Darren Lemke (Jack the Giant Killer) is closing a deal to write Columbia Pictures’ big-screen adaptation of children’s horror series Goosebumps, says THR.

Neal Moritz and his Sony-based Original Films shingle are producing, as is Scholastic Entertainment’s Deborah Forte.

Columbia picked up the rights to the more than 50 books(!) written by R.L. Stine in May 2008. The project has seen several writers on it, as the studio tries to crack the code for the story. Columbia is starting from page one with Lemke.

The Goosebumps series is known for paying homage to classic sci-fi/horror movies such as Night of the Living Dead and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, as well as the twist endings of “The Twilight Zone.” Being kids books, they are also free of the usual horror tropes of blood and sex (but are spiced with laughs).