I hate Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. I also hate their films. And you know what else I hate, YA adaptations. So to hear that these two directors are teaming up once more to adapt Nerve, based on Jeanne Ryan’s YA novel of the same name, well, it just puts a real damper on my day.
If you’re not familiar with Joost and Schulman, then it’s probably better off that way. They first got on the map at Sundance a few years ago with their film Catfish, which was extremely over-hyped. Then they went on to find success with the Paranormal Activity series, having directed entries 3 and 4 (which were to most people, the two worst instalments). Somehow, they’re still finding themselves with jobs and their newest one will be the aforementioned adaptation.
Nerve, for those who don’t know, is sci-fi story about a “high school girl who becomes a player in an online game, only to find that the game is far more dangerous and aware of her personality than she would have originally guessed.”
Ok, fine, so it sounds a bit different than some of the other recent YA trash that we’ve been seeing recently. Still, YA adaptation plus Hollywood usually spell trouble, and having Schulman and Joost behind the driver’s seat doesn’t bode very well for the project.
Am I being a bit too harsh and judging Nerve a bit too early? Maybe. But if previous track records are any proof (and I think that they are), nothing about this upcoming adaptation should have anyone excited.