There’s already a Sandman Slim movie in the works, but now author Richard Kadrey has another film on the way. The Wrap reports that his original screenplay Dark West has been optioned by Winterlight Pictures, to become a film directed by Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead), who will also write another draft of the script.
Kadrey also plans to turn Dark West into a graphic novel.
Dark West is described as being akin to classic ’80s horror films Near Dark and The Hitcher; The Wrap summarized it as “a vampire revenge thriller set on the highways of Texas that follows two car thieves who accidentally T-bone a pair of vampires in the middle of the night.”
Kadrey’s bestselling Sandman Slim novels are also en route to the screen: John Wick director Chad Stahelski is attached to direct the film, though there hasn’t been much news on that front since 2019, when Kadrey tweeted that the movie was moving forward. The twelfth and final Sandman Slim book, King Bullet, will be out this coming August. Kadrey has also written standalone novels (including 2019’s fantasy The Grand Dark) and comics (including runs on Lucifer and Hellblazer). Tor.com published his short story “Across the Dark Water” last month.
There’s no word yet on production schedule or casting for Dark West.
