'Creepshow' TV Series Adapting Stephen King's Most Disturbing Story

As a horror fan, there's not much that actually shocks or disturbs me. But there are exceptions. One of those exceptions is Stephen King's grisly short story Survivor Type, featured in his collection Skeleton Crew. It's a queasy, nasty piece of work about a man shipwrecked on a desert island, forced to slowly eat his own body parts to survive. And now, it might be coming to TV. Director and special effects make-up artist Greg Nicotero is currently working on a new Creepshow TV series for Shudder, and one of the episodes appears to be an adaptation of King's gross-out short story.

In Stephen King's Survivor Type, a disgraced surgeon named Richard Pine ends up on a remote island in the Pacific after the cruise ship he was on sinks. Pine has no food, few supplies, and a bunch of cocaine he was smuggling. The character narrates his story via a journal he's keeping, and we learn about his desperate situation. Unable to find much food, he soon begins amputating his own body parts, and eating them. It's really disgusting, to the point that when I first read it, I had to take breaks to avoiding getting too grossed-out. Unlike most King works, no one could adapt Survivor Type into a feature film. But it would make for a hell of a short, and that's apparently what's happening via the new Creepshow TV series.

It's already been reported that King and his son Joe Hill would be among the contributors to the show, and now, Production Weekly has confirmed Survivor Type will be the inspiration for one of the episodes. Per GeekTyrant:

One of the episodes will be called "Survivor Type" and it will focus on a character named Richard Pine, who is "Shipwrecked on a desert island" and while there he "reflects on his life and does the unthinkable in order to survive."

If done right, this is going to make for a very disturbing episode of TV. And I can't wait to see it. Each episode of the Creepshow series will be helmed by a different director, and will feature make-up effects from Greg Nicotero's KNB EFX Group. When the project was first announced, Nicotero said:

"Creepshow is a project very close to my heart! It is one of those titles that embraces the true spirit of horror... thrills and chills celebrated in one of its truest art forms, the comic book come to life! I'm honored to continue the tradition in the 'spirit' which it was created."

The series is set to debut on Shudder some time this year.