According to Variety, Universal Pictures has made a preemptive $600,000 against $1 million deal for Dream House, a supernatural thriller spec by David Loucka. Ehren Kruger and Daniel Bobker will produce under their Bobker/Kruger banner, which just signed a term deal at the studio.

In Dream House, a man moves his family into what appears to be the ideal residence in the country, but ominous things are going on there.

Kruger wrote and Bobker produced Kate Hudson starrer The Skeleton Key, which Universal opens today. Kruger also scripted Terry Gilliam-directed The Brothers Grimm, which Bobker also produced, and scripted DreamWorks hit remake The Ring.

The guys met when Kruger was an NYU senior and took a job working for Bobker, who was an exec for producer Howard Rosenman.

Loucka hatched the spec after a period spent rewriting several projects now on the front burner at New Line. Aside from the currently in-production Samuel L. Jackson starrer Pacific Air Flight 121, Loucka has done extensive rewriting on Guilty Pleasures. Loucka also rewrote Westward for New Line and scripted a remake of Let's Scare Jessica to Death for Paramount and MTV Films.