Stephen King wants The Boogeyman director to adapt this story next

Daisy Phillipson
Vivien Lyra Blair as Sawyer in The Boogeyman

Dexerto spoke with one of the most exciting horror filmmakers today, Rob Savage, about his Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman, and he revealed that the prolific author is “excited” about his idea to tackle another of King’s famous novellas.

Though Rob Savage has been in the filmmaking business for years, he smashed his way into the mainstream with his 2020 pandemic hit Host, a screenlife supernatural flick about a virtual séance gone horribly wrong. It was so effective, Host was recently hailed the “scariest horror movie of all time,” according to science.

Savage followed this up with Dashcam, another computer screen genre film about a deluded MAGA supporter who visits a friend in London amid the pandemic, only to find herself caught up in a nightmarish situation after giving a woman a ride in her car. 

The Boogeyman is a departure from this found footage style. With a far bigger budget and a starry cast, the director’s latest entry delivers a truly effective take on Stephen King’s short story of the same name. It even got the seal of approval from the famed horror writer himself, and it looks like the collaboration might not end with The Boogeyman…

Stephen King wants The Boogeyman director to adapt this novella next

In an exclusive interview with Dexerto, Savage revealed that he’s got his sight set on The Langoliers, a sci-fi horror novella from King’s Four Past Midnight collection – and the author is fully on board with the idea.

Alongside The Boogeyman, the filmmaker explained: “There’s another short story that I’ve always wanted to do called The Langoliers, and it actually got made into a TV movie in the 90s. It’s not the best adaptation – it’s fun, but definitely not a definitive adaptation, and I want to take a crack at that.”

“When King saw this movie, and thankfully really liked it, we were emailing back and forth and I told him how much I love The Langoliers, and he got really excited about the idea of adapting that,” he added. “So it might be something that might materialise one day. I love that story.”

Still from The Langoliers two-part TV movie

Elaborating on why he’s a fan of the novella, he explained: “It’s just got a great setup, you know, this idea of a bunch of people on a plane and, like all of us do, half of the plane falls asleep, and when they wake up they’re the only people on the plane. Everyone else has disappeared and they seemingly have passed through into another dimension as the plane flies through this electrical storm. 

“And then it’s got this great Creature Feature, A Quiet Place-style dynamic that plays out with these parasitic creatures that chase them down as they move through this abandoned airport where time seems to be standing still and acting in weird ways. 

“It’s great. It’s one of his more sci-fi short stories, but it’s creepy, and it’s got a great setup and great characters.”

The Boogeyman creeps its way into cinemas on June 2, 2023. You can check out our other horror coverage here.

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About The Author

Daisy is a Senior TV and Movies Writer at Dexerto. She's a lover of all things macabre, whether that be horror, crime, psychological thrillers or all of the above. After graduating with a Masters in Magazine Journalism, she's gone on to write for Digital Spy, LADbible and Little White Lies. You can contact her on daisy.phillipson@dexerto.com