While not a fan of horror movies or books in general, I've been the biggest Stephen King fan since I first read Carrie in the mid '70s. That was also the first movie adaption of one of his books that I ever saw. It had John Travolta in it pre-Kotter and pre-Saturday Night Fever. While Carrie was a pretty good movie, adaptations of King's works since have been hit or miss, all depending on the director. For instance, I wasn't a big fan of the 1980 version of The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Jack Nicholson. It was a good movie, it just didn't really capture the terror that the original book invoked. Stephen King did his own, much better version of it in 1997.
Stephen King is definitely a master of horror. I think what is most fascinating about King's writing is how much psychological terror he can provoke within the reader. I've spent many a sleepless night waiting for the sun to rise after having read a King novel late into the night. Not only does he play upon those childhood fears we had of creatures under the bed and the like, but the fears of our adult minds, as well — loneliness, desertion, loss of sanity. Those adult fears are the hard ones to translate to the big screen.
I read in my Stephen King newsletter the other day that the 1408 Movie, based on a short story of the same name in the short story collection Everything's Eventual, is coming out in the theaters June 22nd. I'm really looking forward to seeing this one. I remember that story spooking me when I first read it. In fact, King himself said, "...this story scared me while I was working on it." The movie stars John Cusak and Samuel L. Jackson and is once again set at a hotel (King believes hotels are just naturally creepy places). Room 1408 is the room where the evil dwells. I can't wait to see how the screenplay expands the short story to a full length movie.
Check out the 1408 Movie trailer below. I'm freaked out already!
Name: LaDonna
AIM craftyladonna
