EXCLUSIVE: Ben Leonberg, the director of last fall’s buzzy supernatural horror title Good Boy, has inked a deal to direct Ankle Snatcher, an adaptation of the same-name short story from New York Times bestselling horror author Grady Hendrix, for Sony Pictures.
Leonberg is also set to do a rewrite on Hendrix’s adaptation with writing partner Alex Cannon.
While the plot of the feature take is being kept under wraps, the short story follows a man haunted by the childhood trauma of his mother’s murder, which his father blamed on a boogeyman under the bed, and his terrifying realization that the creature may be real.
Hendrix released it in September 2023 as part of a Creature Feature collection put out by Amazon Original Stories.
Producers on Ankle Snatcher are Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Tony Shaw for Escape Artists, and Hendrix and Adam Goldworm for Aperture Entertainment. We were first to report on Sony’s acquisition of rights to the story in 2024.
A fresh voice in the genre space, Leonberg is coming off the release of his debut feature Good Boy, a reinvention of the haunted house story told through the perspective of a family dog. He wrote and directed the flick, which sold competitively to IFC/Shudder for all English-speaking territories following its splashy SXSW premiere last year, releasing wide in theaters last October.
Good Boy earned a 90% with critics and 81% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. Additionally, the film earned Leonberg an Independent Spirit Award nomination, a Top Ten Independent Films honor from the National Board of Review, and multiple awards on the festival circuit. Pic is set to debut on Hulu on April 25.
Leonberg is repped by Verve, Untitled Entertainment, and The Nord Group. News of his deal for Ankle Snatcher comes following word that Jonathan Levine will direct Horrorstör, Searchlight’s adaptation of the horror-comedy novel from Hendrix.