JP Nunez
Horror filmmakers have been drawing inspiration from novels and short stories for as long as the genre has been around, and other than maybe Bram Stoker, no horror author has been adapted for the big screen as many times as Stephen King. Ever since 1976’s Carrie, his books have been turned into movies again and again, and while not all of those films are good, they include some of the best titles the genre has to offer, like The Shining, Creepshow, and Misery. And now, Deadline is reporting that another classic King novel is set to be turned into a movie: The Regulators.
The Regulators was published in 1996 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, and it’s the companion story to King’s book Desperation (published under his real name). The two novels take place in parallel universes, so while they contain many of the same characters, they tell very different stories.
In The Regulators, an evil being takes over an autistic boy’s body, and it wreaks havoc in the peaceful suburban town where the kid lives. It sends vans full of “regulators” to kill anybody they find on the streets, and it also changes the physical environment of the town itself. The residents who survive the regulators’ initial onslaught have to figure out what in the world is causing all this madness, and once they learn the truth, they have to band together and defeat the evil creature that’s causing it.
It’s a pretty crazy concept, so if executed correctly, it could make for an amazing movie. In particular, this has the potential to be a visually stunning film with some absolutely bonkers action, so I’m really excited for it.
As of this writing, we don’t have any information on when this movie will be coming out or who’s going to direct it. All we know right now is that George Cowan is going to write the script, and when we learn more about the film, we’ll be sure to let you all know.
