James Wan is turning to a familiar face to direct his upcoming adaptation of Stephen King horror Salem’s Lot. Last year we learned Wan would produce the vampire tale, with Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun, and It writer Gary Dauberman on the screenplay. Well, when you’ve got a proven genre commodity like Dauberman already on board, why let someone else get behind the camera?
THR reports Dauberman will now direct and write Salem’s Lot, which is one of the most adapted of King’s works. The 1975 novel centers on a writer who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, only to find the residents have been turned into vampires.
Salem’s Lot has been adapted many times. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre‘s Tobe Hooper directed an Emmy-nominated TV miniseries in 1979. Larry Cohen directed TV sequel A Return to Salem’s Lot in 1987, and Rob Lowe starred in a 2004 remake on TNT. An episode of Castle Rock also alluded to the town of Jerusalem’s Lot.
Everything Dauberman touches turns to gold lately, so this makes all the sense in the world. He made his directorial debut with last year’s Annabelle Comes Home.
