De Palma Signs for "Stranglers"

You can never accuse director Brian De Palma of doing anything light-hearted. His list of movies includes Scarface, Casualties of War, and The Black Dahlia, among others.

Now he’s got another gritty one on his hands. He’s signed on to helm “The Boston Strangers” for producer Gale Anne Hurd‘s Valhalla Motion Pictures.

Adapted from Susan Kelly’s nonfiction book “The Boston Stranglers: The Public Conviction of Albert DeSalvo and the True Story of Eleven Shocking Murders,” the thriller will detail the early-’60s killings and their controversial resolution.

The jury’s still out on whether Albert DeSalvo — a publicity hound who confessed to the murders and was later stabbed to death while jailed on unrelated charges — was the actual killer. And if not him, then who?

Image: Brian De Palma, Redacted, Magnolia Pictures, 2007