Get ready for a return to America’s most famous small town that happens to be filled with Orlokian vampires, Jerusalem’s Lot.
‘Salem’s Lot was only the second novel published by Stephen King when it first hit shelves in 1975, and it remains one of the author’s more well-known works. A tale about a writer who returns to his childhood town of Jerusalem’s Lot, only to find it overrun with a vampire infestation, it has been adapted twice before: As a well-regarded 1979 TV movie by Texas Chain Saw Massacre director Tobe Hooper, and again as a quickly forgotten 2004 miniseries.
Now, ‘Salem’s Lot is headed to the one place it’s never actually been: Into movie theaters. As reported by The Wrap, New Line Cinema is producing a big screen adaptation of the vampire story, which will be produced by The Conjuring maestro James Wan and written by It scribe Gary Dauberman. No word yet on who would be directing, but Dauberman would presumably be a possibility—he just wrapped his directorial debut in the upcoming Annabelle Comes Home, also set in New Line’s Conjuring universe.
Compared with weighty tomes such as It or ponderous stories like The Dark Tower, ‘Salem’s Lot is a pretty straightforward King adaptation—an ideal project for a director with visual styles to craft a back-to-basics vampire horror film. The script from Dauberman will likely increase anticipation from some horror fans, given the positive response to It. Dauberman has also written the It: Chapter Two screenplay, as well as the script for the upcoming Swamp Thing. Wan, meanwhile, has become one of the biggest producer-directors in Hollywood, successfully shepherding DC’s Aquaman to financial and critical success, even as he prepares to produce The Conjuring 3.
We’ll bring you more information on this newest incarnation of ‘Salem’s Lot as it develops, but we sure hope they stick with the still-creepy, Nosferatu-inspired vampire, rat face and all.