Newton Kansan
When people think of the expansive plains of Kansas, most envision fields of flowing wheat or towering sunflowers.
Few consider it a birthing ground for the horror film industry.
That, however, is something filmmaker Robert Kreh aims to change.
An independent filmmaker who grew up in Newton, Kreh has big ideas for the genre.
Kreh is directing a film adaptation of “Cain Rose Up,” a short story from Stephen King’s Skeleton Crew collection.
The tale describes the anguish of Curt Garrish, a fictional character who goes on a shooting spree, killing fellow college students from his dorm window with a sniper rifle.
The film will be 20 to 25 minutes long once completed.
He was awarded permission to work on “Cain Rose Up” by creating it as one of Stephen King’s so-called “dollar babies.” The term applies to non-exclusive works personally authorized by King for only $1. Such projects are typically given to student producers, and dollar babies cannot be released commercially or for profit.
To obtain the permissions, Kreh had to serve as an assistant to King for nearly a year, only being awarded the project after a great deal of persuasion.
Commenting on the work of Steven King, Kreh considered the writer a visionary and sees his work as predictive.
“His stories have touched on topics that wouldn’t become an issue until many years later,” Kreh said.
In addition to Kreh’s adaptation, at least two other dollar baby films based on “Cain Rose Up” are being produced.
A rendition by independent filmmaker Jeven Dovey, the first awarded rights to the title by King, is set to be released later this year.
Another adaptation is in pre-production.
“It will be interesting to see the variations in each of the filmmaker’s styles and visions,” Kreh said. “My version will bring some unique flavor to the story, as will the other film makers.”
A fan of horror films from a very young age, Kreh left Newton to attend Butler Community College’s mass communications program following high school. After spending time there, he decided to move to Florida, furthering his education at the International Academy of Design and Technology.
He received his bachelor of fine arts degree and soon thereafter founded Dark Harvest Productions, an independent film production studio based out of Tampa, Fla.
Before beginning work on “Cain Rose Up,” Kreh produced a handful of other independent films, some of which have received acclaim from his peers.
