While having Jack Black star in a film that’s aimed at children makes all the sense in the world, having Eli Roth be the director does raise some eyebrows! Per Deadline, the duo will team up for The House With a Clock in its Walls, an adaptation of the 1973 John Bellairs novel, which was illustrated by Edward Gorey, that is first part of a 12-book series.

The novel follows a young boy who moves in with his Uncle, a moderately talented warlock. The house was previously owned by an evil couple who attempted to destroy the world. Before they died, they constructed a clock that is hidden somewhere within the walls of the house, where it keeps ticking towards a cataclysmic apocalypse…

Amblin Entertainment and Mythology Entertainment are the studios behind the project with Brad Fischer and James Vanderbilt producing with Eric Kripke, who wrote the script. William Sherak, Tracey Nyberg and Laeta Kalogridis will executively produce.