Jack Black stars in Columbia Pictures’ “Goosebumps.”

Mention Jack Black and you tend to get our attention. The Tenacious D frontman and professional Kung Fu Panda has always been fun but in recent years has begun to expand his schtick into more laconic, dialled back performances as well as the screaming human punchline we’ll probably be getting in Jumanji.

But mention Jack Black and Eric Kripke and you get us even more interested. And then when you mention Edward Gorey? We’re all the way on board.

Gorey is one of the greatest horror illustrators of all time, and his Gashleycrumb Tinies series is a main stay of both modern horror and modern goth culture. Kripke is the creator of Supernatural and was show runner on the show’s initial five seasons. Kripke will adapt The House With A Clock In Its Walls, written in 1973 by John Bellairs and illustrated by Gorey.

The story follows a recently orphaned boy called Lewis Barnavelt. Lewis is forced to move to the town of New Zebedee in Michigan to live with his mysterious uncle, who, it turns out, is a wrlock. And his neighbor is a witch…

All of this sounds like the exact kind of territory that Black and Kripke excel in. Almost as intriguing is the directorial choice. Eli Roth, best known for jump-starting a return to intensely bloody horror movies, will direct the movie. Will it be his first children’s film? Will the movie throw the blood around as much as Roth’s usual? How will he deal with the subtle aesthetic Gorey’s art demands? We have no idea. But we know we’re looking forward to finding out.

Thanks to Variety for the initial story.