News rest stop Nat Cassidy’s Rest Stop Optioned for Feature Adaptation The novella centers on a gas station bathroom and the horrors that lurk within and outside it By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on May 12, 2026 Nat Cassidy photo by Kent Meister Comment 0 Share New Share Nat Cassidy photo by Kent Meister Nat Cassidy’s novella Rest Stop has been picked up for a film adaptation, with Cassidy writing the script. The story is part of Cassidy’s recently released collection, I Know a Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours, and centers on a musician trapped in a rest stop bathroom trying to survive the horrors within and outside its stalls. “I like to describe this novella as Green Room meets Gerald’s Game,” Cassidy told Deadline, the outlet that broke the news. “It’s the closest thing I’ve yet written to ‘extreme’ horror—though, I wouldn’t say it goes nearly as hard or gets nearly as bleak as the most extreme ‘extreme’ horror stories I’ve read. Regardless, I’m hoping it makes your next visit to a gas station bathroom even scarier than it would otherwise be.” Gary Dauberman’s company, Coin Operated, has picked up the rights to Rest Stop. The production studio is also behind André Øvredal’s Passenger, a horror film starring Foundation’s Lou Llobell and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’s Jacob Scipio as a couple who drive down a creepy part of the road and can’t seem to escape the supernatural hitchhiker that glommed onto them. Other projects on Coin Operated’s roster include Santiago Menghini’s The Revenge of La Llorona and a reboot of the slasher film Urban Legend. “Like the junk food aisle at any sketchy gas station on the side of the road, Rest Stop has a little bit of everything (that may or may not kill you),” Dauberman said in a statement to Deadline. “Its relentless pace, psychological torment, heartfelt character moments, and many squirm-inducing sequences make it the rare horror story that has all the ingredients for a perfectly terrifying experience on the big screen.” The project is still in its early days, so no news yet on the director or casting and if/when it makes its way to production. [end-mark] The post Nat Cassidy’s <i>Rest Stop</i> Optioned for Feature Adaptation appeared first on Reactor.