A YEAR OF STEPHEN KING ON THE SCREEN

    One of the biggest regrets of my life was watching this film. On magic mushrooms. I had watched it once or twice beforehand unfuddled by those natural little mindtwisters and had really quite enjoyed it. The trip happened in 1996. So naturally I was dreading this rewatch, just in case I had a mad flashback and started gibbering.  I survived but had a migraine and had to have an early night. The first time I read 'The Lawnmower Man' was in the 30th Pan Book of Horror Stories - a paperback that's now quite expensive due to its low print run, but of course you can read it in King's Night Shift collection. Love that The Shop features in this. Love that Stephen King went to court to have his name removed from the title.  The film, of course, has very little in common with the source story. But those graphics, for the time, were truly brilliant. And there was a SNES game of it as well!                                                  So, to the mushroom trip. It was bad

                                            Had a weekend off the King films. Watched some Bette Davis. While Bette had been dead a year by the time Misery was released, just imagine Bette as Annie Wilkes. The first time that I was aware of the film Stand by Me was the music video of Ben E. King's song of the same name - it had River Pheonix and Wil Wheaton bopping along with him. Also the first time I saw a child smoke a cigarette. Not long afterwards, I smoked my first. I would have been 11.  The Ben E King video can be viewed HERE The videotape would have come out in 1987 and I would have watched probably a few years later. Never have I wanted a group of friends as badly as I wanted Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern. I loved them all. Watching this as a 45 year old man has given me the same feelings that I had when I watched Trainspotting 2 at the cinema a few years back. I blubbed my eyes out. Time marching on is a motherfucker. Friends lost and found. This film is a masterpiece,

  "What kinda trouble are you in Larry?" Mick Garris' masterpiece, of that there can be no doubt. Watched this when it came out on VHS I absolutely fell head over heels in love with it. The face on the VHS - that was by Les Edwards and orignially featured on the cover for Graham Masterton's The Djinn .                                                                                                                                           Campion in The Stand and Norris Ridewick in Needful Things !   So yeah, finished watching this today and the first episode is my personal favourite - it's the only part that really explores the characters (as condensed as it is). Some great cameos, and a really good way to spend your time. As squished as this is, it's still a really good telling - and to have film stars like Ed Harris and Kathy Bates etc - shows that there was a lot of faith in it. Would write more, but Peter Bogdanovich has just died, so I'm off to watch

                                                         Both films feature crashed cars.  Started off last night with Dolan's Cadillac (2009) - a ho-hum film based on the superior novella of the same name. The novella was originally published in the 1985 newsletter, Castle Rock, and reprinted in King's best collection (to date) Nightmares and Dreamscapes . It was the first work in that behemoth of a book and I just remember being absolutely blown away by the story. He takes such great care in how Robinson plans and executes his mission to execute Dolan. It made a massive impression on 17 year old me. I remember reading it and feeling a sense of familiarity, but was never able to figure out why it was familiar. Tonight I did a little research, and of course, it's a pastiche of Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado'. Never mind. The film fairly whips along. Wes Bentley - I am not a fan of. Sorry Wes. Christian Slater excells as Jimmy Dolan. Just the right sort of role

         Today's been a funny old day. Started Golden Years (1991) last night, finished it this afternoon. Not watched it since 1995. Kinda wish I hadn't revisited it - that's a long chunk of time wasted for very little reward.  I was always fascinated by the video cassette that always seemed to be on sale in Woolworths, and this would have been watched at my friend Stuart's house- the only other person who was as obsessed with Stephen King as me and who would have had the bloody persistance to grind through something as mediocre as this. This is basically the plot of Tod Robbins' 'The Bilbous Baby' ( The Thrill Book , 1st July, 1919) - an old man gets younger. You could also say that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is basically the plot of Golden Years but without the mad professor and green gas explosions. King wrote this especially for CBS and said that if it wasn't for Twin Peaks , something like this wouldn't have been possible. I mean Ki

Sarah, come join the madness! Tonight's watch was Bag of Bones (2011) - this was one of my favourite King novels for yonks until I read Insomnia , which was published four years before Bag of Bones , but was just one of those books I never got round to reading. I had only watched the first episode of the mini-series when it came out in 2011, and thought that Pierce Brosnan as Mike Noonan was miscast. Didn't bother with the second episode, so I didn't go in tonight with high expectations. Also it's a Mick Garris production and he hasn't had the best run of luck with King adaptations (apart from The Stand , which I adore). The series is instantly kneecapped by a premise that cannot be ignored, yet another author with 'problems' - this time Mike Noonan, tormented by writer's block and the odd poltergeist. He's compelled by the ghost of his wife Jo to finish his latest novel up at Dark Score Lake where she had liked to do a bit of painting. While he