Topic: Stephen King

Stephen King: Monsters in ‘The Mist’

By Christine Anne Piesyk | November 24, 2007 |

Stephen King’s The Mist not just a pretty darned good “creature feature,” its monsters erupt on several levels around us, within us and within the people around us.

Now let me say that I am not the greatest Stephen King fan; I like about half of the books he writes and little more than half the films made from said books. And no, I did not read the 1980 novella (from Skeleton Crew) upon which this latest film is based. I tend to like my horror to unfold in my mind, offstage, behind the curtain. Alfred Hitchcock mastered that in films like The Birds. That said, as thriller/horror/monster movies goes, this was a good one, even if I did have to look away in mere anticipation of those bloodier parts.

Set in Maine, the story, directed by Frank Darabont, unfolds innocuously enough with a fairly violent but seemingly natural storm that fells tree, cuts power and sends an old tree through the picture window of our protagonist’s home. Assessing the damage, the family sees the beginning of a mist rolling down from the mountains where a military base is secluded. Artist/husband David Drayton (Thomas Jane) leaves his wife at home and takes his young son Billy (Nathan Gamble) to town for groceries and supplies in the aftermath of the storm. As he heads out to the store, truckloads of soldiers go speeding past in the opposite direction, a hint of things to come.

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The King of Drive-In Saturday Night

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 17, 2007 |

Pick a favorite, any favorite, from the Stephen King collection of films based on his even greater collection of collection of books and short stories. Tough choice, if you are a King fan. Which I am, sort of. Not your typical Steven King fan, since many of his most popular films, including The Shining, are nowhere near my top picks. In fact, I HATED The Shining, though sometimes it seemed as if I was the only one who did.

I’m a much bigger fan of the other book-to-film hits like Firestarter, The Dead Zone, Dolores Claiborne, Hearts in Atlantis, The Green Mile, and the epic scale Rose Red and Storm of the Century.

But years ago, in the beginning, there was Carrie, that career-making smash hit about a lonely girl, a religiously zealous mother, nasty schoolmates and a prom gone wild. Carrie White (played on screen by Sissy Spacek), whose abuse at the hands of mother and her peers, discovers a long-supressed telekinetic ability that for the first time will allow her to defend herself; she realizes she also has telepathic powers that move her intuitively into other people’s minds. From its humble, slice-of-life beginnings, Carrie moves steadily toward its explosive climax and tragic ending, as the people of her world realize her power and her fate. Horror got a new name and it was King. «Read the rest of this article»

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