‘Desperation’: Sam Raimi to Produce New Stephen King Horror Adaptation!!

They’re two of the biggest names in 20th and 21st century horror, and they’re finally about to collaborate. Terrifying titan of the printed page Stephen King and visionary horror director Sam Raimi are about to put their heads together for a new film. Helmed by one of the hottest directing duos in modern Hollywood, they’re set to adapt one of the lesser-known entries in the King canon.

Even though they’ve never worked together, King is an important part of Raimi‘s film-making career. After Raimi made his first feature, The Evil Dead, for a shoestring budget, he arranged for it to be screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. King was in attendance, and was enraptured by the film, endorsing it as one of his favorite horror movies in USA Today. That garnered interest in the film, and led to its acquisition for distribution by New Line Cinema. However, even after Evil Dead became a hit, Raimi had difficulty getting Evil Dead 2 off the ground until King convinced mega-producer Dino De Laurentiis to finance it.

Now, the two are finally coming together in an act of Desperation. As per the Hollywood Reporter, Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, the duo who resurrected the moribund Final Destination franchise with last year’s Bloodlines, are in talks to direct an adaptation of the 1996 best-selling horror novel. Newcomer Ryan Brennan has been tapped to pen the script. The duo will also produce the film, alongside Raimi and his Ghost House Pictures partner Robert Tapert, and executive producers Romel Adam and Jose Cañas.

What Is ‘Desperation’ About?

First published in 1996, Desperation centers around a desolate Nevada town of the same name, where the local sheriff, Collie Entragian, has been possessed by Tak, a murderous supernatural entity. A small group of town residents and travellers must escape Etrangian before they become Tak’s next host. The novel was published simultaneously with another King book, The Regulators, which followed the same characters in a parallel universe. Desperation was previously adapted into an ABC TV movie directed by frequent King collaborator Mick Garris and written by King himself: it starred Ron Perlman as Etrangian, as well as Tom Skerritt, Steven Weber, and Annabeth Gish.