News broke in April of last year that James Wan was producing a new adaptation of Stephen King's classic vampire tale Salem's Lot, with Gary Dauberman (IT, Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun) on board to write the script, and The Hollywood Reporter lets us know today that Dauberman "has closed a deal to direct the feature thriller"!
King's 1975 novel followed author Ben Mears, who returns to ‘Salem's Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.
In a conversation with Slash Film last year, Dauberman dished out some details on the new take.
"I did have a unique way into it but again, I think the book in itself is unique," Dauberman told the site. "I haven’t seen a scary vampire movie in a long, long time and I’d really love to tackle that. It’s one of my favorite books. It’s one of my favorite Stephen King books. We felt it should have the cinematic treatment that we gave IT; IT was a miniseries as well."
"The experience of bringing that to the big screen was such a joy that I was so happy we will have the opportunity to do that for Salem’s Lot," he added.
Shortly after the release of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper directed the very first adaptation of Salem’s Lot back in 1979, while a miniseries was released in 2004, directed by Mikael Salomon. A sequel to the 1979 miniseries, A Return to Salem's Lot was directed by Larry Cohen and released in 1987.
Roy Lee and Mark Wolper will produce the new adaptation alongside Wan, with Dauberman executive producing.
Stay tuned for more details!
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