Stephen King is Trapped with Richard and Billy Chizmar

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Author Richard Chizmar, founder of Cemetery Dance magazine, has an association with Stephen King that goes back almost thirty years, to when Chizmar would send the early issues of Cemetery Dance off to King. Over the decades, King has debuted a short story in the pages of Cemetery Dance (1992's Chattery Teeth), Chizmar has written the screenplays for King adaptations that haven't  made it into production (From a Buick 8 and Black House), and the pair have written a novella together, the 2017 Castle Rock tale Gwendy's Button Box.

Now King and Chizmar are working together on another project, and this one's a bit of a mystery. Chizmar took to his Facebook account to reveal that he's in pre-production on a film called TRAPPED, which he wrote from a story he and King crafted together. TRAPPED is set to begin filming in late July, and it's going to be directed by Chizmar's son Billy Chizmar, who is a writer himself.

The younger Chizmar recently made his directorial debut with a short film titled MURDER HOUSE, which he and his father wrote together. It's not clear if TRAPPED is a short or a feature, but it has our attention. We'll keep you updated as more information is made available.

Richard Chizmar has also noted that a deal is in the works for an adaptation of Gwendy's Button Box, and that a feature film based on the novella Widow's Point, which the Chizmars wrote together, goes into production in August.

While the From a Buick 8 and Black House screenplays the elder Chizmar wrote with actor Johnathon Schaech didn't get produced, they did write a direct-to-video ROAD HOUSE sequel, episodes of the Masters of Horror and Fear Itself TV shows (in the image above, Elisabeth Moss is dealing with the title character in their Fear Itself episode Eater), and a thriller titled THE POKER CLUB.