Fox's axing of the "Locke & Key" pilot has killed the project, and chances for a pick up elsewhere are slim, according to its screenwriter Josh Friedman.

Adapting Joe Hill's IDW graphic novel, 20th Television launched the pilot with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman ("Fringe," "Star Trek") producing, along with Dreamworks TV.

"We were the victim of our own vision," Friedman ("The Black Dahlia") explained during a panel at Comic-Con International. "The pilot was so well done that Fox told us that we had made a movie, not a pilot."

"Locke & Key" followed Nina Locke (Miranda Otto) and her three children who return to an old family home in Massachusetts, only to be hounded by an evil entity.

The pilot, directed Mark Romanek ("One Hour Photo"), starred Nick Stahl ("Carnivàle"), Sarah Bolge, Skylar Gaertner, Jesse McCartney.

Hill -- the son of author Stephen King -- kicked off the comic series in 2008 and has since earned several Eisner nominations.