Rosch grew up in the Southwest, lived in New York for nearly 20 years, and now resides midway between Austin and San Antonio in Wimberley, TX where he works as an author, freelance creative director and copywriter in advertising, and most importantly, full-time dad.
Here the author shares his suggestion for the director of an adaptation of What the Dead Can Do:
In many ways, What The Dead Can Do is a possession story. A unique one, but as a film, it’s a safe bet that it would pop up in the “Viewers Also Watched” section on Netflix underneath The Conjuring or The Exorcist and other possession films. Of course, like those, it’s much more, too.Visit Peter Rosch's website and follow him on Facebook, BlueSky, Instagram, and Threads.
What The Dead Can Do is the story of a recently deceased mother, grieving for the child she left behind after a plane crash, who seeks out a way to possess the living to kill that still-living child and reunite her family in the afterlife. Dark stuff. Heady stuff. Taboo stuff, maybe. But if I did what I think I’ve done with the story, it and the film adaptation will not be inaccessible to a broader audience. It was important to me to write this paranormal thriller in a way that would appeal to a wide array of people. Even now, as I wander the country promoting the book, I’ve referred to it from time to time as a paranormal family drama or a gateway book to horror. It’s a story that’s terrifying in a way similar to Poltergeist, which scared many of all walks and ages.
To achieve the right balance of horror, hope, and even humor, I had a handful of films on my mind as I penned the manuscript: 1982’s Poltergeist (story by Steven Spielberg) because it was so accessible as an instrument of horror. And because at 10, I saw it, and the family felt authentic and grounded to me. Still do. 2018’s Hereditary, directed by Ari Aster, was so very disturbing, and there is an obvious darkness to a story about a mother who is trying to kill her child. 2018’s The Wind, directed by Emma Tammi, because of the fear it evoked within the vast, unpopulated expanse of the New Mexico desert. There are many liminal spaces in What The Dead Can Do, and what Emma achieved with something earthly but similar was utterly brilliant. I also had Beetlejuice on my mind because, like my story, it has rules that the dead must adhere to in an afterlife that, like my own, was unlike any portrayed prior. And finally, and most importantly, 2015’s The Invitation, directed by Karyn Kusama, written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi.
If I were given the opportunity to pick any director, it’d be Karyn Kusama. And, if she were busy, I’d pick Sara Dunlop out of the UK (because we are good friends and she is brilliant in her own right and would absolutely kill this as a feature film). That said, for me, there is no slow- burn horror film quite like The Invitation. The acting is superb, the editing is superb, and the vibe is nearly unmatched, in my opinion. You go into the film knowing very well that something is askew, and you can’t quite ever put your finger on it. At times, you may even wonder if it’s a horror film at all—and then, wham! It knocks you over the head and leaves you there to think about the horror you’ve participated in so dutifully. There is a lot more action up front in What The Dead Can Do than in The Invitation. But I know that Karyn would kill that, too. (See Aeon Flux or Jennifer’s Body). The feature film version of my novel in her hands would grab viewers and not let them go, teetering them on the edge of an uncomfortable personal madness that wouldn’t soon go away, even after the floor beneath them has been violently dropped.
Q&A with Peter Rosch.
--Marshal Zeringue
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