NEW Line has hired “It” writer Gary Dauberman to direct its adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 horror novel “Salem’s Lot” from his own script.

James Wan, Roy Lee and Mark Wolper are producing “Salem’s Lot,” which is focused on writer Ben Mears returning to the Maine town of Jerusalem’s Lot (shortened to Salem’s Lot), where he had lived as a boy. He discovers that the townspeople are slowly being turned into vampires. The writer bands together with a ragtag group to stop the spread of the evil, with the final confrontation happening in the house with a mysterious man.

The book was also adapted in 1979 as a miniseries starring David Soul, and a TV movie in 2004 that starred Rob Lowe.

Dauberman is one of Hollywood’s big writers in the horror field and a New Line favorite, given the movies he’s been involved with have generated more than US$2.3 billion for the Warner Bros. division. He made his directorial debut with New Line’s “Annabelle Comes Home,” which he wrote. In addition to both “It” films, he has also written “Annabelle,” “Annabelle Creation” and “The Nun.”(SD-Agencies)