Vampire Hunter Writer to Pen Dark Shadows

Author Seth Grahame-Smith has nabbed a high profile gig redrafting the screenplay on Tim Burton’s film adaptation of Dark Shadows, according to Deadline.

Grahame-Smith takes over for John August on the project, and is writing the new draft under the supervision of Burton.  He landed the job based on his best-selling novel Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,  a work that Burton and Timur Bekmambetov liked so much, they bought the film rights for it out of their own pockets. Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter will most likely have Bekmambetov in the directors chair.

This isn’t the first time Warner Brothers has tried to revive Dark Shadows back from the dead. Known as a moody daytime vampire/soap opera, the original series ran on ABC for 6 years form 1966-71.  In 1991, an unsuccessful attempt to revive the franchise failed when NBC aired a new version in prime time.

Dark Shadows has been somewhat a pet project for Tim burton over the last couple of years. It is scheduled to begin production this January, with Johnny Depp playing the vampire Barnabas Collins.  No word on a release date, but will most likely arrive in theaters sometime in 2011.