Variety reports that genre legend George Romero will direct "From a Buick 8," which will be an adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. The horror master worked together previously on "Creepshow" (1982) and "The Dark Half" (1993).

""From a Buick 8" is the story of a state trooper who is killed on the side of the road. The man's colleagues try to help his son cope, but when the boy discovers his father's dark secret in the barracks' back shed, things start to stir not only in the shed but in the hearts and minds of the veteran troopers who surround him.

"I'm very excited that George is interested in directing 'From a Buick 8,' " said King."

The company behind the project is Chesapeake Films, which co-belongs to actor/writer/producer Johnathon Schaech, whom you may remember from movies like "That Thing You Do!," "Hush," and "The Doom Generation." Mr. Schaech and his partner, Richard Chizmar, have a variety of genre-related projects in the hopper right now. They just hired filmmaker Tim McCann to direct a suspense thriller called "The Poker Club," plus they also plan to mount an adaptation of the Stephen King/Peter Straub novel "Black House."