Stephen King is best known as one of the most prolific writers of pop horror novels, whose material has served as the foundation for numerous film adaptations (“The Shining,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Stand By Me”) and television series ("Bag Of Bones"). And it's far from over. With ambitious projects based on "The Dark Tower" and "The Stand" in the works, as well as a brewing remake of "Carrie" (which just yesterday landed a director in Kimberly Peirce) King is going to continue scaring up the big screen for years to come, and yes, another new film has been revealed.
Writer/director Mark Pavia (whose only previously feature is the King short story adaptation “The Night Flier”) has the author's blessing to piece together a feature film anthology based on four of the horror maestro’s short stories, with King choosing two stories and Pavia choosing the other two. “It will be a true representation of his different personas, his varied styles and voices throughout the years. Everything from the horror showman at his pulpiest to his most introverted and introspective character pieces, which can also be his most frightening. Every single aspect of his personality will be represented, which as a filmmaker makes me extremely excited. Not only will the film showcase Stephen King’s many different sides, it will also showcase mine as well,” Pavia tells Icons Of Fright (via Empire).
“From the outset I had just one criteria: all the stories chosen had to be incredibly frightening and also have a supernatural bent, and [King] agreed with me. This is a go-for-the-gut horror show, make no mistake about that,” Pavia went on to explain.
The project is in very early stages — there is no studio or distributor attached yet — and even the titles of the works being brought to the big screen are being kept under wraps. But Empire has done some digging, revealing that Pavia recently updated his Facebook page stating that he was "writing about churning storm clouds, Derry, Maine and the Grim Reaper." This possibly suggests the 1969 haunted-mirror story "The Reaper's Image," could be one of the titles getting worked on.
And if you're wondering why Pavia is even getting a shot at this, more than a decade after his previous effort, he's actually been kicking the tires of some more recent movies like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Dawn Of The Dead" remakes, and he also wrote an early version of "Midnight Meat Train." Seems no matter what, he's resolved to make you jump out of your seat.
“My New Year's resolution: to scare the living crap out of each and every one of you,” Pavia also posted on Facebook. “You've been warned…” So, if there’s some guy standing outside your window tonight, don’t worry, it’s just Mark Pavia doing research.
