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Brian De Palma’s forthcoming serial killer thriller will boast an unusual marketing gimmick: If you don’t go see it, De Palma will personally come to your house and strangle you. Just kidding.

De Palma could sure use a commercial hit, though, and The Boston Stranglers might just be the golden ticket. The Hollywood Reporter notes De Palma has signed on to direct the film adaptation of Susan Kelly’s nonfiction book on the famous 1960s serial murder case.

Badass producer Gale Ann Hurd (of The Terminator parts one through three, Aliens, and this summer’s hopefully non-sucky The Incredible Hulk fame) is on board, too.

Why is De Palma the perfect director for this material? For starters, he has a nice track record when it comes to cranking out films about whacked-out killers. It’s hard for this Reject to pick a favorite murderer from De Palma’s ouevre.

Margot Kidder was pretty darned sexy in Sisters, Sissy Spacek was vulnerable and tragic in Carrie, John Cassevetes was a perfectly slimy sonofabitch in The Fury, John Lithgow and Michael Caine were refined but rapacious in Blow Out and Dressed to Kill, respectively. Oh wait. You haven’t seen any of those? Um … SPOILER ALERT!

Then there’s De Palma’s penchant for the split-screen technique. One of the coolest uses of split-screen was in Hollywood’s earlier stab at telling the tale of The Boston Strangler in 1968. So, it just seems right to have De Palma helming the The Boston Stranglers. You know he’s gonna go all split-screen on your ass — and you’ll shit your pants in amazement.

I hope.