Variety is reporting that writer David Hayter and producer Benedict Carver are joining forces to form Dark Hero Studios, which will “generate film, tv, internet, and video game projects in the action, sci-fi, and horror genres.” They’ve also announced that Sarah Freudeman will be the new company’s director of development. The first Dark Hero project should be Demonology, which Hayter wrote and will direct, and which came about based on his experiences attending an international high school in Japan. “It’s about an American kid who goes to one of these schools in Belgium, but it brings my own horrible experiences of school to life,” Hayter said.
Hayter is getting ready to make his directorial debut on his werewolf thriller script Slaughter’s Road, which he wrote “after he was offered a slew of werewolf movies and found enough flaws in each to never want to make such a pic; genre-savvy friends changed his mind.” Carver will be producing the film with his current Crystal Sky Productions partner Steven Paul. Production is scheduled to begin this summer, with Thomas Dekker (of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) starring.
Hayter co-wrote the recent Watchmen script with Alex Tse. He’s also written scripts for X-Men, X2, and The Scorpion King. Carver is the president of Crystal Sky, and was previously the Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions at Screen Gems. Before that, he was a film reporter at Daily Variety.