Stephen King is a hot property in Hollywood these days. Although The Dark Tower was a disappointment, It took the box office by storm, setting all kinds of records on its way to becoming the top-grossing horror film of all time.
More King adaptations are in the works, with the upcoming Mr. Mercedes original series from Audience network, the enigmatic Castle Rock series from Hulu (produced by J.J. Abrams’ studio), and the Gerald’s Game film from Netflix.
1922, also from Netflix and premiering on October 20, is based on the Stephen King 131-page novella which was published in the 2010 collection Full Dark, No Stars. It stars Thomas Jane as Wilfred James, the most unreliable of narrators. Jane has appeared in the previous King adaptations The Mist and Dreamcatcher.
Molly Parker plays his wife Arlette, who wants to sell their farm and move to the big city. Wilfred is not down with that, to put it lightly. “A man’s pride was a man’s land,” he growls in the trailer. Reminiscent of the Edgar Allan Poe classic The Telltale Heart, the story involves a gruesome murder and a resulting hallucinatory descent into madness.
In their review, Variety underscored how the “blunt-force savagery” of the murder takes its toll on Wilfred as a curse he must bear forever. They also give credit to writer-director Zak Hildich for his suspenseful pacing in this slow-burning drama. IndieWire calls it “a poetic take on a King novella,” adding that Jane “gives his best performance in ages.”
2017 is certainly turning out to be a banner year for Stephen King movies, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. A prequel to The Shining has been in the works forever, a remake of the classic Firestarter is also underway, a new adaptation of Pet Sematary may (or may not) be in development at Paramount, a new Children of the Corn movie will arrive this year whether you want it or not, and the multi-part adaptation of The Stand continues to flounder in some sort of no-man’s land, just to name a few.
You can catch 1922 when it premieres on Netflix on October 20, 2017.
