Elijah Wood to Star in Cooties

We've been keeping an eye out for news on Saw and Insidious writer Leigh Whannell's Cooties and it's officially moving forward. The story involves a virus that turns children at a school into zombies/cannibals and it has been revealed that Elijah Wood will be starring in the movie:

"Synchronicity Entertainment is the new genre film production and international sales label launched by Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel’s The Solution Entertainment Group. The other two features are the thriller DUE PROCESS, starring Golden Globe nominee John Cusack, and the completed psychological thriller SMILEY.

Starring Elijah Wood (pictured above; Maniac, The Hobbit), COOTIES is produced by top horror film producer Steven Schneider, who is behind the hugely successful PARANORMAL ACTIVITY franchise. Wood is also set to co-produce COOTIES with partners Daniel Noah and Josh C. Waller under his new horror film production company, The Woodshed, which recently announced the films TOAD ROAD and A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT.

COOTIES is co-written by horror powerhouse Leigh Whannell, who penned and executive produced the SAW films and wrote INSIDIOUS, with Ian Brennan –writer and co-creator of Fox’s “Glee.” To be directed by Ace Norton, the film begins when a mysterious virus hits an isolated elementary school, transforming the pre-adolescent children into a feral swarm of mindless savages. An unlikely hero must lead a motley band of teachers in the fight of their lives against the monstrous pupils.

Set to start production in April 2013, COOTIES is executive produced by The Solution, who arranged the financing. Writers Whannell and Brennan are also executive producers on the film. Paradigm is handling North American rights.

COOTIES will be shot in Los Angeles utilizing the production and state-of=the-art post-production facilities at Siren Studios, The Solution’s partner in Synchronicity. This falls in line with The Solution’s strategy to provide a fully integrated film finance, international sales, production, and post-production company to benefit their production partners.

“My friend Ian Brennan and I wanted to write a film about one of life’s most universal experiences – hatred for precocious, adorable children. And so we started work on Cooties, a film about a virus that turns school children into monsters and therefore makes it okay to beat them up with hockey sticks,” said Whannell."