Nine years ago, Ben Young really impressed me with his feature directorial debut, the serial killer thriller Hounds of Love. (You can read my 9/10 review HERE.) Since then, Young has directed the sci-fi thriller Extinction, the coming-of-age adventure Devil’s Peak, and episodes of multiple TV shows. Now, Deadline reports that Young is set to take the helm of the Stephen King adaptation Mister Yummy.
Described as “a haunting tale,” the story follows Ollie Franklin, a charismatic resident of an assisted living facility who begins experiencing disturbing visions after the death of a fellow resident. As the line between memory, regret, and the supernatural begins to blur, Ollie is forced to confront long-buried secrets from his past before time finally catches up with him. Troy Abruzzise has written the screenplay with Young. King’s short story Mister Yummy was featured in the author’s 2015 story collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.
Wikipedia provides more information on the short story: Mister Yummy details the last days in the life of Ollie Franklin, in particular his relationship with another elderly gentleman at the Lakeview Assisted Living Center named Dave Calhoun. Ollie recalls his experiences growing up as a gay man in America, losing friends to the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, as well as his one-time encounter at a dance club in New York with a young good-looking fellow who he and his clique of friends called “Mister Yummy.” Although he never saw him again in person, he has recently been seeing him again as a sort of avatar heralding his impending death, getting closer every time, and reasons that all people see different avatars when getting close to death’s door.
The film is being produced by Aimee Schoof, Isen Robbins, and Megan Freels Johnston of Intrinsic Value Films, along with Josh Kesselman and Thomas Mahoney of Handsome Watson.
I always think that it’s worth mentioning that Megan Freels Johnston is the granddaughter of one of my favorite authors, Elmore Leonard. (Stephen King also ranks highly on that “favorite author” list.) Johnston directed the 2014 horror film Rebound and the 2017 horror film The Ice Cream Truck. You can read my review of The Ice Cream Truck at THIS LINK.
Young provided the following statement: “Stephen King was one of the first authors I ever read religiously, so getting to work on something that came from his imagination is a genuine honour. What I love about Mister Yummy is that the horror is inseparable from the humanity. It’s creepy, moving, character-driven, and exactly the kind of movie I’d line up to see. It’s also the first feature I’ll direct that I’ve also written on since Hounds of Love, so helping shape the script into the kind of Stephen King film I’d want to experience myself has been a real joy.“
Are you glad to hear that Hounds of Love director Ben Young is bringing Stephen King’s Mister Yummy to the screen? Let us know by leaving a comment below.