Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot Coming To The Big Screen

Fresh off of the success this weekend of The Curse of Llorona, producer James Wan’s next horror project will be an adaptation of Stephen King’s second novel, Salem’s Lot.

The Wrap reports that Gary Dauberman will write the script, which seems appropriate, considering he co-wrote It, another Stephen King book. No director or release date are attached to the project yet, but Wan will co-produce with Roy Lee and Mark Wolper for New Line Cinema.

For those unfamiliar with the novel, it follows Ben Mears, a writer who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine, and realizes that a large portion of the town are vampires. Ben is then thrust into a life and death battle as he tries to save as many citizens as he can. I read the novel in high school, which was nearly a decade ago, so I remember some characters and subplots, not everything, but for King’s second effort, it’s one of the top ten books I have ever read.

It’s also worth noting that this is not the first time Salem’s Lot has been adapted. In 1979, horror legend Tobe Hooper made a TV movie for CBS. It was presented in a similar manner to the 1990 TV movie of It, aired in two parts. There was also a miniseries on TNT in 2004 presented in the same manner, but with a higher production value and starred Rob Lowe, Donald Sutherland, James Cromwell, and Rutger Hauer. This will be the first film adaptation.

For this team to work with this project sounds like a dream to me. I am also impressed with the amount of good material that has been worked out with Stephen King properties of late (The Dark Tower notwithstanding). It was terrific, Pet Sematary was a fun 90s style throwback, and we’re all anxiously awaiting our first look at It: Chapter Two, So the question of which other King works are on the table next is a legitimate one. My vote: Christine, but as a Netflix miniseries.

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