A suitably disturbing trailer was released for Gray Matter, the short horror film adapted from a short story by Stephen King. The short was directed Red Clark, and received funding via a Kickstarter campaign that started in November, 2011 with a $9,500 goal and by January 21st, 2012 raised $10,600. With its success in crowdfunding, Gray Matter joins the ranks of fellow Kickstarter-funded movies such as the recent Riddick and the upcoming Veronica Mars movie.

“Gray Matter” is part of King’s 1978 short story collection Night Shift; it tells the tale of a few men in a small town who discover their shut-in neighbor is changing into something that’s not quite human. If the trailer, and Clark’s description on Kickstarter, are anything to go by, then the short film will stick closely to its source material.

Warning! Do not watch this trailer while consuming beer.

Stephen King adaptations are a dime a dozen; from the recent adaptation/remake of Carrie, the television series Under the Dome which began airing in June, to the myriad of planned or in production projects yet to be released, including (but not limited to) a feature film version of It (first adapted as a TV miniseries in 1990) with Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre) set to direct, a Peter Askin (Company Man, Trumbo) directed version of A Good Marriage starring Joan Allen, and Ron Howard’s long planned film-mixed-with-TV-series adaptation of The Dark Tower series.

According to The Chicago Creepout, Gray Matter will be “hitting the festival circuit by the time winter rolls around this year.”