Announced during the virtual BlumFest, Academy Award Winner John Ridley is writing and directing an Untitled Paranormal Project for Blumhouse, based on the recently published article Project Poltergeist.

The story was written up in a Saleah Blancaflor article called Project Poltergeist, and details the strange, haunted occurrences that took place in a 1960s New Jersey public housing project, and how they affected the family of young Ernie Rivers.

Ridley will use the genre film to examine the systemic, real-world issues embedded within the paranormal activities. As he explained in a statement:

“This is an incredible true-life narrative of a young man dealing with horrors – both paranormal and racially systemic – in a community that is scarred by hate, yet ultimately brought together by hope. I really appreciate Blumhouse’s commitment to telling stories that seek to entertain audiences even as it challenges them.”

Jason Blum, who will produce the project through his Blumhouse company, said that:

“The best scary movies are always based on a real event, and we were very compelled by the material this story is based on. I also know that John Ridley is as good as you get as a dramatic storyteller, so we’re confident that infusing this story with John’s brand of drama is a great bet.”

Other producers include Matthew Pearl and Greg Nicholas, the founders of Truly*Adventurous, the nonfiction magazine that originally published the Project Poltergeist article. Matthew Pearl and Greg Nichols said that:

“Here at Truly*Adventurous we’ve been innovating ways to discover and tell true narratives in spaces such as horror that have been ignored by traditional media. We’re so excited to be working with these exceptional creative collaborators to bring such a thematically rich and timely Truly*Horror story to a wide audience.”

Check out the original article here.