The Stephen King adaptations keep on coming. While we’re waiting on the Firestarter reboot with Zac Efron and a Christine movie from Hannibal‘s Bryan Fuller, New Line Cinema’s Salem’s Lot film has just got itself a release date. King’s classic vampire tale is being brought back to the screen by horror maestro James Wan, who is producing, and It screenwriter Gary Dauberman, who is writing and directing.
As per Bloody Disgusting, Warner Bros. has handed the movie a release date of September 9th, 2022, meaning that it will be in cinemas well in time for Halloween next year. Lewis “Son of Bill” Pullman (Bad Times at the El Royale) has been cast in the lead role of Ben Mears, an author who returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book… only to discover that the town is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.
The casting process is still underway, but so far Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, Alfre Woodard, and William Sadler have been hired. Like most King adaptations, it sounds like Dauberman plans to stay pretty close to the author’s original text, though he’s not afraid to make some changes. Woodard, for example, is portraying a gender-flipped version of Dr. Cody, a male character in the book.
Prior to this one, there have been two adaptations of Salem’s Lot — Tobe Hooper’s iconic 1979 two-part miniseries with James Mason and a 2004 modernization starring Rob Lowe that no one really remembers. Meanwhile, Epix’s ongoing Chapelwaite TV series, featuring Adrien Brody, is based on “Jerusalem’s Lot”, the short story that inspired the novel.
With Salem’s Lot confirmed to be a year away, horror fans can check out James Wan’s latest directorial effort, Malignant, out in theaters and on HBO Max this weekend.
