While “Obsession” and “Backrooms” currently command the horror conversation, another internet sensation sneaks in to become the next box office juggernaut. “Siren Head,” popularized by sketches of a tall, lanky skeleton with two heads, struck it hot on social media in recent years. Now, it’s being developed into a feature film for Warner Bros., according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Turning viral trends, creepypastas and other online memes into horror movies isn’t a new phenomenon. 2018’s “Slender Man” took the real-life story of two young girls who believed a dark figure told them to hurt their friend, and “Grimcutty” explored the Momo Challenge hoax. Many other films, including “Milk & Serial,” “Talk to Me,” and “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair,” dig into digital culture and its effects on the human brain.
Horror is undergoing a bit of a renaissance. Curry Barker and Kane Parsons, who both got their start on YouTube, delivered the two biggest horror films of 2026. Previously, YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Kyle Edward Ball stirred up online chatter with his liminal film, “Skinamarink,” and popular film commentator Chris Stuckmann showed up with his polarizing film, “Shelby Oaks.” Traditional avenues to success are no longer the only way to get voices heard.
With the viral “Siren Head,” two horror heavyweights look to bring the stalking skeleton to life.
Zach Cregger and Brian Duffield Will Helm the New Project
Off the heat of 2025’s “Weapons,” Zach Cregger will join Brian Duffield, whose writing credits include “No One is Going to Save You,” “Spontaneous,” and “The Babysitter,” on developing the script. Warner Bros. beat out four other studios in the bidding war for the “Siren Head” rights, and it’s already generating buzz for what the “Siren Head” could look like on the big screen.
Duffield, who also directed “No One Will Save You,” is looking to direct the film adaptation. The production studio behind “Weapons,” Vertigo Entertainment, will also take the lead, as Cregger, Roy Lee, and Andrew Childs will produce.
Cregger, who also wrote and directed “Barbarian,” and Duffield have arranged an impressive repertoire of horror stories. Their work harkens to the golden age of David Lynch, John Carpenter and David Cronenberg. In the modern era, they challenge the status quo and drive audiences to think deeper about the stories they’re telling.
The Artist and Illustrator Behind ‘Siren Head’
Trevor Henderson popularized a tall, lanky skeleton through disturbing sketches with roots dating back to 2018. “She was on vacation with her husband and they were scoping out graveyards on the way, as you do, when she saw it. Rising out of the old cemetery, big as an old (macabre) telephone pole,” the artist/illustrator wrote on Instagram in the first original drawing of Siren Head. “Was this some kind of bizarre art piece the authorities hadn’t gotten wise to yet? Even as she stepped out of the car, the megaphones on it’s ‘head’ screeched to life.”
Accompanying a haunting scene of a giant cryptid lurking in a cemetery, the caption continued, ”NINE. EIGHTEEN. ONE. CHILD. SEVENTEEN. REMOVE. VILE.’ A buzzing, doubled voice screamed random words at her. At this point, it jerked into motion, striding down the hill towards her.”
Siren Head popped up all over the internet after that. Photographs of the figure standing under streetlights, a windmill, and in the woods were a common theme. The mythology expanded with time, and Siren Head’s abilities include being able to see despite not having eyes, manipulating tech and making quick movements even though he mostly stands still. In Henderson’s infamous urban legend, the creature was first spotted in 1966 while a family vacationed in the Arizona Desert, thus resulting in the very first drawing above.
It’s no wonder “Siren Head” hit a nerve with the internet. Its style and tone are reminiscent of Stephen Gammell’s bizarre illustrations for the “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” short story series by Alvin Schwartz. Some things never change.
