It's 25 years since Creepshow 2 drew a line under a brief run of Stephen King portmanteau movies (which also included Creepshow and Cat's Eye; there was a Creepshow 3 in 2006, but King wasn't involved). A new anthology of movie-ised King short stories is now on the way though, courtesy of writer/director Mark Pavia.
Pavia has King previous, having directed The Night Flier, starring Miguel Ferrer, back in 1995. Since then he's been battling through development hell on any number of projects: for a time he was attached to the remakes both of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Dawn Of The Dead, and he wrote an early treatment of Clive Barker's The Midnight Meat Train.
He also collaborated with King on a Night Flier sequel in 2005, but while the film never happened, the experience was clearly a happy one, leading to this new project, which has King's involvement.
"Steve agreed to the film right away," Pavia told Icons Of Fright. "He chose two stories and I chose two, and the selection is a perfect mixture of classic and contemporary King: a little bit of something for his oldest and newest fans alike. It will be a true representation of his different personas, from the horror showman at his pulpiest, to his most introverted and introspective character pieces. From the outset I had just one criteria: all the stories chosen had to be incredibly frightening and also have a supernatural bent, and he agreed with me. This is a go-for-the-gut horror show, make no mistake about that. I'm going to give all Stephen King fans the film they want and deserve." Reports that he ever told King he was his number one fan and then broke his ankles with a hammer are unsubstantiated.
There are no official studio or distribution deals set up yet, and no title for the film. Nor have the four stories yet been revealed, but Pavia did update his Facepage over New Year to say that he was "writing about churning storm clouds, Derry, Maine and the Grim Reaper." That might indicate a version of the 1969 haunted-mirror story The Reaper's Image, which is in King's Skeleton Crew collection.
"My New Year's resolution: to scare the living crap out of each and every one of you," Pavia says. "You've been warned..."