The Piper starts playing

The tale of the mysterious Pied Piper of Hamelin and his impossible-to-resist flute will be getting a 21st century update.

Persistent Entertainment, Pantry Films and Zenescope Entertainment have joined forces to bring the Zenescope comic The Piper to the screen.

Putting a darker twist on an already pretty damn dark story, the comic focuses on a high school band student whose frustration with being bullied leads him to channel the spirit of the Pied Piper - with dangerous consequences.

The original childrens' parable features a mysterious, musical pest-control expert drowning an entire town full of rats before exacting his revenge for not getting paid by drowning an entire town full of sprogs as well. Lovely. Pay your bills, kids, or this could happen to you.

With such a twisted streak running through the fable anyway, we're hoping this version features even more - although it's early days yet, as someone is still being sought to write the script.

Persistent Entertainment was also responsible for Southland Tales (we won't hold that against them) and the upcoming, Jessica Biel-starring Nailed.

Will you be following The Piper ? Think it has the makings of an interesting movie? Let us know below...