Salem's Lot Has Been Cited As Inspiration For Sinners, But It Weirdly Shares A Lot More In Common With A Different Stephen King Book

Yahoo

24-04-2025

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Like a lot of genre fans in the last few days, my brain is very much locked in to Ryan Coogler's Sinners right now. As I wrote in my five-star review for CinemaBlend, it's difficult to decide whether it's a better crime movie or horror movie, it's a stunning work of art to look at, and Michael B. Jordan delivers the best dual performance of 2025 thus far (and there's been a surprising number of them). I've been thinking about it in many different ways, but one particular thing I've been hooked on is its connection to the world of Stephen King.
This contemplation is the lead story of this week's edition of The King Beat, but it's one of two headlines thanks to the fact that a funny development regarding one of the worst Stephen King adaptations was discussed in the last few days. There's a lot to go over, so let's dig in!
Ryan Coogler is a filmmaker whose impressive body of work means that I will anticipate every new project he develops, but in the specific case of Sinners, the movie truly piqued my interest a couple months ago. Discussing his inspirations for the Prohibition era horror story, the writer/director namedropped some of my favorite modern filmmakers – including Joel and Ethan Coen and John Carpenter – but he also made a special note of influence from Stephen King's Salem's Lot.
Having now seen Sinners, I can most definitely see how all of those ingredients came together with Ryan Coogler's unique sensibilities to create what is an extraordinary film… but me being a Stephen King fan, a funny angle on it won't stop rattling around my brain. Anyone can plainly see where Salem's Lot plays into the mix (hint: it starts with the letter 'V') – but I can't help but also recognize parallels to a particular part of the beloved epic IT, and what makes the comparison more interesting is that the movie has arrived in theaters the same year that the upcoming King TV series IT: Welcome To Derry is set to have its premiere on HBO.
Allow me to present a quick logline: In 1930s America, a collection of Black characters rebel against the racist communities in which they live by establishing a juke joint where victims of segregationist attitudes can gather, eat, listen to live music, and dance. The good times are good, but they are short lived, as the party gets violently interrupted, and what should be a night of fun becomes a night of death and tragedy.
If you're not picking up what I'm saying here, that is a description of both what happens in Sinners and what happens in the tale told about the Black Spot in IT – a story that Mike Hanlon learns about at the bedside of his dying father. There are key differences between them – including the location (Mississippi vs. Maine), backgrounds of the organizers (gangsters vs. soldiers), and the fact that there aren't any vampires in the latter (instead, it's a KKK-adjacent group called the Maine Legion of White Decency) – but the similarities stand out.
At present, the only people who are going to see Sinners and make the connection to IT are Stephen King fans who have read the book, but what makes this comparison more significant is the fact that the story of the Black Spot is getting a big spotlight in just a few months' time. Produced by Andy and Barbara Muschietti, IT: Welcome To Derry is an HBO prequel series set in the same canon as 2017's IT and 2019's IT: Chapter Two, and it is treating the flashback about the Black Spot as its main source material. The setting will be shifted to the year 1962 as a means of adjusting to the timeline change that was made in the aforementioned blockbuster horror films, but the expectation is that that core details will remain.
Is this a problem? The folks behind the release of both Sinners and IT: Welcome To Derry don't seem to think so, as it's noteworthy that both are productions of Warner Bros. Discovery. I will, however, say that the new HBO series is going to be arriving on air at a disadvantage. When the Stephen King show does air, comparisons to the Ryan Coogler film are inevitable, and that's a tough boat to sail given that Sinners is one of the best movies we've seen so far on the big screen in 2025. I can already envision social media posts with a still of Michael B. Jordan playing Smoke and Stack with a caption reading, 'I'm gonna tell my kids that this was IT: Welcome To Derry.'
But if I'm being more optimistic, the two works could co-exist perfectly fine. The tale of the Black Spot is going to be a principal narrative on IT: Welcome To Derry, but because this is a TV show we're talking about, it won't be the exclusive storyline, and those other stories may provide unique material for audiences. There is also the shifting setting to consider (the 1930s and 1960s were considerably different eras), and the fact that protagonists will be in the military will obviously have an impact on the way things play out as well. Also, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that it will establish a canon crossover with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining/Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep.
We'll find out soon. Sinners is now playing in theaters everywhere (arriving as a big hit in its opening weekend at the box office), but IT: Welcome To Derry isn't expected to arrive on HBO until spooky season (an official date has not yet been announced). Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Taylour Page, Stephen Rider, Madeleine Stowe, and Bill Skarsgård (reprising his role as Pennywise The Dancing Clown) are starring in the horror series, and you can be sure that you'll find all of the biggest updates about it here on CinemaBlend in the months and weeks leading up to its arrival.
I'm an individual who can appreciate the goofiness of Maximum Overdrive (The Green Goblin truck! The ATM calling Stephen King an asshole! The kid getting steamrolled!), but I wouldn't go as far as to call it a good movie. Giancarlo Esposito may have appreciated the talents of King as a first-time writer/director, but the film's story is a mess, and the characters are shockingly shallow. Regardless, it has managed to successfully create a cult following in the decades since its arrival in theaters in 1986, which is why I'm not actually all that surprised to learn that Emilio Estevez recently tried to get a Maximum Overdrive 2 made.
Fans of the original film will remember that Estevez starred as Bill Robinson, a line cook at a truck stop diner that finds its patrons under siege as machines around the world become sentient and turn on humanity. The actor didn't have any kind of hand in the writing of Maximum Overdrive's script, and the movie isn't remembered by the majority of his fans as one of his career highlights, but in the summer of 2023 when Hollywood was shut down in the midst of dual labor strikes, he found inspiration to start writing a sequel. Recently a guest on the HappySadConfused podcast, he revealed,
In truth, and with the advent of more computer technology and A.I. and all of that, I started to imagine what a sequel to Maximum Overdrive would look like. And during the strike I wrote one... I don't have the rights to any of this. These were just sort of... I started it. I started page one; I started an idea, and like now I'm on page 10. I'm on page 20. Now it's 50 pages, and I can't stop.
The rights to Maximum Overdrive – based on the Stephen King short story 'Trucks' – belong to the company founded by producer Dino De Laurentiis, but Emilio Estevez apparently wasn't letting that little detail get in the way of inspiration. He wrote a screenplay on spec, but he knew that it would need to get approved to move forward.
Long story short, Estevez wasn't able to garner any interest in his script for Maximum Overdrive 2… but what's nice is that let him be a bit more open in the interview about his ideas. Per the actor/screenwriter, the story would have caught up with Bill Robinson decades after the rise of the machines and still found him working in the food service industry – albeit with a much better job:
I created an insane world that takes place in a diner. So Bill, if you remember the movie – and if you do, I'm sorry, it's a terrible movie. But he was a short order cook. So now in the movie, it opens with, he's got his own diner, he's got a young daughter, he's got his crew, his people. And Guy Fieri is coming to do Diners Drive-Ins and Dives on the day the world falls apart and machines turn. And it was a cool idea. It's a bitchin' script. And De Laurentiis was like, 'Nope, we have the right to this. We're not interested. We're gonna pursue our own thing.' I was like, 'Ok.'
While I don't necessarily think that the world ever needs to see a Maximum Overdrive 2 move into production (one with or without the green light from De Laurentiis Entertainment Group), I will admit that I would love to get a gander and Emilio Estevez's script out of pure, unadulterated curiosity. I have many, many questions to which I would love to get answers.
That wraps up this week's edition of The King Beat, but that just means we're seven days away from the next one! You can find my roundups of all the big developments in the world of Stephen King here on CinemaBlend every Thursday – and with the list of upcoming movies and shows including The Life Of Chuck, The Long Walk, The Running Man, IT: Welcome To Derry and The Institute, one expects no shortage of exciting things to discuss.