9 Creepypasta Stories That Need A Film Adaptation (And Who Should Direct Them)

Even if you're not creepypasta-literate, chances are you've seen the above image, and possibly even heard of its associated story, Jeff the Killer. One of the most iconic creepypastas of all time, the tale of Jeff the Killer has been circulating the Internet since the early to mid 2000s, with the most famous version of the story, written in 2011 by DeviantArt user Joshua Jordan, following a bullied teen who suffers severe burns at the hands of his tormentors and subsequently becomes a serial murderer.

Over the years, those who were originally scared by Jeff the Killer have reevaluated it as being somewhat ridiculous, and so any movie adaptation should really lean into the camp aspect and not take itself too seriously. That's why James Wan, who has always played in that space between truly terrifying and knowing silliness, is the perfect choice to direct a Jeff the Killer adaptation. Imagine, if you will, a Gabriel/Annabelle/Jeff showdown. It just makes sense.

In the great pantheon of creepypastas, one story reigns supreme, consistently topping Best Of lists thanks to its well-written twists and turns, fleshed out characters and, above all else, deeply disturbing subject matter. Originally published on Reddit in 2015, C.K. Walker's Borrasca follows a small town mystery that unravels into something truly horrifying, and is just begging for a full-length feature adaptation (a podcast series starring Cole Sprouse ran from 2020 to 2022) with a director at the helm who is adept at tackling dark topics with sensitivity and grace, but also able to deliver on bone-chilling scares.

Enter modern horror master Mike Flanagan, who has more than proved himself, with films like Doctor Sleep and shows like Midnight Mass, as perfect for the source material. Flanagan himself is a big fan of Borrasca, even enlisting Walker (real name Rebecca Klingel) to write on both The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. If anyone is going to adapt Borrasca, it's going to be him (after his upcoming takes on Carrie, Clayface and The Exorcist, of course!)

Much like Borrasca, Dathan Auerbach's Penpal, initially published on Reddit's r/nosleep board in 2011, remains a staunch favorite among creepypasta readers, and regularly tops the list of stories that deserve a film adaptation. Being that Penpal is an incredibly dark story, following an unnamed narrator as he recalls a bizarre series of incidents that happened to him during childhood, it would require a filmmaker adept in handling tough topics with grace, but also one who won't skimp on the scares.

Jennifer Kent, of The Babadook and The Nightingale fame, has more than enough experience in that arena, making her the ideal choice to bring Auerbach's nightmare to life for the big screen.

Any creepypasta connoisseurs will surely shiver in disgust at the very mention of A.A. Peterson's The Pancake Family. The notoriously disgusting tale, which is told from the perspective of a detective retelling an incident in which an entire family go missing under mysterious circumstances, requires a director with both a stylistic flare for the gruesome and the ability to unravel a mystery with patience and tension – and with Barbarian and Weapons under his belt, Zach Cregger has proven he's the man for the job.

Cregger's work is just mean-spirited enough to capture the horrific (but totally ludicrous) story, so after he's wrapped on the upcoming Resident Evil, we humbly suggests he makes a breakfast appointment with The Pancake Family.

Between the eerie Internet horror of We're All Going to the World's Fair and the coming-of-age nostalgic vibes of I Saw the TV Glow, director Jane Schoenbrun has more than proved themselves as having the chops to give a faithfully terrifying rendition of one of the most famous video game creepypastas of all time, BEN Drowned.

Written by author Alexander D. Hall aka Jadusable, the story centers on a haunted copy of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask that plagues its player with horrifying glitches and other uncanny alterations to the classic action-adventure game, before evolving into something more sinister entirely.

Both of Schoenbrun's feature films to date have explored how the lines between fiction and reality can be easily demolished, especially when it comes to pop culture media and how we consume it. After their next feature, the upcoming slasher (sort of) Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, maybe we can convince Schoenbrun to give us a truly unnerving take on one of the Internet's most enduring scary stories.

With 2021's Candyman, director Nia DaCosta honed further in on the urban legend aspects of the iconic story, and it made for one chilling tale. Jack Anderson's legendary creepypasta series The Left/Right Game, which follows a group of paranormal investigators trying to play the titular game, is all about that same horror found in rumors and he-said-she-said whispers.

An adaptation of The Left/Right Game would also be the perfect chance to reunite DaCosta with frequent collaborator Tessa Thompson (Little Woods, Hedda), who produced and starred in QCODE's podcast adaptation of the creepypasta back in 2020. With DaCosta's 28 Years Later sequel The Bone Temple hitting theaters in January (make sure to keep an eye on the upcoming issue of FANGORIA for more on that…), she'll be freed up for another horror project, and we think this one could be ideal for her.

What with Longlegs, The Monkey, Keeper and the upcoming The Young People, Osgood Perkins has had an incredibly busy couple of years crafting nightmares for horror fans, and so if he wants to relax a little bit on the story front and adapt something that's already written, we've got a tale that has his name all over it.

In Camden Lamont's 1999, a man named Elliot recalls a series of bizarre, homemade children's shows he used to watch on the television channel Caledon Local 21. Seemingly all created by the same man, a host who refers to himself as Mr. Bear, the shows serve a much more sinister purpose, which Elliot is forced to unravel as he recalls corresponding with Mr. Bear. Much like Longlegs, 1999 comes with a heavy helping of police procedural mystery, nightmarish yet nostalgic imagery, and goes to some very dark places.

A smaller-scale story with a supernatural twist? Sounds like a job for M. Night Shyamalan. In C.K. Walker's Room 733, two college students move in to their new dorm, only to discover they'll be living next door to the so-called ‘Suicide Room'. Creepiness ensues.

With his vast filmography of horror classics, Shyamalan is more than capable of making Room 733 genuinely scary (see: The Sixth Sense), while also holding true to some of the darker humor and distinctive characterizations at the story's core (see: The Visit). His daughter, singer and Trap star Saleka Shyamalan, would also nail the role of a young woman caught up in ghostly going-ons, we're just sayin'.

In the creepypasta Bedtime, written by Reddit user Mike_Rants, an adult protagonist recalls a series of terrifying events that haunted them as a child whenever they, as the title suggests, tried to go to sleep. Although Bedtime is a relatively short story, it manages to nail that feeling of being very young, alone in your bedroom at night and trying to convince yourself that the shadows on the wall that seem to be moving are just shadows – and definitely not anything supernaturally sinister.

Back in 2022, Kyle Edward Ball's experimental debut film Skinamarink scarred audiences for life when it seemed to directly tap into that same nostalgic fear, and projected it directly into the lo-fi nightmare that was one of the most talked-about horror movies of the decade so far. Love Skinamarink or hate it, Ball is no doubt the perfect choice to direct a bedtime-based horror creepypasta, and seems to be continuing down that same sleepy, scary path with his upcoming feature Land of Nod.