"Yes. Horror, lunacy, and death. How's that for a slight problem, kids?" The Twilight Zone Magazine was a fitting publication for Stephen King's 1981 short story, "The Jaunt", to make its debut. Like many episodes of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone, "The Jaunt" (featuring one of the most disturbing endings ever crafted by King) deals with space travel and the great capabilities and devastating failures of advanced technology. Many readers were first introduced to the Mars-destined Oates family by reading "The Jaunt" in King's 1985 short story collection, Skeleton Crew, and it looks like within the next few years we could finally see the teleportation tale told on the big screen, as Brad Pitt's Plan B production company has optioned the feature film rights to "The Jaunt" and set Andrés and Bárbara Muschietti (2013's Mama) to adapt the haunting short story.
Deadline reports the news of Plan B's optioning of "The Jaunt", revealing that Andrés Muschietti is expected to direct the adaptation and that production should move rather quickly to keep on the right side of the time sensitive line, as King allows his short works to be optioned for 90 days for the price of just one dollar, though a writer has to be in place and enough headway on the project has to be made during the allotted time. Both Andrés and Bárbara Muschietti will likely pen the screenplay adaptation of "The Jaunt." Stay tuned to Daily Dead for further details. In the meantime, here's the synopsis for "The Jaunt" (via Deadline):
"It’s a futuristic tale that takes place in the 24th century, as a father explains the ground rules for “Jaunting,” a form of teleportation the family will be using shortly to go to Mars. The key is that travelers must be under anesthesia for the short journey, or terrible things happen to the mind of those being jaunted around the solar system. Time stands still and one’s brain implodes with too much time to think in an absence of external stimulation. Bad things happen."
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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