The Stephen King Thread - Part 1

[GremlinZilla89]

I think Cujo is easily his most overrated book. The characters are uninteresting and mostly unlikable and the human drama just isn't in the least bit engaging. It should have been a short story.

 

[Teelie]

I've started Night Shift last night. On the first story only so far but I also picked up Nightmares & Dreamscapes today. A bit late to start for October but I'll just keep on reading.

 

[hammerhedd11]

I finished The Stand recently; I had put it off for years due to the length, but I breezed through it pretty quickly. In regards to what someone on the last page said in regards to disappointing endings, I both understand and politely disagree with that point of view. Both The Stand and The Dark Tower are almost blatantly anti-climatic, what with both seemingly ramping up toward a big face off with the big bad, but I feel that each subverts this expectation purposefully, tying in with the themes and journey's of the characters.

With both The Stand and The Dark Tower Stephen King seems to build up his villains to a mythic status, often before we even actually meet them, but when we do meet Randall Flagg or The Crimson King, they reveal themselves to be pathetic, frightened individuals who are often the cause of their own undoing. The Stand, in particular, almost entirely builds up the villain through our heroes' dreams, but, by the climax, we find him to be the one to initiate his own downfall.

 

[jonathancrane]

I just finished Dr. Sleep yesterday.

Spoiler

I kind of saw it coming that Abra was going to be related to Dan after their first real interaction. I liked that aspect of it though. I really liked that they had Jack's ghost for a brief cameo. I wish there would have been more of an interaction with him and Dan though.

Spoiler

I enjoyed Derwent's return.

 

[Teelie]

Finished Jerusalem's Lot last night. I have yet to read 'Salems Lot and though I've seen that movie I don't know how well it tracks with the original story. Given the titles though it seems possible they both occur in the same place.

Jerusalem also was a big nod to Lovecraft. It felt very familar to Lovecraft with the house and the goings on inside it and the history behind it, then in the end at the church, it left zero doubt it was.

 

[GremlinZilla89]

I'm gonna review my top underrated King books in this thread just for a kick because I recently got back into him after not reading one of his books for a few years.

FROM A BUICK 8

For every beloved novel King has under his belt I feel there are almost as many that don't get the love or respect they deserve. I won't say he has never had a dud, but I don't think he has nearly as many duds as most of his more critical fans do. I may sound like a utter fanboy but the King novels I flat out dislike can be counted on one hand (Cell, Cujo, Thinner, Insomnia and Full Dark No Stars being the 5). All the others range from masterpiece to insanely readable to pretty decent. I'm sure any cynical literary type reading this just scoffed so hard their manacle fell off. How can a man who has written so much stuff over the years have any REAL talent? I'm not literary scholar but I think I can judge a good writer when I see one. I think this guy can write and deserves to be listed among the great American authors. He may not be a satirist or make grand statements on the world and politics with his stories but he is a writer who understands people. He understands them to the very core. He is one of the best writers of PEOPLE I've ever come across. From A Buick 8 is no different.

Some casual fans have dismissed this as a Christine knock-off simple because the plot involves a supernatural car. That is where the two books stop being similar. Like Christine, what makes From a Buick 8 tick is it's characters. These people are just as alive as any of Kings other books. In fact I think these are some of the most relatable and human characters he's written in his later career. Some of the reviews on here state this is a softer, kinder King. That alone may scare some people off and seem like a detriment. It really is not. This story isn't as harsh as some of his other stuff but it has his signature stamp all over it the things go bump in the night as they always have. The book is actual creepier than I expected it to be when I first picked it up. From a Buick 8 has a nostalgia and longing to it that feels oddly personal. I highly doubt many will say this is one of Kings most personal novels (Pet Sematary and Lisey's Story take that honor) but it gives off that vibe very strongly to me. You get the sense King wants these people to be ok at the end and that is a nice change of pace for him.

The novel is structured well and moves a consistent pace, lacking his more indulgent tendencies which others will find to be a great relieve. I honestly feel From A Buick 8 deserves to be listed along side Salems Lot, The Shining, Pet Sematary, Firestarter, Christine etc as his great works. It fits in with that set of novels like a glove. Give this one a shot. It needs to be read.

 

[Teelie]

I went back and really looked at the titles of the stories in Night Shift and at least a third if not more have been made into movies.

I finished Graveyard Shift that was made into a movie in the early 80's. It's quite a bit shorter than I thought for a movie but the movie threw in a lot of extra material to pad itself compared to the story. Also finished Night Surf which is the basis for The Stand that was a TV mini-series. So far as I know I Am The Doorway wasn't made into a movie (only 10 pages) but finished that one. I can see it being an episode of an anthology though.

 

[Victarion]

I finished The Stand recently; I had put it off for years due to the length, but I breezed through it pretty quickly. In regards to what someone on the last page said in regards to disappointing endings, I both understand and politely disagree with that point of view. Both The Stand and The Dark Tower are almost blatantly anti-climatic, what with both seemingly ramping up toward a big face off with the big bad, but I feel that each subverts this expectation purposefully, tying in with the themes and journey's of the characters.

With both The Stand and The Dark Tower Stephen King seems to build up his villains to a mythic status, often before we even actually meet them, but when we do meet Randall Flagg or The Crimson King, they reveal themselves to be pathetic, frightened individuals who are often the cause of their own undoing. The Stand, in particular, almost entirely builds up the villain through our heroes' dreams, but, by the climax, we find him to be the one to initiate his own downfall.

I still need to finish The Stand. As for The Dark Tower, I don't mind the Crimson King at all. Given that the Beams were restrengthening, it makes sense that he'd start to lose it. Mordred has grown on me quite a bit since my first read through.

Yall go read Hearts in Atlantis; if you're not misty-eyed at the end, I don't know what to say to you...

 

[Teelie]

I read The Mangler last night. Demon-possesed industrial machinery FTW!

 

[GremlinZilla89]

Here is a bombshell-I liked Doctor Sleep better than The Shining.


I recently just finished a re-read of the Shining and liked it a lot more this time around, but I still had some issues with it. Mainly, I don't think it's close to his scariest book. It is constantly toted by fans as his most, or close to his most frightening book. I don't see it. It has a few spine tingling moments but nothing that really got to me like many of his other books. When I first read it and upon the re-read I still found the fire hose to be silly. I get his intent it just doesn't work for me. And the hedge animals were over used. If King utilized stuff like the kid in the cement tunnel and room 217 more I would see the merit in this being considered his most scary book. What makes the story work is largely the characters and the atmosphere. King also just feels like he wrote this book effortlessly and with confidence adding to the readability of it. If only some of the scares didn't make me shake my head...

While Doctor Sleep is getting good word of mouth from fans most would say it's not nearly as scary as The Shining. I disagree. It's not bone chilling, but I felt the "fear" passages were much better handled.

 

[The Navigator]

What were the parts you found scary in Doctor Sleep? Because honestly, everything besides the torture sequence seemed pretty light. Hard to generate tension when your antagonists come across as so powerless and ineffectual (to me, anyway).

 

[squeekness]

I haven't much of King's work to be scary. That doesn't bother me, I like a good mystery or just a good story in general.

 

[Teelie]

Boogeyman and Grey Matter last night.

The boogeyman in the story was very typically, the boogeyman in the retelling. Then at the end with the twist, that was good.

Grey Matter I had no idea about. Turns out it could've been the inspiration for the movie Slither. Not to mention good reason to avoid skunky beer.

 

[The Navigator]

Boogeyman and Grey Matter last night.

The boogeyman in the story was very typically, the boogeyman in the retelling. Then at the end with the twist, that was good.

Grey Matter I had no idea about. Turns out it could've been the inspiration for the movie Slither. Not to mention good reason to avoid skunky beer.

Probably one of his creepiest.

 

[Teelie]

It makes an otherwise bland and well-known story work. Just when you think King was phoning it in, he pulls a Shyamalan twist before Shyamalan was anything but a child.

 

[:eek:]

http://www.brianjamesfreeman.com/2013/10/23/doctor-sleep-by-stephen-king-gift-edition-first-look/

 

[Piper Maru]

Any word on that Cell movie? I assume it's still in development hell, but has there been any recent updates at all?

 

[:eek:]

Any word on that Cell movie? I assume it's still in development hell, but has there been any recent updates at all?

I posted an update on it about a week ago in the movie forum. It seems it's supposed to start filming soon, if it hasn't already. And John Cusack stars in it.

 

[Teelie]

Read Battleground and Trucks last night. Battleground was part of an anthology miniseries adaptation (strangely titled Nightmares & Dreamscapes after a different book anthology which itself was only in maybe half the anthology) and Trucks was... made into a really goofy horror movie, Maximum Overdrive directed by Stephen King then a made for TV one under the original name (Trucks).

I liked Battleground. I saw it first in the mini series last year and it held closely to the story I read. Maximum Overdrive added a lot to fill itself out from a short story but otherwise held close at the core. Being directed by King that makes sense.

 

[Victarion]

I really liked Crouch End. I can't recall which anthology it was in, though.

 

[:eek:]

I really liked Crouch End. I can't recall which anthology it was in, though.

I think it was in Nightmares & Dreamscapes

 

[Teelie]

It was, with the bonus of being originally in New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos.

 

[Teelie]

Last night was Sometimes They Come Back. I don't remember much of the movie, even though I do remember seeing it and the two or three sequels to it but it was different in how it ended from what I recall of it.

 

[Victarion]

It's about some greasers that get killed in a car accident?

 

[Teelie]

The short answer is yes.

A little more detail is they were the town bullies who tormented two boys, murdering the older brother and nearly killing the younger one who escaped. 16 years later they come back to torment the him. He is now a teacher and they end up in his classroom. They are still the same teenagers as when they died (which was 6 months after the murder) and out to kill him for some unexplained reason.