The notion of a novel about a town celebrating the annual arrival of a serial killer with a parade and pageant is pretty hard to imagine-- but what if it happened in a movie, and a movie produced by a major Hollywood studio no less? The industry majors have been known to dabble in black comedy now and again, but Paramount's pick-up of the project Serial Killer Days seems like a major step even for the studio behind Thank You For Smoking.

According to THR, the studio has brought Mark Carter in through a deal with producer Dan Dubiecki to write and possibly direct an adaptation of Serial Killer Days, the 1996 satirical novel by David Prill. Carter had this to say for his plans with the adaptation:

“I hope to deliver the expected genre conventions but do it in an idiosyncratic, richly layered and unexpected world. There will also be lots of blood.”

If you're having a hard time imagining how someone can pull off a comedy about serial killers and small towns, well, you're not alone-- maybe I was just too shocked by In Cold Blood, but this sounds more depressing than satire potential. Here's a review from the book site Good Read that might shed some light on things:

Imagine a small midwestern town preyed upon by a serial killer. Now imagine the town fathers offering a deal: we'll choose one girl a year as a sacrifice, and for the rest of the year you leave us alone and we'll leave you alone. Now imagine a festival, as only small towns can have, springing up around this annual event, with high school girls competing to be crowned queen and sacrifice. Prill is a twisted man, but a funny one.

As the project moves forward-- and given that Carter has been working on it for 7 years, I wouldn't count on it happening with great speed-- you can probably learn more at author David Prill's blog, where he seems both appropriately enthusiastic and bemused at the whole thing.