Stephen King – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Max’s Drive-In Movie – Carrie

Next to The Shining, this is my favorite King adaptation.

Carrie is a 1976 horror film directed by Brian De Palma, based on Stephen King’s 1974 debut novel of the same name. He used many techniques in this movie that put it over the top. Split screens, slow motion, and vivid color contrast just to name a few.

It is one of the most iconic films in the horror genre and focuses on subjects like bullying, supernatural powers, and revenge. It’s so easy to relate to because in high school we have all been through embarrassing things…getting pig blood dumped on you…probably not but we can relate with Carrie. We know the good people and we have known the bad people in this movie. We also know the popular cliques and the not-so-popular cliques. The girls that were out of reach and the ones that were.

The story revolves around Carrie White, a shy and socially awkward high school girl who is mercilessly bullied by her classmates. Raised by an overbearing, fanatically religious mother, Carrie leads a lonely and repressed life. After experiencing a traumatic event at school, she discovers that she has telekinetic powers. The situation escalates when her classmates cruelly prank her at the senior prom. In a moment of intense emotion, Carrie uses her powers to take a horrifying revenge on those who tormented her.

Sissy Spacek starred in this film and was perfect in the role. Piper Laurie portrayed her mother with an exaggerated, fanatically religious fervor. Laurie’s portrayal of a zealot was intentionally over-the-top, adding to the film’s tone. . The movie also launched the film careers of Nancy Allen and Amy Irving who both went on to star in many movies.

In 1976 my class went to see Charlotte’s Web at the theater. On the wall were movie posters of Carrie. Since then I’ve always associated them with each other. As a 9-year-old, seeing a teenager covered with blood with an evil look made me want to see it. I didn’t get to see it until almost a decade later. It was worth the wait!

Both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie received Academy Award nominations for their performances, a rarity for the horror genre.

This story has been remade in 3 different movies. This one in 1976, 2002, and a remake in 2013. I’ve watched all of them…trust me on this…this is the best version out there at least to me.

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Max’s Drive-In Movie – Cujo

It’s getting near Halloween so I’m going to feature some more horror movies in the next two weeks…that’s my excuse anyway. I will start by saying that this is not the best Stephen King adaptation by any stretch but it’s entertaining. I think it’s thrilling and I like the director’s pacing in this one. Plus…the ability to make a Saint Bernard look convincingly menacing takes a lot of work. Also, check out a movie reviewer… my friend Bernie from Reelybernie. He is one of the best movie reviewers on WP and he is doing a Halloween series now.

As some of you know, I have had three Saint Bernards, so I like any movie with them, even if it’s evil. Cujo is not really evil; he has rabies and it’s a frightening thought. They are very strong dogs, they can pull thousands of pounds so if one was rabid you would be…to put it mildly in bad trouble. I have played wrestle each one and I couldn’t imagine if they were being serious. I watched this movie again with Martha, my current Saint, right beside me which was cool because she is the spitting image of Cujo with her marks.

Our first Saint was 175lbs with no fat on her. I did see her in action though one time. A German Shepard was coming at my wife from across the street, our dog knocked down our metal gate and ended up body-slamming the Shepard to the ground. It got up and never came back. She also wandered out on the road one day after getting out of the house. She was hit by a church bus…I thought she was dead but she got back up and barked at the bus. We did take her to a vet and she had some bruising but that was it. They are tough dogs but the most lovable lugs you would ever meet.

This 1983 movie starts with a big fun Saint Bernard chasing a rabbit…he sticks his big nose down a rabbit hole and is bitten by a bat. Cue the slow descent into a rabid madness. I’ve never read this book before but in the movie, nothing supernatural happens which is strange for a Stephen King adaptation. I’ve read where the book does have some supernatural events in it but not many. The movie just concentrates on the story.

At first, Cujo is just a regular, lovable dog who belongs to a mechanic named Joe Camber, his son, and his wife. But after the bat bite, Cujo starts acting strange and becomes more aggressive as the rabies takes over. You could tell that Joe Camber was not father or husband of the year material. His wife and son planned on a trip to her sister’s home. The movie didn’t say but I think they were leaving and never coming back.

Meanwhile, we meet the main characters, Donna Trenton (played by Dee Wallace), her husband Vic, and their young son Tad. Donna is having some personal troubles because she’s having an affair, and her marriage is falling apart. Vic, her husband, has to leave town for work, leaving Donna and Tad on their own. Dee Wallace was fantastic in this role. The critics were mixed but most gave her high marks for this movie.

One day, Donna and Tad drive out to Joe Camber’s farm to get their car fixed, but when they arrive, they discover that Cujo is no longer the friendly dog he once was. My favorite scene is where Camber’s son Brent calls for Cujo before he and his mom leave for her sister’s house…Cujo comes out of the fog growling and foaming but recognizes Brent (his owner) and slowly walks away. No one else gets that lucky.

They are now stuck at the farm and Cujo is now rabid and bloodthirsty and he quickly attacks them. Donna and Tad end up trapped in their broken-down car, with Cujo circling around them, ready to pounce. The heat inside the car is unbearable, and they can’t escape because the dog is waiting for them.

Dee Wallace was fantastic in this film. The movie got mixed reviews but Wallace was singled out by most as doing a great job. Lewis Teague directed this movie and I have to give him credit. He didn’t try to rush it, he slowly built the tension up and it paid off at the end.

Despite the film’s portrayal of Cujo as a terrifying dog, the Saint Bernard dogs used on set were friendly and often wagged their tails during scenes where they were supposed to be menacing. To overcome this, the filmmakers had to tie down the dogs’ tails until they finished with the scene.

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Tales From The Darkside TV Series

In the eighties, I would watch this as much as possible. It was a good Twilight Zone type show that had some hits and misses but even when it missed it could be creepy. The show combined horror, science fiction, and comedy. The series was made in the 1980s and boy can you tell! The music, the sets, and the hair.

Each episode of this TV series depicts a short, strange tale…with a twist! With eerie stories that were most of the time smartly written. The usual plot formula is comprised of an initial normal, mundane situation that gradually begins to get off-kilter, with suspense building up to the final, chilling, surprise conclusion.

Some episodes are gruesome, a few are of a lighter comedic style. Like many such shows, they were adapted from the work of famous genre authors of the period such as Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, and Clive Barker. Many episodes also featured veteran actors of the 40’s and 50’s.

The show ran from 1983 to 1988 and had a total of 90 episodes.

So…listen very carefully… get some popcorn, put some 80’s acid-washed jeans on, and binge watch this show at night time to make the atmosphere a little creepier.

Thanks to Lisa for recommending this show!

IT the Novel

I’m not writing a summary of the book…a good one is here… Just how IT affects me.

Everything I was scared of in childhood comes back to me in this book…vividly. What if it was really a monster in the dark like I thought?

I did a post on the old tv mini-series and the new movie but the novel is a great piece of work. I have read it at least 7 times. I keep coming back to it and visiting Derry and the kids that grew up together. After reading the book you feel like you know these people…or you have known people like them while growing up. It makes you think of the friends you had at 10-11 that you have forgotten their name and some of the things you did with them.

When I’m reading it I’m transported to Derry in 1957-1958 and then ahead to 1984-85 and then back to the 50s. King is so detailed that you feel like you have been in that town and know the townsfolk, the streets, the stores and the dirty secrets. I always…always find things that I missed before because it is so massive.

It’s like learning about your town. The star of the book…isn’t Pennywise…it’s Derry. They are maybe one in the same but it holds the secrets of everyone in that town. The book is also about coming of age and the awkwardness that comes with it…for the kids and for the town.

Some things I feel while reading is:

Rage… The rage for Henry Bowers is something that the movie and the tv series does not halfway convey. He is the ultimate bully. Most of us had a form of a Henry Bowers to contend with…

Familiarity… the losers club is basically a bunch of misfits that blend together and all of them have talents that no one else outside of the group really notices but are used by the club. It’s a story you are familiar with and you may have been in a similar group as a kid.

Nostalgia… No, I wasn’t raised in the 50s or even close but the same things these kids were into as kids…rock and roll, curious about the opposite sex, exploring, still believing in magic… having no real responsibilities, the fun of being a kid and every day was new…is not era related.

I make it sound like a quaint little book about growing up… no… it is scary but what makes it scary for me is I can relate to most of the characters in the book…that makes it real. Stephen King is a master at that. He makes everything seem plausible.

Pennywise is one of the greatest monsters/evil entity ever. You get a vast variety of monsters that IT changes into also… if IT is not doing tha… it is busy influencing some of the weaker citizens of Derry.

The infamous sex “scene”… I’ve read reviewers talk it up like it is some cheap porn setup (I’m hearing the 70’s wah wah guitar in the background)…it’s not like that. It’s very innocent and they have no clue really on what to do. Was it a surprise when I read it? Yes…Was it erotic? NO it wasn’t at all… I didn’t know about it beforehand…I had to do a double take but I got King’s meaning. To find their way back out of the sewer they had to reunite and be adults and in a sense leave childhood behind…it was used as a bridge from childhood to being an adult. It was a different era (1980s) when he wrote this…he probably would not have written it the same way now.

Of course, all of this is just the way it affected me.

Get the book and read it…or reread it.