IT

wv wrote:

Good point about kid-characters. I’m tryin to think of the best performances by kids in films. Drawin a blank.

What is it you love about St.King’s books, Pa?

Is it fair to say he ‘avoids the subject of politics’ in his books? How would you describe the general politics in his stories? (seems to me, there’s a kind of…oh…”norman rockwell” quality to his stories. Yes? No?….it annoys me.)

w
v

I grew up on horror stories. My mom was a HUGE horror fan. We always watched them on television and went to the movie theaters and drive-ins to see all kinds–even at a young age. She used to buy me stacks of comics and I really didn’t buy a lot of superhero ones. I bought, Sad Sack, The Archies, Richie Rich and horror stories. They had these sort of Weird Tales comics and such.

When I got older I started reading horror paperbacks and one day I went into the store and saw “Salem’s Lot.” I absolutely loved it. The “horror” element of the vampire was fantastic and the characters were very much alive to me. I became hooked. After that it was what I consider his classics: “The Shining” , “The Dead Zone”, “The Stand”, I went back to read “Carrie” after seeing thew film–and perhaps my personal favorite: “Night Shift” –his collection of short stories. Later I read, “Christine”, and “It” and “Firestarter” and “Misery” and “Skeleton Crew”(another collection of shorts) and “Different Seasons”(which has the Shawshank Redemption in it) but my favorites were his first four or five novels and that remains to this day.

I believe he’s actually a better short story writer than he is a novelist. I love his stories which he keeps short.

I also grew up on “The Twilight Zone: and “Night Gallery” and I love short stories with clever twists. King is a genius at that.

And yes–some of his stories are very much “Norman Rockwell” and I don’t personally relate to that very much and the ones that steer hard toward that aren’t my favorites(“Needful Things” comes immediately to mind)but he does have a knack for disturbing things and situations. I even liked what he did with “Cujo”. I thought he really milked the horror from that situation in a gripping way.

I don’t much like his newer novels and short stories. I haven’t read a lot of his new stuff. What I have read has left me disappointed. But I love his classic stuff.

As for his politics—he is politically very much on the left.

I don’t think he puts much of that in his stories–at least not in any memorable way for me.

I will say that he hates bullies of all stripes. That’s evident in his stories–and yes–he HATES Trump.

I also never got into “The Dark Tower” series(he writes so much) but years ago I inquired about the book–which I saw in his credits of “Firestarter” or some such thing and he wrote back a letter which had the letter head of his home in Maine and he signed. I still have it.

So yes–I’m a fan and yes–he has flaws(sometimes he doesn’t know when to end something)but I will always be a big fan.

Billy_T wrote:

Also, on horror stories: What’s your take on villains being sentient. It’s a must for me. I really can’t stand zombie stories, TV, movies, etc. etc. because there’s nothing behind the eyes. I want my suspense, thriller and horror stories to be about knowable conflicts, with at least human-like perceptions, with actual rationales for why villains and heroes do what they do. Motivations, etc. etc.

Just could never get into monster stories if they can’t “think.”

I don’t have to have genius villains to appreciate the story if they seem a legitimate threat(I don’t want them to be threatening simply because the protagonist is dumb). I’m not a huge zombie fan although I did think that some of the Romero zombies were fun in a sick kind of way. Obviously the monster can’t be invincible but it can’t be too easy to kill either. I mean–in a sense Dracula is invincible but not necessarily. He may come back–but may not as well.

For a particular story he can be “killed”. I’m good with that.

Stories should be consistent by the rules they set. If a vampire has to be invited into a house before he can enter but in another scene just appears in a different house without invitation to shock the doomed victim simply as a way to surprise the audience–it’s not fair.

I actually enjoy the “Final Destination” series which has an invisible villain. But you can sense that invisible thing(death)thinking. I think there is a place in horror for mindless creatures that pose threats, I suppose–if the threat is horrifying enough it works. The protagonist is the one who has to solve this puzzle one way or the other. if it’s an interesting puzzle, it won’t matter.

My favorite horror villain of all time?

The demon inside Linda Blair in “The Exorcist”. I saw it when I was ten years old. The film still bothers me.

TSRF wrote:

PA, I disagree that you may have loved the movie more if you had reread the book before seeing it.

I finished reading “The Dead Zone” like a week before I went and saw the movie. I hated it! So much was missing. This character didn’t behave like he did in the book, his wife was supposed to have huge boobs, etc, etc.

Then, about 5 years ago, I watched the movie again. By that point, I didn’t remember shit about the book. I actually enjoyed the movie quite a bit (Big Chris Walken fan).

Just my take.

That could well be. I think the best film from a novel I’ve read was “Silence of the Lambs” and it isn’t close.

So yes–I could get more picky about things. But I meant more from the point of having some questions about things that were going on. I don’t want to get into spoilers but I had some questions about things I didn’t think the film explained.