'Mile 81' Movie To Bring Yet Another Of Stephen King's Killer Cars To The Screen

Stephen King loves to write about killer cars, and producers love to adapt those tales into movies. The latest is Mile 81, based on a King short story about a station wagon that eats people (I'm serious). The adaptation will be produced by Ross M. Dinerstein, who produced another King adaptation – Netflix's 1922. Alistair Legrand, filmmaker of horror flicks The Diabolical and Clinical, will direct.

Hollywood has Stephen King fever right now, but producers are running out of titles to adapt (or remake). That means some bottom-of-the-barrel stuff is getting trotted out to fill the void – like Mile 81. Deadline has the news regarding the film adaptation, stating that production will likely begin in the fall, and casting is currently underway. Here's their mini-synopsis:

Set around a remote, boarded-up rest stop, the film will follow 12-year-old Pete, his brother, and a group of strangers who must fight to survive as they're hunted by a mysterious force.

What this synopsis doesn't mention is that the "mysterious force" – at least in the short story – is a killer station wagon. The station wagon is parked on the side of the road, and people who stop to investigate it are gobbled up by the vehicle. As it turns out, the car isn't a car after all – it's an alien that has assumed the shape of a car. King wrote it as a mini E-book, and then included a slightly alternate version of the story in his collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. The Mile 81 script is being written by Legrand and Luke Harvis, who also wrote Legrand's films The Diabolical and Clinical.

King is no stranger to killer automobiles. His most famous is probably Christine, which was adapted into a film by John Carpenter. Then there's the novel From a Buick 8, which is also about a car not of this planet. A film adaptation of that is also currently in the works, with William Brent Bell, who helmed the 2016 creepy doll film The Boy, directing.

I'm a big Stephen King fan (I might have mentioned that before), but even I have to admit that Mile 81 is not very good. It's not terrible, but it's definitely one of King's weaker efforts. It still displays his usual talent for building memorable characters, but the end result is kind of lacking. I mean, come on – a station wagon that eats people? But hey, maybe the film adaptation will turn out well