the subject of a child kidnapper.

Now the killer is rearing his ugly head once again. Variety reports that mega-producer Frank Marshall is developing a movie called Cropsey for DreamWorks. Richard Naing and Ian Goldberg will write the screenplay, which will center on a group of kids at a summer camp who encounter the local legend. The studio is looking to capture that Amblin' vibe of The Goonies and Gremlins, films that are often referenced in pitches but are rarely actually emulated when all is said and done. We'll see if Marshall can keep this one on track.