It’s King’s favourite book and the team behind The Conjuring are involved. Yes!
Like any form of art, the history of iconic horror moments really does vary through the generations.
For some people, the first emergence of the shark in Jaws, the chestburster scene in Alien, the nanny throwing herself off the roof in The Omen, Drew Barrymore getting sliced an diced in Scream, or The Warrens performing their first exorcism in The Conjuring are defining moments.
For people of an older generation, we’re just going to say five words: floating vampire at the window.
You know exactly what we mean, Salem’s Lot.
Stephen King’s work has always been an incredibly fertile ground for Hollywood adaptations and after the recent reboot of Pet Semetary, it’s time to revisit his vampire classic.
James Wan and Gary Dauberman, the team behind many of the biggest hits of the Conjuring horror universe, are teaming up to adapt the novel for New Line.
The book revolves around an author who returns to his hometown in order to write about an abandoned mansion in the small town.
It turns out that the mansion has been bought by a mysterious man from Europe, but as he spends more time in Salem’s Lot, he notices that the townspeople are slowly being turned into vampires.
In two separate interviews in the 1980s King said that, of all his books, Salem’s Lot was his favourite. With The Curse of La Llorona, Annabelle Comes Home, and The Conjuring 3 set to arrive, it appears that James Wan’s magical gift for terrifying people is showing no signs of stopping.
Truth be told, in terms of King novels that are ripe for a feature-length adaptation, this one is perfect and with a decent budget, it could be a bit special because the novel is a wonderful hybrid of vampire film and the haunted house subgenres of horror.
Watch this space.
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