New Line’s adaptation of Stephen King novel Salem’s Lot has found its vampire master.

Gary Dauberman, the horror writer who made his directorial debut with last year’s Annabelle Comes Home, has closed a deal to direct the feature thriller.

Dauberman already has a stake in Salem’s Lot (sorry, couldn’t resist) as he is also the project’s screenwriter.

James Wan, Roy Lee and Mark Wolper are producing.

Published in 1975, King’s book centers on an author who returns to his hometown in order to write about an abandoned mansion in the small town. As he discovers the home has been bought by a mysterious man from Europe, the man also realizes that townspeople are slowly being turned into vampires. The writer bands together with a ragtag group to stop the spread of vampires, with the final confrontation happening in the house with the mysterious man.

While Salem’s Lot has never been adapted to the silver screen, it has been translated to the small screen. A 1979 miniseries that starred David Soul as the writer was directed by Tobe Hooper, the master horror filmmaker behind The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist.

Larry Cohen directed the 1987 sequel. A 2004 two-parter that aired on TNT and starred Rob Lowe was helmed by longtime TV director Mikael Salomon.

Dauberman is one of Hollywood’s big writers in the horror field and a New Line favorite, with the movies he's been involved with having generated over $2.3 billion for the Warner Bros. division. He wrote the company’s high-profile and successful Stephen King adaptations, It and It Chapter Two. He is also a big part of New Line’s horror line based on The Conjuring: he wrote spinoffs Annabelle, Annabelle Creation and Annabelle Comes Home, directing the latter. He also wrote spinoff The Nun.

Dauberman is repped by ICM Partners, Industry Entertainment and Felker Toczek.