'Bird Box' world created by metro Detroit author gets revived in new Netflix film

The blindfolds are back. So is the terrifying prospect of being surrounded by creatures that are lethal if you merely  look at them.

“Bird Box Barcelona,” which arrives Friday on Netflix, is set in the same apocalyptic world and time frame as “Bird Box," the 2018 horror film starring Sandra Bullock.

The first “Bird Box” film was a big hit that took pop culture by storm and spawned viral memes. It also made a New York Times best-selling novelist out of metro Detroit author Josh Malerman, whose 2014 novel “Bird Box” started it all.

In the “Barcelona” spin-off,” there is no Bullock as Malorie Hayes, a woman attempting to navigate a northern California river through sound and touch to safety. This time out, a Spanish man named Sebastian (played by Mario Calas) is trying to stay alive in the nearly  deserted urban setting of Barcelona — and confronting a danger that could be worse than whatever is decimating the Earth, according to previews.

The film is written and directed by David Pastor and Àlex Pastor, brothers whose credits include “The Last Days” and “Self/less.” Georgina Campbell, who starred in the Detroit-set scarefest “Barbarian,” and Diego Calva, who earned a Golden Globe nomination for “Babylon," also are in the cast.

Malerman, a prolific writer and a singer-songwriter for the rock group the High Strung, spoke to the Free Press about the new film and the flurry of creativity that keeps him busy. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.

QUESTION: What can you tell us about "Bird Box Barcelona"? Were you involved with it?

ANSWER: It's about what was happening in Spain while Malorie was enduring what she endured here. I'm not involved at all, aside from the fact that it's based on the "Bird Box" world. But let me qualify this by saying, great! I'm excited the world is expanding. I'm excited that I get to see someone else's take on the whole thing. To me, I'm just flat-out excited that, first of all, they would want to, and, second of all, about everyone who's involved in it. I saw a rough cut of it.

Q: Yeah, I was going to ask if you'd seen it.

A: What I saw had placeholder effects, so the fire was drawn on and there were birds that were drawn on. I'm just experimental enough to have thought it was kind of awesome as was! (Laughs). At first, I was naturally a little bit nervous, 'I hope it's good.' Then Allison (Laakko, an artist and musician who is Malerman's fiancee) turned to me and said, "I like this." I was like, "Yeah I do, too." I imagine it’s a lot better now, but we liked what we saw already.

Q: I'm fascinated by how the "Bird Box" world is going to be different in an urban setting. Is this going to be a big part of the second movie?

A: Absolutely. I think that’s probably the biggest change, especially from the book (which was set in metro Detroit). Because the book is so narrowed. It’s a neighborhood home, a neighborhood street and a river that obviously not many people are on. This is a citywide thing, for sure. But just like the world of the book, we are focused on a small group of people and their interactions.

Q: You wrote "Malorie", the sequel to "Bird Box" that came out in 2020. Can you say anything about it? Is it in development now?

A: Here is as much as I know about "Malorie." At some point, Sandra Bullock handpicked the screenwriter for it. The way I see it is if Sandra Bullock wants to make a movie, it would be made. And if she doesn’t, then it wouldn’t be because she’s Malorie. I don’t know any more than the fact she handpicked a writer, which bodes well. Obviously, it expresses that she's interested in thinking about this project. But that is as far as I know.

Q: What your latest book is and why is it going to scare the living daylights out of us?

A: It’s a collection of novellas called "Spin a Black Yarn" and it comes out Aug. 15. I can tell you in the first story, half of a house is haunted. Hopefully, that one alone has the wheels spinning in your head. What does that mean? If half the house is haunted, does that mean there's a safe place? And where is that and do we know which half? It's definitely a collection of horror stories.

Q: You could have slowed down after the "Bird Box" movie came out and savored the moment. What keeps you so busy?

A: I think this is one of the benefits to not getting published until I was in my late 30s. It was already a process of how things are done, and that was me writing from scratch about two novels a year. That means by the time "Bird Box" got published, I had some 14 novels written. It would be insane to me to now either slow down or change the process that works for me and that I love. Now there are in my office, like, 25 novels that haven’t been published. My fantasy is that they're all published, and I believe they will be. The idea of slowing or changing the process because of any success, no matter how big or small it is, that just strikes me as dangerous. I imagine there would be some guilt there if I did that. Some questioning myself. For me, it's, "Hey you know you're happy doing it this way, so keep this process going."

Q: That makes senses and sets you up for not having to ask what am I going to do next? Because you have a reserve.

A: The one thing I don’t have to worry about is, "Oh no, I don’t have anything next." If I wanted, I have the next 25 years lined up.

Q: What kind of scary movie viewer are you? Are you really calm and analytical because this is your craft or do you get jump scares too?

A: I'm not trying to be a ham when I say that I get really scared. There are movies that Allison and I have watched where I literally hold her in front of me, where I'm hiding behind her. There are times where we've watched a scary movie and it's 4 a.m., and I'm like: "I've got to go to the bathroom. Will you walk with me there?" I think it's why I love the genre so much is that It works with me. I fall for it. I believe the horrors for at least the duration of the book and movie. And the great ones, I believe it even after.

Contact Detroit pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Metro Detroit 'Bird Box' novelist talks about new Netflix spin-off