The Master of Old-School Terror

Old-School Terror Master Stephen King turns his creepy books into movie gold. Stephen King has mastered the art of raising the hairs on the back of your neck. Slowly. Ok, some of the movies are cheesy and not your usual run-of –the-mill blood and gory, action-packed horror flicks, but you can never tear yourself away. And you’ve watched most of them in fascination hundred times, at least.

One of his iconic masterpieces from 1990 is Misery. A psychological thriller film based on his 1987 novel, Kathy Bates and James Caan star in Rob Reiner’s adaptation about a battered writer, Paul, who’s held hostage by demented fan Annie, who nurses his shattered body after a car accident. Psychological thrillers where the characters can lie sweetly to your face are the most riveting. I’m your biggest fan, says she, eventually gruesomely hobbling her idol.

Of course this would be gruesome and creepy: Director Rob Reiner became an avid student of Alfred Hitchcock movies in preparation, watching every single one. The original story line of chopping off one of Paul’s feet with an axe frightened away the director George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), leaving Reiner holding the foot – er, bag. And he couldn’t lop it off either! And so the iconic hobbling scene was born!

Stephen King just does not stop cranking this stuff out. In comes the versatile Idris Elba in Dark Tower, produced by Sony Pictures and Media Rights Capital, set to air in 2017. The Dark Tower chronicles Mid-World’s last gunslinger Roland Deschain, in his quest for that mysterious, magical edifice, the Dark Tower. The Dark Tower is the nexus point of the time-space continuum (that sci-fi word combo always evokes awe and chills!). Someone, or something, is using the evil technology of the Great Old Ones to destroy it. This is Part 1 and we’re already salivating for more, as yet unborn, Dark Tower films. Rabid fans are currently being fed by the Dark Tower Official Website, a veritable smorgasbord of Dark Tower delights.

King’s upcoming movie, IT, is the stuff that make you want to pull the sheets over your head at night. What is scarier than a clown in all its permutations and combinations? The Battle Royale I’m really interested is the inevitable matchup between Bill Skarsgard from 2017 and Tim Curry from the original movie! Who’ll be the ultimate Pennywise champion?

Who can forget the first movie, featuring the clown’s face poking out from a gutter? Scary enough for you then? According to reports, the first trailer for Andrés Muschietti’s adaptation of Stephen King’s IT left audiences at the SXSW Film Festival screaming. I can’t wait!

Director Muschietti says about the new IT: “This is the monster, I’m showing it to you…”. King says it “succeeds beyond my expectations”. I’m scared already. Shall we compare notes later to see who has the whitest hair after watching this movie?

No matter how bizarre your taste, there’s a King movie or TV show for everyone.