For Mike Flanagan (“Haunted Hill House”, “Goosebumps at Midnight”), adapting Stephen King’s gigantic “The Dark Tower” series is an absolute dream project. But already there are plenty of problems with its realisation.
With “Goosebumps at Midnight”, the new series by horror mastermind Mike Flanagan (“Midnight Mass”) has just been released on Netflix. It revolves around a group of terminally ill teenagers who come together in the library of a hospice to scare each other with horror stories – until they are really confronted with things that take place beyond good and evil. With “The Midnight Club” (the original title) Mike Flanagan once again proves that he is able to take a lot of time to unfold a good story – jump-scare world record in the first episode notwithstanding!
Time is also a keyword that is particularly important when considering what other project Mike Flanagan would like to tackle in the future: the “The Dark Tower” book series by Stephen King. That Flanagan is a great fan of the Master Of Horror is evident in all his films and series. But the artistic demands on the Dark Tower cycle are astronomical. Not only because Stephen King calls the series his “most important work”, but also because the 5,500+ page epic is absolutely groundbreaking in terms of imagination and complexity.
Taking on the creative challenge would certainly be exceedingly exciting for Mike Flanagan. But before a faithful “The Dark Tower” adaptation would even get the green light, countless things would first have to be cleared up in advance, as Flanagan explained in an interview with JoBlo:
For example, he already described the project as an “absolute nightmare in terms of development and rights,” but added that they (Flanagan along with his producer Trevor Macy) “will keep pushing to make it happen until someone stops them.”
It is overly complicated to explain what the eight-part “Dark Tower” fantasy series is about. As a reader, you find yourself in a mysterious world that is virtually a distortion of our reality. Here, the lonely gunslinger Roland crosses a desert of damnation in order to get closer and closer to the Dark Tower, which represents the pivotal point of the space-time continuum.
Not only do loyal companions and fierce adversaries await him along the way, as well as countless (and often) macabre threats, but also a painful confrontation with his dreams and nightmares.
