STEPHEN KING’S horror novel “The Dark Half” is getting the movie treatment at MGM with “Her Smell” director Alex Ross Perry on board to helm.

King wrote the book in 1989 about a novelist whose pseudonym comes to life as a murderous twin after his own pen name, Richard Bachman, was revealed.

MGM first adapted a film version in 1993 with zombie horror icon George Romero directing and Timothy Hutton starring. Hutton portrayed the best-selling author Thad Beaumont, who also sells grisly crime novels under the name George Stark. When the pseudonym is exposed, the author and his wife give the other author a ceremonial burial — resulting in George Stark coming alive and going on a murder spree. The movie was a box office flop, grossing US$10 million from a US$15 million budget.

King’s novels have been mined and mined again for movies and TV shows, including “Carrie,” “The Shining,” “Stand by Me,” “The Green Mile,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Pet Sematary,” “It” and “It: Chapter 2.”

Perry’s other directing credits include “Queen of Earth,” “Listen Up Phillip” and “The Color Wheel.”(SD-Agencies)