Five Horror Television Adaptations I'd Like To See

Things may seem dire in the theaters some days, but we are living in a Horror Heyday of television. AMERICAN HORROR STORY and SUPERNATURAL are both original ratings giants, but look at the adaptations that are bringing in viewers: BATES MOTEL, HANNIBAL, THE WALKING DEAD, TRUE BLOOD, HEMLOCK GROVE, and many others. It seems that with the proper source material and a solid creative team behind it, genre television is a force that cannot be stopped. That's why I have put together this list of five television adaptations that I would love to see.

CASTLE ROCK: Stephen King is no stranger to television. Many of his novels and stories have been adapted into miniseries, and with the (arguable) success of UNDER THE DOME, networks are seeing that his work has the ability to be crafted as an ongoing series, as well. THE DEAD ZONE, THE BODY, CUJO, NEEDFUL THINGS and THE DARK HALF all took place in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. My idea is that this series would not adapt any of these particular stories, but follow the denizens of Castle Rock as they go through their daily lives, dealing with the unusual circumstances that seem to go hand-in-hand with the area. Imagine a cross between TWIN PEAKS and PICKET FENCES.

FULL MOON ANIMATED: Full Moon films produced many a cult classic back in the day, including SUBSPECIES and PUPPET MASTER. In my vision of this animated show, all of their creations exist in a shared universe, and they crossover into each other's adventures on a regular basis. Think about it: The PUPPET MASTER puppets teaming up with Jack Deth to take down Killjoy one week, and the DEMONIC TOYS battling Radu the vampire the next. I envision it as a weekly version of Rob Zombie's THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPER BEASTO, with a dash of Marvel Comics' SUPERHERO SQUAD.

S-MART: There have long been rumors of a fourth film in the EVIL DEAD series, but with the gory remake released in 2013, it seems that if a new film is produced, it will probably be a sequel to the remake, not to the original series. Fans, though, are still clamoring for more Bruce Campbell. That's where this series would come in. An older, wiser, grumpier Ash Williams mentors a small group of young S-Mart employees on the woes of retail and how to deal with the supernatural forces that are threatening to take over their town. It probably couldn't help but receive comparisons to REAPER, but hell, bring back the cast of that show and add Bruce Campbell, and I'm sold.

I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER: With DEXTER all wrapped up, I think that a series based on the trilogy of books by Dan Wells could fill that void quite ably. For the uninitiated, John Wayne Cleaver is a young sociopath who wants desperately to escape what seems to be his destiny—becoming a serial killer. He draws up a list of rules for himself to follow that will prevent him from journeying down that dark road, but finds his true nature trying to break the surface when he becomes entangled in a murder investigation. If it sounds a lot like the show that I said it should replace, that's because it is...at least on the surface. The characters actually prove to be quite different from one another, and having a teenage antihero opens it up to a whole new range of possibilities. And let's not forget, while Dexter chooses to hunt other serial killers, John Wayne Cleaver hunts demons that take human form.

HELLRAISER: At its best, the HELLRAISER series from Epic Comics that began in 1990 was sort of like Marvel's licensed answer to their distinguished competitor's SANDMAN title. It was an anthology series that visited different realms and eras, expanding on the mythos of the franchise in artistically diverse ways. That's the method that I would want this series to use, focusing on varying subjects and how they fit into the mythology. With a little creative fine-tuning, the universe could be expanded greatly enough that the puzzle box wouldn’t have to figure in every episode and the Cenobites could be reserved for "special occasions", in order to keep things fresh. There are a whole lot of vile things in Hell. Frankly, I believe we've only scratched the surface.

There we have it, my list of top 5 horror works that I would like to see adapted for television. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that that the heyday continues long enough for at least a few of these dreams to become a reality.