Since I am hardly an expert on the matter, it's no surprise that I had never heard of the latest comic book to earn the big-screen treatment. Variety reports that rights to the indie-comic The Living Corpse have been secured by Shoreline Entertainment. The series, created by Ken Haeser and Buz Hasson, centers on a zombie who suffers from flashbacks of his former life while staying busy making sure that his fellow "living challenged" friends stay dead and buried.

Haeser provides the illustrations, while Hasson writes the story, but there is no word on whether either of them will be involved with the feature film version. Already slated to write and direct the live-action film is Justin Ritter, who's only other credit is the horror flick KatieBird *Certifiable Crazy Person, about a serial killer who discovers she is part of a long standing family tradition. The film was released back in 2005, but, Ritter has mostly worked in television since.

Recently, Shoreline was behind the Douglas Copeland adaptation Everything's Gone Green, but they also have some experience with the horror genre. Their last, The Signal has been garnering some buzz since its premiere at Sundance back in January. The film was picked up by Magnolia and is set for release this September -- and after reading Scott's review, I'm already hooked. Considering Corpse's indie beginnings, the film version is probably not going to be a big budget affair either. But, the amount of undead the story requires will probably account for a pretty hefty special F/X budget. When you consider the sheer volume of comic book movies on the way, Shoreline is going to have to make sure that Corpse doesn't get lost in the shuffle.