Streaming platform Epix recently unveiled two trailers for a new TV series based on a Stephen King short story that stars Adrien Brody and Emily Hampshire (Stevie from “Schitt’s Creek”).
The first trailer for the show “Chapelwaite,” which dropped on July 8, is pretty spooky. The show, based on King’s short story “Jerusalem’s Lot,” is set in the 1850s, and tells the story of Captain Charles Boone, played by Brody, who relocates his family to the small Maine town of Preacher’s Corner to live at his family’s ancestral home, the not-at-all demonic mansion known as Chapelwaite.
In the book, it’s just Boone and his servant who live there, but in the series, it’s apparently Boone and his three children, who quickly employ a governess (Hampshire).
From there, things unsurprisingly take a turn for the worse. If you’re familiar with “‘Salem’s Lot,” the 1975 King novel set in the same town, you’ll know what sorts of baddies might be inclined to show up.
Epix then dropped a red-band trailer — the industry term for what is essentially an R-rated trailer — on Tuesday. You can watch that trailer on YouTube, but be forewarned: it is quite bloody and disturbing. You’ll never look at Adrien Brody’s iconic nose the same way again.
It’s clear that this series, unlike some of the more recent TV series based on King tales, is really leaning into the horror side of things, with a tone somewhat similar to modern-day horror classic “The Witch.”
The “Jerusalem’s Lot” short story was published in “Night Shift,” King’s first collection of short stories from 1978, though he first wrote a version of the story while still a student at the University of Maine in Orono, from which he graduated in 1970.
That’s well before King wrote “‘Salem’s Lot” in 1975, his second novel, which is set in modern times and continues the story of the cursed Maine town — now under the thrall of the powerful vampire, Kurt Barlow.
“Chapelwaite” is set in Maine, but as is so often the case, it was filmed in Nova Scotia, a cheaper stand-in for the real thing. Sorry, Canada, but our tax rebates for films shot in Maine aren’t as good as yours, so producers rarely opt to shoot here.
The show will premiere on Aug. 22 on Epix.