Stephen King Fans Have Good Reason To Worry About The Salem's Lot Remake

In Stephen King's spine chillers adapted for the screen, there's a nightmarish photo album of images that spawned from them. Shots that have imprinted in audience members' minds for decades that still cause shivers. It might be twins at the end of a hallway in "The Shining," or Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) taking a swing at Paul Sheldon (James Caan) in "Misery." For some, it's a small boy hovering outside a window asking to be let in, and who may or may not look like Bart Simpson depending on which you saw first.

Stephen King's blood-curdling vampire tale, "Salem's Lot" has had two notable adaptations over the years, first in a miniseries in 1987, followed by another starring Donald Sutherland and Rob Lowe in 2004. Since then, along with so many other of his works, a constant effort has been made for the story of a small town being overrun by vampires to get its own feature-length take, which was finally given the green light in 2019. Both writing and directing duties were handed to Gary Dauberman who put his (ahem) stake in the project, which began filming in 2021. It marked Dauberman's second gig bringing one of King's classic stories to life after penning the scripts for "IT: Chapter One" and "IT: Chapter Two" and his sophomore stint as director following "Annabelle Comes Home." Now though, it's the latest to get caught up in the bloody mess of Warner Bros. Discovery's schedule switches and outright cancellations (RIP "Batgirl").

Following the date changes for "Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom" and "Shazam! Fury of the Gods," Bloody Disgusting confirmed that Dauberman's visit to "Salem's Lot" has been removed from the studio's schedule after already being rescheduled. Initially set for this year on September 9, the film was moved to April 21, 2023 in July (via The Hollywood Reporter). Given the current shell game that the studio seems to be playing, there's a chance that Warner Bros. is trying to settle on whether "Salem's Lot" should get relocated to HBO Max or stick to a big screen outing as intended.

Looking at previous adaptations, it would be nice for "Salem's Lot" to get the same treatment as "IT" breaking from television into a frightening time at the movie theatre, particularly given the cast involved. Lewis Pullman (Bob in "Top Gun: Maverick") plays author Ben Mears returning to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot, only to encounter a new inhabitant that has a penchant for the red stuff and hates crucifixes. Joining him in the fight against evil and blood withdrawal without his permission is Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, Pilou Asbaek, Bill Camp, John Benjamin Hickey, Nicholas Crovetti, Jordan Preston Carter, Spencer Treat Clark, Cade Woodward, and Debra Christofferson. Go-to King favorite William Sadler, who starred in "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Green Mile," and "The Mist," will also be visiting. Here's hoping he can cross "Salem's Lot" off his list soon.