Weapons Director Lines Up Next Crime Thriller Movie At Netflix

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Over the past twenty years, there was a surge in movies based on comic books, but that trend recently started to slow down. However, 2025 looks like things are picking up again, with strong interest in adapting Charles Burns’ work and now, Netflix winning a competitive bid to bring Marc Andreyko’s highly praised graphic novel, Torso, to the screen.

Following the success of his film Weapons, director Zach Cregger is producing a new project through his Subconscious production company. Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment, who also produced Weapons, and Alex Hedlund and Nick Antosca from Eat the Cat will also produce. While Cregger won’t be directing or writing this new film, Brian Bendis and David Andreyko will serve as executive producers.

What is Torso?

Torso recounts the chilling true story of a serial killer who terrorized Cleveland during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Known as the Cleveland Torso Murderer because of his gruesome method, the killer preyed on vulnerable people living in the makeshift shantytowns that arose during the economic crisis. He targeted those who had fallen on hard times and discarded their dismembered remains in the poorer sections of the city.

As a true crime buff, I was fascinated to learn that Brian Bendis and David Andreyko, both Cleveland natives, grew up hearing about the Torso Murderer as a local legend. But the really wild part? The guy in charge of catching him was Elliot Ness – yeah, the Elliot Ness, who took down Al Capone! He’d become Cleveland’s Safety Director and ended up being the one assigned to hunt this serial killer down. It’s just such a bizarre and compelling piece of history!

The killer was never caught.

How was Torso’s Hollywood journey part of comic book history?

The novel Torso has been considered for adaptation into a film several times, and David Fincher once intended to turn it into a movie after the success of Zodiac, which also focused on an unsolved serial killer case.

Brian Michael Bendis created a comic titled Fortune and Glory which humorously documented his efforts to pitch his comics as movies.

Brian Michael Bendis, also known as Goldfish, began developing the comic book Torso with Marc Andreyko while attempting to sell another comic as a movie. They hoped Torso could also be pitched as a film adaptation.

The comic Torso was picked up for a potential film adaptation thanks to Todd McFarlane, who was set to produce. McFarlane then brought Brian Bendis on board to write for the Spawn universe, shortly before Bendis began his hugely successful career writing for Marvel Comics.

After many years, Brian Michael Bendis’ comic book series Torso may finally be made into a movie. The deal for a film adaptation is significantly more valuable now than it was over 25 years ago – reportedly worth over a million dollars, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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2025-12-15 20:08