 For years it was planned to make this story into a theatrical film,  directed by George A. Romero (I) (qv). Stephen King (I) (qv) did  many drafts to make it of a suitable length for a feature film, and  when he couldnt get it short enough they considered breaking it  into two separate films before finally letting  Rospo Pallenberg (qv) write a draft. But before they could make  it, King was offered the chance to make this mini