Let's talk, you and I. Let's talk about fear.
Those are the first words I ever read that were written by Stephen King (they began the introduction to Night Shift, his first collection of short stories), and they changed my life. They were intimate yet forbidding, and they made me feel both intrigued and very, very nervous. I was much too young to be reading some of the stories in that book, and I was a kid who was very easily scared by movies and such. That being said...Uncle Stevie wanted to talk to me, and who was I to refuse?
As I dug into that book and learned about the dangers of possessed motor vehicles, demonic laundry presses, vengeful army toys, the parentless children of Gatlin, Nebraska, spoiled beer, and all the rest, I was certainly scared but I was also feeling something that the horror movies I had seen up to that point hadn't made me feel: joy. Exhilaration. I was having fun. As scary as the stories were (and to my 10-or-so-year-old brain they were fucking terrifying), as each one came to an end I couldn't wait to see what the next one had in store, to see where Uncle Stevie would take me next. I trusted him, even though I was afraid of him.
The next book of his I attempted to read was the brand new (at the time) It. I say attempted because I got only a few pages in before poor little Georgie Denbrough went chasing after his paper-and-paraffin boat and accepted his final balloon from Pennywise the Dancing Clown. That opening shook me to the core and scared me so much that I didn't build up the courage to go back to the book for over a year to read the next thousand pages, many of which contained nightmares that have never been and will never be matched. Finishing It (again, much too young) was running a gauntlet, and after I finished, my first order of business was to grab whatever I could get my hands on that had the name Stephen King on the cover (next up for me was Thinner, and that's a deliciously poisonous slice of Gypsy pie).
Every fan of King that I know refers to themselves the same way King himself refers to us: we are Constant Readers. He speaks to us, to our family of Constant Readers, in his introductions and annotations, and he always does so in such a personable manner that it feels like a conversation. Let's talk, you and I. Even if you're not addressed by name, you are a Constant Reader, and that's enough to let you know he's having this conversation with you, he can hear your voice just as clearly as you can hear his. That avuncular tone inviting us into the darkness, making us feel safe and scared for our very lives all at once, that's magic. There's nothing else like it, and imitators be damned there's no one else like Stephen King.
As much as I love and will always love King's writing, there's another thing that I love and always look forward to despite the fact that it can often be a crushing disappointment: movie (and television) adaptations of King's work. They are legion, and they range from excellent (The Shining, The Dead Zone, Misery) to execrable (The Mangler, Pet Sematary Two, most of the Children of the Corn franchise). These are what I've chosen to write about this year, and yes I'm including sequels and such that aren't directly based on his books or stories but still wouldn't exist without him (so something like Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe's War counts, while something that's only inspired by King like Stranger Things doesn't count. Make sense?). The order in which I write about them will be random, because I have a feeling that going chronologically would be a bit depressing, quality-wise. I won't cover every single adaptation out there, but just whatever strikes my fancy on the day that I'm writing each post.
The other thing I'm doing a little differently this year is that my posts won't be daily. I'm going to write as much as I can, but unfortunately I won't have the time to post every day and to be perfectly honest I want to enjoy this time bathing myself in the works of my favorite writer, I don't want it to start to feel like homework, so I'm going to pace myself a bit. Thank you to those of you who read these, and who encourage me to keep writing them. I will be back tomorrow with more.
Now let's talk, you and I. Let's talk about fear.
Happy Scary Movie Month!
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