reread – Tony's Horror Corner

The “Shining Series” #1: The Wasps

Discussing Stanley Kubrick ignoring the wasps from Stephen King’s “The Shining.”

Hey everyone! I’m still around and I’m ready to start posting regularly again. Long overdue, if you ask me. So, now that I’m back, I want to discuss some things I’ve been thinking about a lot. If you follow my Instagram, you have already seen some variation of what I am about to say. I am starting a new section of posts called my “Shining Series,” where I discuss the differences between Stephen King’s novel and Stanley Kubrick’s film.

I read “The Shining” for the first time in February 2014 while recovering from surgery (that’s a story for a different time). It was my second King novel ever and I of course loved it. It was incredible to be transported to Colorado and lose myself in the halls of The Overlook with the Torrances. I had already seen Kubrick’s iconic movie and I enjoyed it, but after reading the book, I gave the film a second viewing… I was not thrilled. Kubrick’s “Shining,” while being a great horror film, is an awful adaptation of King’s novel.

I reread “The Shining” in July 2019 and I was blown away. I don’t know if it was the 5-year separation, or maybe I was just looking at it more closely, but it was like reading a completely different book. I noticed things I didn’t even know were part of the story before and it really opened my eyes to just how big the gap between King’s novel and Kubrick’s movie really is. Kubrick’s movie is a classic and shouldn’t be ignored, but it isn’t the story King wrote and that’s what frustrates me.

For the first post in my “Shining Series,” I will discuss how Kubrick completely ignored and eliminated the wasps. The nest, the wasps themselves, and the scene where Jack Torrance discovers them were all extremely important to the story arc and Kubrick didn’t include them. King wouldn’t mention the word “wasp,” or variations of it, 70+ times (this isn’t an exaggeration) throughout the novel if they weren’t important.

Jack is re-shingling the roof of The Overlook when he discovers the wasp nest. One stings him, sending Jack into a flurry of curses (expectedly). The sting, while physically uncomfortable, spurs Jack to reflect on himself, his current situation, and his future. He realizes the wasps are very much like him:

“looking down into the nest, it seemed to him that it could serve as both a workable symbol for what he had been through (and what he had dragged his hostages to fortune through) and an omen for a better future.”

The wasp sting jolted him out of a focused and peaceful afternoon where he was working and thinking about the play he was writing. In this sense, the sting is like his alcoholism; distracting and a deterrent. The sting also represents a “punishment” for being creative. This “punishment” was doled out by the hotel itself. It was just beginning to seep into his mind and any thoughts of leaving the hotel, being successful with anything not related to the hotel, was impeding on the Overlook’s ability to influence Jack. On the other hand, the wasp’s temperament matches Jack’s almost identically. Quick to anger, quick to an attack.

As the quote shows, Jack knows the wasps symbolize himself and he believes them to be a good omen. For a little bit, they are. He successfully (or so he believes) kills them with a bug bomb he found in the Overlook equipment shed. With the wasps dead, Jack delivers the nest to Danny as a gift. When he bug-bombs them and finishes his work on the roof, his thoughts turn to his recovery:

“I’m getting better.”

The wasp sting, and their nest, incite Jack to think about his past, which is vital to the readers in understanding his nature (Something we don’t see in the film). Jack grew up in a household with an abusive alcoholic father. He sees himself turning into his dad and wants to change. The nest reminds him of this. He sees it as the turning point for the better, but the wasps represent the opposite.

The discovery of the nest is the point where everything starts to go downhill. Jack’s quick anger is soon on display with his reaction to one of Danny’s “episodes” and escalates when the wasps sting the young Torrance boy. This causes immediate shame and anger within Jack, but also resentment toward his wife, Wendy, who had expressed her worry about the nest before the wasps awoke.

I have a couple more things to say, on a general scale about the book, and then I’ll let you go. Thank you if you’ve stuck around this long:

One of the biggest themes within The Shining is repetition and the relationship between father and son. The repetitive nature of the novel is very much represented by the wasps’ ability to repeatedly sting, which is symbolic of The Overlook’s ability to “sting” its influence into Jack over and over until he finally breaks.

When Jack was a boy, he received a wasp nest from his father, much like he did with Danny. This only adds to the father-son theme and ideas of duality present throughout the novel. Kubrick never once mentions Jack’s or anyone’s past… which is shameful. We are who we are because of our past, so why ignore it?

Anyway, Sorry for the extremely long post, it was just something I noticed a lot during my reread and it really irks me that Kubrick totally ignored it. Am I overthinking it? Maybe. But, I believe the wasps held some significance to King and they definitely play their part in the story.

Stay tuned for more posts! The next “Shining Series” post will dive deeper into Jack Torrance and how Kubrick totally ignored any arc for the character. I will post a review of my reread of Stephen King’s novel “Doctor Sleep,” the sequel to “The Shining.” I was also fortunate enough to see an early screening of Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of “Doctor Sleep,” and a review for the film will be posted as well.

Review Time: “Carrie”

I first read Stephen King’s “Carrie” in 2013 and decided, randomly, to pick this tragic tale up again. Well am I sure glad I did. Check out the review for my reread below!

It’s hard to describe how ballsy it was for King to start his career off with a novel like this. A 200-page story about a high school girl with telekinetic powers… in 1974!? “Carrie” was extremely ambitious at the time.

Legend has it, King’s wife, Tabitha, pulled the manuscript from the trashcan and told him to finish it. I think all constant readers can give her a huge Thank You. Not only for pushing this book into circulation, but sparking King’s career.

“On the subject of Carrie White, we’re all relatively uninformed.”

Readers are thrown right into the midst of action with Carrie White, the tragic heroine of this story, having her first period and the other girls in the gym locker room throwing tampons at her and screaming “plug it up.” This is an insane way to start a book and its even better when readers realize later just how cataclysmic this event truly is.

I said cataclysmic, and that really is the only way to describe the locker room scene. It was the moment Carrie realized she was truly different… and not just different like every high school student, but something special. Carrie began exercising her previously semi-dormant telekinetic abilities. She describes it as working out a muscle in her head.

King does an excellent job of flipping between narrative styles throughout the novel. We get snippets of Carrie’s childhood as well as clips from newspapers, letters, telekinetic textbooks, and others. The text clippings set up the impending destruction later in the novel and keeps readers on the edge of their seats the whole time. With these snippets King gives you a taste of what is to come without truly revealing everything. Its really an amazing experience to read.

The scenes from Carrie’s past are some of my favorites. The random bursts of power associated with high-stress and her insane and overly religious mother, trapping Carrie in the closet beneath the stairs… maybe J.K. Rowling was inspired by this for “Harry Potter?” Speaking of Carries mother… wow what a terrible person. She’s easily one of the most hated characters in the Kingverse, but she is still an amazingly written crazy woman and vitally important to Carrie’s actions.

“What happens if there are others like her? What happens to the world?”

I mentioned impending destruction earlier, well, after the locker room incident, Sue Snell, one of the tampon throwers attempts to absolve herself of her guilt by convincing her boyfriend Tommy Ross to take Carrie to their senior prom. Carrie obviously accepts and things start to look up for the poor girl.

Chris Hargensen, the “bully” in this story, was the leader of the tampon throwers and she’s a vile person, so put it lightly. After the locker room incident, she is banned from the prom and in an act of revenge, her and her greaser boyfriend Billy, put buckets of pig’s blood on the rafters above the Prom King and Queen thrones. Chris rigs the voting to make it so Tommy and Carrie win.

Once on stage, accepting their crowns, Chris, hiding behind the stage, drops the blood buckets on their heads. All hell breaks loose. Carrie’s slight growth in confidence and finally happy thoughts are shattered, and she allows her now extremely powerful ability to take over.

“If the TK (telekinetic) test shows positive, we have no treatment except a bullet in the head. And how is it possible to isolate a person who will eventually have the power to knock down walls?”

I won’t go into much detail because it’s much better if you read it yourself, but Carrie’s path of destruction to her mother and then to Chris and Billy are very intense and extremely disturbing. She single-handedly destroys almost the entire town and kills hundreds of people.

This all makes Carrie sound like a terrible person and probably makes you wonder how people sympathize, but honestly, she is pretty justified for a lot of the deaths. Did all those people need to die? God, no. Many deserved it though, for the way Carrie was treated.

“People don’t get better, they get smarter. When you get smarter you don’t stop pulling the wings off flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it.”

Before I let you go, “Carrie” has been adapted into two films and one made-for-TV movie. The only movie worth watching is the original 1976 movie starring the amazing Sissy Spacek. The 2002 TV-movie is atrocious, and the 2013 film is just not good.

“Carrie” truly is a very special novel. It is easily a top 20 novel of all time for me, and it’s top 15 King for sure. I could rank it that high for the style and impact alone. I am really glad I picked “Carrie” back up and it will probably turn into a yearly or every-other-year reread. I love King’s tragic debut novel and I highly recommend you check it out whether you’ve read it yet or not. It is more than worth it.

5 out of 5

The Great “Dark Tower” Reread: “The Waste Lands”

It’s tough to follow “The Drawing of the Three,” but “The Waste Lands” gives one hell of an effort. It’s a very close race for my favorite “Dark Tower” novel between these two. This is the third and one of the biggest steps in Roland and his ka-tet’s journey to the Tower, so let’s hop on the review train.

Released in 1991, “The Waste Lands” gives readers the most explanation of any of the previous novels. This may sound boring, but the novel is action packed throughout. Eddie and Susannah are true gunslingers now and Roland is going insane due to the paradox he created by saving Jake in book two.

The trio travel far in this novel and we learn a lot about the beams connecting the tower to the 12 points around Roland’s world. We travel to a haunted house in New York with Jake, to the war-torn city Lud, ride a riddle-obsessed suicidal train, Blaine the Mono, and even get a brief appearance from one of King’s ultimate baddies.

“The Waste Lands” is a thrill-ride, Olivia and I finished it in three sittings. There are a few sections that get a little slower due to the explanatory bits, but they are very important, and King mixed them in with the action very well. You’ll hit that cliff-hanger at the end and your jaw will be on the ground. Between book two and this one, we have seen some of King’s best work.

Continue your ride on the review train, but beware, spoilers lie in the Waste Lands below.

We start off with Roland, Eddie and Susannah in the woods past the beach we left in book two. Roland is teaching Susannah how to properly shoot a gun like a gunslinger. This is the first time readers get a glimpse of the gunslinger litany and its marvelous:

“I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye.
I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind.
I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I kill with my heart.”

Roland and Susannah hear crashes and roars and run to find Eddie. They see him at the top of a tree with a giant cyborg bear beneath it trying to get him. After Susannah kills it, we learn this is Shardik, one of the guardians of the beams connected to the Tower.

Roland shows his ka-tet that you can actually see the beams in the sky and the surrounding area. They start following the beam to the center, the Dark Tower. On their journey, Roland and Eddie have dreams. Roland’s of Jake and Eddie’s of the Tower. Eddie’s dreams and growing desire to see the tower are part of the reason why Eddie is the best character. He is genuine, and his curiosity is exactly what every constant reader feels.

Meanwhile, in New York, Jake is having a hard time with his divided mind, much like Roland. Jake has a dream of young Eddie and his older brother Henry. In the dream, Jake follows them to the famous haunted mansion on Dutch Hill. When he awakens from his dream, Jake seeks out and eventually finds young Eddie and follows the brothers to the mansion. Once there and the Dean brothers have departed, Jake goes inside.

While Jake is entering the house, Roland, Eddie, and Susannah have entered a speaking circle guarded by a demonic spirit. While there, Susannah must distract it, sexually, while Eddie draws a door. The circle is where the ka-tet hopes to draw Jake through.

King flips back and forth between the ka-tet and their struggle and Jake and his. Jake is in a house of horrors, pretty much. The descriptions are truly terrifying, especially when the house comes to life and tries to grab Jake and consume him. After a heroic struggle, Jake is finally drawn into Roland’s world. Obviously that description doesn’t cut it, but it is one of the most intense scenes in the book and King set it up and executed it so well.

Once Jake is drawn, his and Roland’s minds are at ease and the ka-tet has one more member. After rounds of story sharing, they are all one the same page and of one mind: khef. Jake tells the trio of a riddle book and a book about a train he found in a NY bookstore. The books foreshadow a train the ka-tet will soon encounter.

They resume their journey toward the war-torn city of Lud. Along the way they pick up a hitchhiker: a little billy-bulmber, a raccoon-fox-like creature named Oy. Oy can somewhat repeat words and phrases and takes an immediate liking to Jake, “Ake.”

The ka-tet reaches a bridge leading to Lud. The bridge is very run-down and on the brink of collapse. They go across single file until they are stopped when Jake and Oy almost fall off. This scene is stressful as hell.

Once they regain their composure, they see a figure on the other side: Gasher. Gasher wants them to hand over Jake or else he’ll blow the bridge. They do… another heartbreaking scene where we have to watch Roland lose Jake.

Gasher drags Jake through a series of twists, turns, tunnels and around traps until they reach the lair of the Tic-Toc man underneath the city. Another heart pounding sequence. Eddie and Susannah go off in search of the train, Blaine the Mono. Roland and Oy search for Jake.

Eddie and Susannah find Blaine and must answer a riddle to board. Roland and Oy find where Jake is being held. Oy goes into the vents and attacks Jake’s captors from the inside and Roland bursts through. Together they escape with Jake and rendezvous with the Deans.

Susannah solves the riddle, and the five members of the ka-tet board Blaine. Once aboard, Blaine talks to them and impresses the group with his futuristic technology. Blaine takes the them through the waste lands and strikes a deal: The ka-tet must ask him riddles and if he solves them all, he will drive the train with them locked inside, into the blockade at the end of the track in Topeka. If the ka-tet manages to stump him though, then he will let them off safely in Topeka.

While the ka-tet are riding away from Lud, a mysterious figure approaches the injured Tic-Toc Man. This figure spouts a few lines from one of King’s best novels, “The Stand,” giving us the idea that he could be Randall Flagg (it is).

King leaves us with a nasty cliff-hanger to finish off this epic novel. It is totally frustrating until you just immediately grab book four, “Wizard and Glass,” and pick right back up. Overall “The Waste Lands” was absolutely incredible. If you weren’t sucked into the journey to the Tower after book 2, then you definitely will be after book 3.

5 out of 5

The Great “Dark Tower” Reread: “The Drawing of the Three”

If you felt a little lost or confused after “The Gunslinger,” King’s second installment in “The Dark Tower” series, “The Drawing of the Three” is the medicine you need. Below is my review for the thrill ride that really opens the door to the series.

“The Drawing of the Three” was released in 1987 and starts with Roland Deschain, the last Gunslinger, waking up on a beach to the water from the sea soaking his guns and shells. Roland, concerned for his weapons, leaps up but is attacked by giant lobster-like creatures that lop off the first two fingers on his dominant right hand.

King immediately cripples the story’s hero, starting the readers off knowing this will be a major test. “The Drawing of the Three” contains some of King’s best writing, hands down. His imagination and descriptions are truly incredible. This novel is incredibly fast paced compared to book one, and you’ll never want to put it down… Olivia and I finished it in three nights.

We get to meet two major characters in this one: Eddie Dean and Susannah. Susannah, we don’t get to until later, but we start off quickly with Eddie and if I’m being completely honest, he’s my favorite King character and one of the best he’s ever written.

This novel offers us a look into how vast King’s universe can be, but we only scratch the surface. “The Drawing of the Three” is easily a top 10/15 King novel overall for me, and its either #1 or #2 within “The Dark Tower” series.

Brief synopsis below that may contain spoilers, so tread lightly.

After losing his fingers, Roland shambles down the beach, realizing the lobstrosities have poisoned him. Roland is in desperation mode when he comes across a door in the middle of the beach. The door reads “The Prisoner.” Roland opens it and realizes he is looking through someone else’s eyes. Eddie Dean’s eyes.

Roland steps through the door, and into Eddie. King’s imagination is on full display here and it’s truly incredible. The scenes where Roland and Eddie co-exist in Eddies body, Roland taking food from Eddies world back to his own, Roland hiding the drugs Eddie was smuggling into the US in his world, so Eddie would make it through customs… amazing.

Eddie Dean is a heroin addict who, as I mentioned, was smuggling cocaine into the US for his heroin supplier, Balazar. Balazar is holding Eddie’s brother Henry hostage as collateral. Eddie, with Roland as his passenger arrive at Balazar’s place to exchange the drugs.

Eddie goes to the bathroom, followed by one of Balazar’s men, to retrieve the drugs from Roland’s world. While in the bathroom, Eddie pulls the goon into Roland’s world and together, Roland and Eddie feed him to the lobstrosities. Roland comes back through the door with Eddie, not inside him this time, but separately.

There’s a major shootout in Balazar’s where the last men standing are Roland and Eddie. After having Henry’s severed head thrown at him, Eddie is broken, and Roland convinces him to come back to his world to find the Tower.

“On the way to the Dark Tower anything is possible.” – Roland

“Okay, I didn’t have anything else planned tonight, anyway.” – Eddie

The two take some of Balazar’s antibiotics for Roland and trudge along the beach. Roland recovering from infection and Eddie withdrawing from his heroin addiction. Two peas in a pod. The two sufferers happen upon the next door marked: “Lady of Shadows.”

Roland opens the door again and is looking through the eyes of Detta Walker who is also Odetta Holmes. Odetta/Detta is a woman with a split personality. She is also a woman in a wheelchair because her legs are missing from the knee down.

Odetta/Detta’s drawing is much quicker and less messy than Eddie’s was, but once Roland gets her into his world, he and Eddie soon realize her personalities are unaware of each other, and vastly different. Odetta is kind, smart and inquisitive while Detta is much more animalistic: vicious, cunning and dangerous.

During the trio’s journey to the third door, Roland’s infection begins to reassert itself with a vengeance. Eddie and Odetta/Detta leave Roland, who is unable to walk, to find the door. Once there, Eddie leaves Odetta/Detta and takes her wheelchair to get Roland. Roland is the only one who can open the door marked: “The Pusher.”

Eddie gets Roland to the door, but Odetta/Detta is missing. Roland goes through the door and enters the vile Jack Mort. Eddie stays behind to look for Odetta… he has fallen in love with her but fears she has turned into Detta.

Meanwhile, Roland is inside Jack Mort’s head and stops the him from pushing Jake into traffic, the same Jake and same car that killed him and sent him to Roland’s world in “The Gunslinger.” Another glimpse at how big King’s universe surrounding the Tower can be.

Roland uses Jack’s body to get ammunition for his guns, and antibiotics for himself. This scene is fun and wild. Roland, not knowing New York culture makes Jack seem like an imbecile at times. Further examples of Kings genius. We discover Mort is the man that pushed Odetta in front of the train which caused her to lose her legs. In a final act of vengeance, Roland throws Jacks body in front of the same train and brings the drugs and bullets back to his world.

Back in his world, however, Detta has tied Eddie up and he is on the verge of death by lobstrosities when Roland reemerges. His return caused Detta and Odetta to finally see each other, causing the split personalities to converge into one woman: Susannah.

These three are the beginnings of a ka-tet: one from many; a group of people summoned by ka (destiny). Together they continue their journey to the Tower but not before Eddie rips our hearts out by thanking Roland in the most genuine way possible:

“You saved more than my life, you saved my fuckin’ soul.”

“The Drawing of the Three” is an absolutely incredible novel and leaves us totally broken but also empowered and ready for the next piece of the puzzle: “The Waste Lands.” I can’t say enough positive about this one though.

5 out of 5

The Great “Dark Tower” Reread: “The Gunslinger”

I first started Stephen King’s magnum opus “Dark Tower” series in April of 2016 and finished the 7th and final book in early December of that year. Upon finishing “Storm of the Century,” a couple weeks ago, I decided to take the epic journey to the Tower with Roland and his ka-tet once more (and not for the last time). I will review each book as I finish, so without further ado, lets palaver, you and me.

“The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.”

Im doing this reread with the always awesome, Olivia. Beginning with those iconic first lines, “The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger,” was originally released in 1982 and heavily revised in 2003 to fit the ending of the series. When you write a series of 7 novels all about one thing over a 20-year period, ideas are bound to shift.

We start with the last gunslinger, Roland Deschain of the fallen city Gilead, following the mysterious Man in Black. Roland is on a quest to reach the mythical Dark Tower, but first needs answers from the Man in Black. Roland’s world is “moving on” a phrase he continually uses to describe its death. He hopes that reaching the Tower will give him the answers to fix it.

“The Gunslinger” is a little on the slower side, pace-wise, but it is still a really intriguing read and King’s revisions were excellent in placing subtle hints about the upcoming novels. I enjoyed reading this more the second time than I did the first, and that is probably since I know more now. Going into “The Gunslinger” for the first time it is a tad confusing, but trust me, push through because the next books are some of King’s best work.

Below is a slightly spoilery synopsis so beware.

During his travels through the desolate Mohaine desert, we get glimpses into Roland’s childhood and learn just how this dark figure came to be. Roland is quiet and intimidating with an air of danger surrounding him. Throughout the novel you have a hard time deciding whether or not you like him.

Roland enters the town of Tull, following the Man in Black’s steps. Here he discovers the Man in Black has spread his influence on the people of the poor desert town. After shoving his gun up the cooch of a crazy religious fanatic and killing the entire city’s population, Roland moves on. He’s a savage, plain and simple. (side note: I hate to condone the movie… because it sucked… but the gifs are cool)

After leaving Tull, Roland happens upon a way station which seems to resemble today’s gas stations. Here he finds a boy named Jake Chambers. Jake is from New York and was transported to this world when he was pushed in front of a moving car and died.

Roland tells Jake of his past and how he bested his teacher Cort to become the youngest Gunslinger. Roland learns Jake is a sacrificial pawn in his journey to reach the Man in Black and the Tower. This part of the story gets interesting because King makes the reader attached to Jake and shows Roland’s growing affection for the boy.

Roland and Jake follow the Man in Black into the mountains where they fight off slow mutants (monstrous subterranean creatures) before coming to an abyss with a small, rickety piece of track across it. With the Man in Black on the other side of the abyss, waiting, Roland and Jake attempt to cross.

Roland makes it but before Jake can, the track breaks and Roland, instead of helping him, allows him to fall, but not before Jake utters one of the many famous lines in this series:

“Go then, there are other worlds than these.”

After Jake’s sacrifice, Roland and the Man in Black, aka Walter aka Marten, palaver (talk). The two discuss Roland’s fate with tarot cards: The Sailor, The Prisoner, The Lady of Shadows, Death, and the Tower. After some trippy scenes where the Man in Black shows Roland the universe and explains the Tower, Roland sleeps for 10 years, wakes up, and ends up on the beach watching the sunset.

“The Gunslinger” is a great intro to an even greater series, I’m really looking forward to the second installment, “The Drawing of the Three.” Before I get there though, here’s my rating for “The Gunslinger” after my reread:

4 out of 5

Review Time: “’Salem’s Lot”

I reread Stephen King’s second novel, “’Salem’s Lot,” and I am very glad I did. Here’s my review of my second trip to the Lot:

Talk about a creepy novel. I read “’Salem’s Lot” for the first time four years ago. At the time, it was my 4^thKing novel. I am on #64 (“Rose Madder”) now, so yeah, it was time to reread King’s classic Vampire tale and wow, am I glad I did.

“’Salem’s Lot” was the second novel King ever published. Released in 1975, this chilling 439 page novel tells the story of writer Ben Mears returning to his childhood hometown, Jerusalem’s Lot, looking for inspiration for his next novel.

While there, he learns two strangers have purchased the haunted Marsten House overlooking the town. Strange things start to happen around the Lot; dogs hang from funeral fences, people get sick and others go missing.

Ben falls in love with Susan Norton, befriends a Doctor: Jimmy Cody, a teacher: Matt Burke, a priest: Father Donald Callahan, and a young boy: Mark Petrie. Together they witness the destruction of their little Maine town and decide to fight back.

As usual, King’s characters are superb. Ben Mears is an excellent protagonist, and the amazing antagonist combo of Barlow and Straker are cunning and chilling.

Susan is a strong character although if King rewrote this book today, I’m sure he would do a better job making readers feel attached to her.

Matt Burke is possibly one of the most underrated and underappreciated characters King has ever written.

Dr. Jimmy Cody turns into a very likable and strong character, but King waited until over halfway through to bring Cody to the novel’s center.

Callahan is awesome. He’s a priest at the local Catholic Church in the Lot, and he ends up being a very brave and awesome character. *Spoiler* Callahan also makes an appearance in another King series. *End Spoiler*

Mark Petrie is a great character too. King has shown an uncanny ability to write strong younger characters, and Mark was truly the first of many.

King wrote an excellent Vampire tale here, and the slow burn he applies to readers throughout the novel’s entirety is incredible.

This is probably one of King’s scariest novels to date just by pure creepiness and suspense. You’ll be rocking goosebumps the whole time reading it.

The way King makes his constant readers feel like they are citizens of the town is amazing. He writes from the perspective of the entire Lot at times, giving quick glimpses into everyone’s lives; the good, the bad, the ugly, the innocent, and the sinister.

“’Salem’s Lot” has been adapted into two, three-hour TV movies. One in 1979 and another in 2004. Neither do the book justice (as expected), but they are both worth watching for different reasons.

The 1979 “’Salem’s Lot” was a very creepy film, a great horror movie itself, but overall a poor adaptation of the novel. The movie eliminated a lot of the characters and changed Matt’s name to Jason *(this pisses me off a lot more than it should, but COME ON why do that?? What is the reasoning for that??)*… sorry, rant over.

Anyway, the movie also turned Barlow into some weird, bald, blue creature which is just… wrong… creepy… but wrong. This movie gave us an awful Callahan which was lame too.

Overall the 1979 movie was creepy and definitely captured the atmosphere of the book, but the changes left me disappointed, so I give it a 6 out of 10.

The 2004 “’Salem’s Lot” stuck to the book a lot better than the original. Rob Lowe was an excellent Ben Mears in appearance only, and this movie actually kept Matt’s name (hallelujah). They did, however, change the beginning and ending which both weren’t great in the movie but were in the book (surprise surprise), so why change it you know?

We got a much better, more true Barlow and Callahan in the 2004 movie, but it was actually pretty boring at times and I never felt bored reading the novel, so there was definitely a disconnect somewhere. Overall it was a decent adaptation but a cheesy and boring film so I gave it a 6 out of 10 also.

Anyway, back to the important matter here; the incredible novel:

I absolutely loved King’s take on vampires and the slow burn was the perfect way to write it. He even wrote prequel and sequel short stories to “’Salem’s Lot” in his 1977 collection of short stories, “Night Shift.” “Jerusalem’s Lot” tells the tale of the Lot’s haunted past while “One for the Road” tells readers a story only a few months after the events of “’Salem’s Lot.”

I have “’Salem’s Lot” ranked 7^th in my Stephen King rankings, and the reread only solidified that position. This is truly a masterpiece and I highly recommend everyone check it out.