Skip to main content

There's no redemption in the gruesome new trailer for Stephen King's '1922'

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.

Recommended Videos

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.

Mark Austin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Mark’s first encounter with high-tech was a TRS-80. He spent 20 years working for Nintendo and Xbox as a writer and…
One of Stephen King’s most famous novels is getting a streaming remake on Amazon
A girl holds up flowers on the left, and a girl stands covered in blood on the right.

Who better to adapt a Stephen King novel than one of the most prominent horror creators working today?

Per Deadline, Mike Flanagan will develop a television adaptation of King's 1974 novel Carrie. Flanagan will adapt the book into an eight-episode series for streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Flanagan and Trevor Macy will executive produce the project through Intrepid Pictures.

Read more
Stephen King’s Fairy Tale will now be a 10-episode A24 TV series, not a movie
A photo of a book cover on the left and Stephen King staring on the right.

The latest update regarding the adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling novel Fairy Tale is bad news for cinephiles and good for TV fans. The Fairy Tale adaptation was originally conceived as a movie, with Paul Greengrass serving as a writer, producer, and director. Those movie plans have now shifted to a TV show.

Per Deadline, Fairy Tale will now become a 10-episode TV series at A24. Greengrass is expected to be involved as he expands the script with J.H. Wyman, who will serve as Fairy Tale's showrunner. Wyman is a TV veteran, with credits on Almost Human and Fringe. Greengrass, Wyman, and King will executive produce along with Peter Rice, the former president of 21st Century Fox. Rice's upcoming producing credits include Saturday Night, 28 Years Later, and Warfare.

Read more
The Monkey teaser: Longlegs director takes on Stephen King
A bloody Theo James takes off his glasses.

Osgood Perkins is staying in horror for his next film. The Longlegs director is moving on from serial killers to tackle an evil toy in The Monkey, a supernatural horror based on a Stephen King short story.

In The Monkey teaser, Theo James stars as Hal and Bill, twin brothers who witness a series of horrific deaths after discovering their father's old toy monkey in the attic. The brothers separate after discarding the monkey in an attempt to move on with their lives. When the gruesome deaths suddenly restart again, the brotherly duo reunite and set out to eradicate the monkey once and for all.

Read more