‘Locke and Key’ Gets Unlocked

The Eisner award winning series Locke and Key from Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (for writing and art, respectively) is set to become a feature film very soon. Locke and Key is based around the Locke family, Nina Locke and her children Tyler, Kinsey and Bode who move to their family’s inherited mansion in an attempt to rebuild their lives. The kids discover that the house, like the family itself, holds some dark secrets, and a series of enchanted keys are the only things that can unlock them. But some things are locked away for a reason…

Locke and Key was originally filmed as a pilot for FOX in 2011 and starred Nick Stahl, but never made it to television as a series. Not getting on prime time can happen for a myriad of reasons. When it comes to the subject matter of this particular title, it was most likely because network TV had to tone down severe subject matter that would have been better suited for HBO or SHOWTIME. Brutal murder, graphic sex, demonic possession, psychopathic ghouls, gender swapping shape shifters, and mind bending hallucinations set against a backdrop of a traumatic family revenge tragedy is hard to imagine following an episode of Glee. These events are the standard plot elements of every issue of the comic, and it’s these elements, along with a centered and honestly raw family dynamic that has Universal banking on this as a franchise. Given the scope and volume of the source material, multiple entries seems almost an imperative. Thankfully, with the creators on board, this richly dark saga should be as compelling as the comic that it comes from.