Stephen King at The Movies

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A GuidE TO YOUR .NiGItTMARES

FROM CARRiE TO MAXiMIJM OVERdRivE ANd bEYONd
FOR ThE LAST dECAdE, FiLMMAkERS hAVE TURNEd TO ThE bONE-chilliNG

TALES of STEphEN KiNG TO pUT YOUR FONdEST NiGhTMARES ON ThE siLvER
SCREEN. This COMPREhENSivE GuidE TAkES you ON A TOUR ThROUGh ThE
dARk visioNs of ThE MASTER of TERROR, EXAMiNiNG ·jUST ·WhAT iT TAkES TO
821 52 bRiNG his ~ovds TO A ThEATER NEAR YOU.
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STEphEN KiNG liv£s & wRiTES iN MAiNE.
By JESSIE HORSTING
DESiGNEd by NORMAN JACOBS
A STARLoG PRESS PubLicATioN

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INTROduCTioN 4 CAT'S EYE ~8

Wlto is Tltis Guy SiLvER BuLLET 64
STEpitEN KiNG? MAXiMUM OVERdRivE 70
-ANd Wlty Do TItEY STANd By ME 78
MAkE ALL TItOSE TV & SItORT FiLMs
MoviEs? _____ 6 SALEM'S LOT 84
TilE MoviEs TItE WORd PROCESSOR
CAR~E 12 of TItE Gods 90
TItE SltiNiNG 18 GRAMMA 92
CREEPSItOW 24 NiGItT Sltih 94
TItE DEAd ZONE JO Wlty TItE CltiLdREN
CItRisTiNE J6 DON'T Look LikE TItEiR
Cujo 42 PARENTS By HARLAN
FiRESTARTER 48 ELLiSON 96
CltiLdREN of TItE CORN FiLM CREdiTS \ 102
_ _ _ _ _ _ ~4 FiLMs ON VidEO 111
Thi s book is ded icated to:
Mom and Dad, for keeping me anyway; Ste phen King AI The Movies Copy right © 1986 by Sta rl og Press and Jess ie Horsling. All
Ri ghts Reserved . Prin ted in th e United States of Ameri ca . Publi shed by Starlog Press.
Erich, for teaching me about hard work; Di stributed by New Ameri can Library. For mo re information, con tact Starlog Press, 4 75
Harl an, for fighting the good fight; Pa rk Avenue South. 8th Fir .. New York. NY 100 16.
And to Stephen Kin g, w ho made it poss ible.
'he
Most'un
.....
L.-.~I
• ...... Have
SCAaIDI
~~you GOT YOUR Good GUYS,

you GOT YOUR bAd GUYs,
ANd you GOT YOUR dEAd GUYS. • ."
-GEORGE ROMERO, dESCRibiNG
DAr of ThE DEAd.
STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 3

INTROduCTioN
Y
OU may have noticed that Stephen King's name is a great
dea l bigger than mine on the cover of thi s book . It is
a tran sparent ploy to get you to pick it up and look at
it, because he has about 50 million more books in print than
I do and the publi shers figure there's some value in his name.
I wouldn 't have it any other way- I admire hi s writing,
always have, and I hope that's the reason you're reading thi s.
But there 's always the chance you don 't know who Stephen
King is. You may have spent the last decade in eclusion . You
may have recently returned from the dead. You may think he
only does commercials. You may have seen his name and
thought it was a pseudonym for a conglomeration of writers
and filmmakers.
I assure you it is one man, he has written all those books
(and a few movies) and he is one of a kind .
Let me give you a stati sti cian 's eye of view of the
phenomenon: Stephen King's first novel was Carrie, publish-
ed in 1974 and relea sed as a film in 1976. Stephen King's se-
cond novel was 'Sa /em 's Lot, published in 1976 and premiered
as a made-for-television movie in 1979 . Stephen King 's third
novel was The Shining, published in 19 77 and released as a
film in 1980-a dozen books later, a dozen years later, thi s
unprecedented pattern continues. Here is a man who may pro-
ve to be the best-selling author of the century- the funny thing
is, no one is sure why.
If I had to review his books analytically in terms of style,
structure, characterizations and such, I suppose they would
get middlin ' to high marks. But in the analysis, the elusive quali-
ty that energizes his work wouldn 't translate. He has a soul
which speaks to millions sharing the experience of being
human, and sharing the question " what if? " Harl an Ellison
examines that quality cogently at the back of thi s book, King
understand s it and comments on it in hi s remarks, but no one
seems to be able to put their finger on it. Maybe it's the fiterary
equivalent of Schrodinger's Cat: If you can't see it or touch
it or name it, you can 't prove that it's there. But it is. Trust me.
However, the topic here is movie. Thi s overview of the film
adaptations of King 's stories was not inspired simply because
there are a dozen of them . Sure, that's a bunch, but several
authors-Ian Fleming, Ray Bradbury, Arthur Conan Doyle,
Edgar Rice Burroughs, all popular writers of their time-boast
4 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

a dozen or more film trea tments.
I had no interest in comparing the two med iums. You might
as well discuss the relati ve merits of a couch and an avocado:
you can sit on both of them if that' s the kind of thing you like
to do, but you ea t one and rest on the other. Books are books
and movies are movies-the onl y thin g mutual is storytelling.
If one works better fo r you th an the other, that's fine and
dandy-but I don 't think you'd wa nt to read a book about it.
So, the motivation was solving a mystery-what happens
in the process of translatin g the novel we love into a movie
we sometimes ba rely recogni ze? Does any story survive art
by committee? Does any film tran scend the ori ginal materia l?
W hat makes a good story go bad?
These are trenchant questi ons beca use an author's novel is
as individual a creati on as an arti st's painting. Can you imagine
Van Gogh ca refully describing the artwo rk he had in mind ,
handing his brushes to two dozen painters, then askin g them
to prod uce w hat he envisioned ? Let's face it: the best the
painters w ill come up w ith is an approx imati on of the vision.
Sometimes th ey w ill improve on his idea, but more often than
not, they w ill create somethin g only vaguely resembling the
template. Th at is precisely the process of adapting a novel or
story to film . It is fasc inatin g and fru stratin g. At its best. it is
glori ous, at its worst, it is a di smal sequence of photographs
and half-fini shed ideas-as if Van Gogh handed his brushes
to blind men.
Se,venteen of Kin g's works have been adapted, and there
are at least five more contempl ated: Pet Sematary, The Stand,
The Running Ma n, Grave)/ard Shift (based on the short story).
and, w ritten w ith Peter Straub, The Ta lisman, which filmmaker
Steven Spielberg is developing. There is an ex istin g script for
the The M ist, and stori es from King's recent collecti ons,
Skeleton Crew and The Bachman Books, are under
considerati on.
If nothin g else, the fact that filmmakers consistently turn to
the power of his stori es is a testimonial- nobody tell s it like
Stephen Kin g. Thi s book is a chronicle of the films th at have
been completed, the di fficulties involved and , in most cases,
w hat Stephen King think s of them. I hope I answer more ques-
ti ons th an I raise and , if you 've onl y seen the mov ies, I urge
you to read the books. There you w ill find exactly w hat
Stephen Kin g had in mind .
- Jess ie Horsting
STEPHEN KIN G AT THE M OVIES 5

Wlto is -ANd
Tltis Guy Wlty Do
SYEpltEN TItEY MAkE
KiNG? ALL TltosE
MoviEs?
or those of you familiar
F
No, I don't think so. I think
with the phenomenon Ken Kesey is very much there
of Stephen King, he in One Flew Over the
needs no introduction. For Cuckoo's Nest, and I think that
those who may be unfamiliar, James Dickey is there almost
I'll be brief. completely in Deliverance;
A tall, dark-haired, blue- the spirit of that book and that
eyed family man, Stephen movie are exactly the same.
King lives and writes in The soul has made that trans-
Bangor, Maine, makes movies ference; it can happen. The
in North Carolina sometimes, same thing is true of Rose-
and is about the most popular mary's Baby. I think the film is
novelist of the last decade. He a very faithful adaptation of the
is frequently described as a book and it keeps the spirit of
horror writer, but that does the Ira Levin's novel. But take
man a disservice: although he Firestarter, which is very
often explores the darker cor- L...._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _-----....J faithful to the novel, and yet
ners of possibility, he's mostly a fine, honest storyteller with an I'm not there. I'm just not in that movie.
engaging prose style and an unerring understanding of human
nature. He knows what scares you-but he also knows what What's missing?
makes you laugh and what makes you weep. It's between the lines in the books. It's whatever it is, it's
Because he tells good stories, people like to make movies of whatever flavor that readers come to expect and they come to
them. Some are bad, some are good, and he is constantly asked want, it's the sort of thing that they come to crave. It's the only
his opinions about them. reason they go back to buy more. They don't go back because
In the following pages, at no extra charge to you, he answers they think; " This Stephen King book looks particularly
the most frequently asked questions about the movies bearing interesting;" they go back because they say, "It's a Stephen King
his name-with the hope they will put some rumors to rest, get book, and I will get that flavor,"-the way that somebody- who
your mind in gear, and maybe incline you to read one or two of likes coffee will say, "I want coffee, I want Maxwell House
his books, if you haven't already. Coffee." And it's the same reason they don't go to the movies;
they say, " Ah, it's just another shitty adaptation of a King book."
Stephen King begins- Have any of the films exceeded your expectations?
Carrie did. It was a big thrill because it was the first one, but
Let's get one thing up front. Most of the movie adaptations, I it was stylish and had things in it I wish I had thought of. In most
like pretty well. The only real exceptions to that are The Shining of the pictures, I've seen things that made me say, "Shit, I should
and Children of the Corn. The rest of the stuff I can deal with; I have done that." For instance, in Dead Zone, the way Frank
don't like them all equally well, but I can deal with them. Dodd kills himself, and the way David Cronenberg put Johnny
Many people who love my books have turned away from the Smith in his own visions. I thought that was a wonderful thing.
movies, particularly since The Shining-they don't find me in the 'Salem's Lot exceeded my expectations for what they could get
movies-whatever me is. Writers don't have style so much as away with on television .
they have soul; it's between the lines of the prose that they write, What makes adaptations so tough?
it's that interior tension, the stuff that you don't say or the way Well, it's like my own screenplay for The Stand. When you
that you say the things that you do say. A perfect example is to adapt a novel, it's like sitting on a suitcase, trying to get everything
take the novel Stick, by Elmore Leonard . Although he got a co- inside. It's a little bit like working for Reader's Digest Condensed
credit for the screenplay, he's not present in the film. And when Books. It gets to the point where I have to say, "We'vegot to
you look at Christine and some of these other movies, I'm just lighten this boat; we've got to throw some people overboard.
not there for some people, and they don't like it. Who's expendable?" I try to get rid of things, but they don't want
to stay down. The hardest thing is deciding
Isn't that always a problem when you adapt a story? what has to go.
(, STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

"Acting is just another job,"
Stephen King says of his tum
before the cameras as Jordy
Verrill in Creepshow. "It's not
particularly strange. I had
done some college plays so
I'm not a total stranger to
standing up and pretending to
be something I'm not."
Do you ha ve a favorite King film?

Yeah. Cuio. That's my favorite adaptation of all the movies
because it does keep some of the spirit and flavor of the work;
it's just thi s big dumb slugger of a movie that stands there and
keeps on punching. It has no finesse, it has no pretensions; I
thought Dee Wall ace should have been nominated for an
Academy Award.
Cat's Eye is another movie that I like a lot; I think it's a good
movie, witty and styl ish, and you talk to people about it and they
say, " Oh , was that any good? I never saw it?" Well , nobody in
America saw it, it went straight down the toilet.
So, I directed my own movie thi s time. I went in and did Max-
imum Overdrive, mostly to find out if it would work, because so
many people have said, " You know, I don't go to the movies
anymore, and it's not you, and that's it, " and I thought, well just
once, let's go in and find out if it does carry over. I think it does.
How man y screenplays have you adapted from your own works?
jeez, I've done a bunch . Let's see what I didn't do: I never did
an adaptation for Ca rrie, I never did one for Sa lem 's Lot,
Christine, or Firestarter. I did one for The Shining, I've done it for
The Stand, I did it for The Dead Zone and Cuio, Cat's Eye, Creerr
show, Silver Bullet and Maximum Overdrive.
Why did som e of those scripts get turned down ?

The Dead Zone screenplay was turned down by Dino De
Laurentiis, who thought that it was both too long and too com-
plicated . Now, it was long, it would run maybe about 118
minutes, or something like that. Complicated? Not very. The
Cuio screenpl ay was good, but it was tumed down. We sat down
and talked, the Taft people [producers) and I, and the bottom line
came out very quickly-they wanted to do it, but they wanted
the little boy to live, and they looked at me as though they
expected me to get up and walk out of the room, and I said, " Fine,
OK, good. " He died on me in the book, and I thought it would
be fine to let him live and see what happens.
What's the m otivation to keep selling stories to the movies?

There is really very little motivation to keep selling stories. The
motivation now is to see who wants to do it, and to do it on that
basis. But there's also no reason in the world just to hold back.
I mean, that would be irrational, particularly because I like most
of the adaptations that have been done. There are some that leave
me cold, like Christine; and there are some that I actively dislike,
like Firestarter, Children of the Corn and Th e Shining. But it
doesn't taint the book. If somebody makes a terrible movie .. . 1
mean Firestarter, with a couple of changes, could have been real

Iy awfu l, it could have been the Mommie Dearest of horror
pictures.
How would you describe your brand of horror?

Brand X. A low-priced brand. I loved Re-animator. I absolute-
ly loved it. It's the only time in the history of films that a head
has ever given head. And Return of the Living Dead-"Send
more paramedics ... "Oh man, that's my kinda movie.
Y'know, low.
It's like the blurb on this paperback, I remember it from about
1954, it was a Beacon novel called Liz. It says, "She hit the
gutter and then bounced. "
A common theme in your stories seems to be the nature of

good and evi l, though the good guys are much more fuzzy
around the edges than your bad guys.
Well, I would like to always have the good guys come
through stronger. And if they do that, they do it more by force
of personality than by their actions, because my own view of
good and evil is that many times, good people and good in-
tentions are handcuffed in the face of evil. And good responds
to evil, so that you can present people like Stu Redmond,
Frannie Goldsmith in The Stand, or Andy McGee in Firestarter,
and say, " Look, here are good people," -they're good per se
by their actions, even though they're not doing anything that 's
very important and even though they're not important people
in themselves . But you know, people have even remarked on
J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, that the scenes of
evil are depicted mach more forcefully than the scenes of
bucolic peace and quiet in the Shire. I don't personally agree
with that; I think that Tolkien makes good very attractive in
those books, and I've always tried to do that as well. Evil , let's
face it, has a certain flash that good just doesn't have. Particular-
ly for readers and viewers who are voyeurs by nature, and
who are generally attracted to things that they know they
themselves will never be, or couldn't do.
But. in most of the books, they either do the right thing, or
they try to do the right thing. I mean, Vic Trenton (Cujo) goes
home and does not slaughter his wife after he finds out that
she has been screwing the tenni s pro. In most of the books,
things turn out OK. I do think that you pay a price for doing
the right thing. You always pay a price.
Why do you dislike The Shining so much?
I seem to remember having described The Shining as a great
big beautiful car with no engine inside it. It's a film that has
all kinds of style, and it's gorgeous. I can watch it any day,
I think it's marvelous to look at. but it is a movie ... Stanley
"Jordy is not really a half-wit," King notes, describing his Kubrick wanted to make a horror movie, and he made The
Creepshow alter~o (top). "He's what I call a natural, very Shining, and what I felt was that he had made the movie in
naive. Jordy makes lenny of Of Mice & Men look like Albert
a total vacuum, with no understanding of the basics of the
Einstein, and that's the way I played him." King-who wrote an
unused screenplay for The Dead Zone-believes director David
genre. I'll just give you one example that I think is important,
Cronen berg added a number of innovative ideas to the eventual because it goes to the heart of what we're talking about, and
film version (below). Cronen berg placed psychic Johnny Smith again it goes back to the thing I said where there are elements
(Christopher Walken) in the visions he experiences after a touch in many of the movies that I wish I had thought of myself;
of the hand---even one as filled with hatred as that of Mrs. there's a thing in the movie that it isn't in the book. In the
Dodds (Colleen Dewhurst). book, Jack Torrance is writing this really terrible play and in
the film, he's working on something in the lobby. What we
have after a while is this little allegory of the Bluebeard story,
where Bluebeard brings the last wife home, and he says, "You
can go anywhere you want to except for this one place, the
door's locked , you can't go in there," and of course, that's

the one place she wants to go.
By the sa me token , Wendy Torran ce, even thou gh she has
been told not to look at it, wants to look at that book . So, finall y
she's drawn to it like Bluebeard's w ife is drawn to the room
wi th the locked door. She looks down through the keyplate
and then she sees th e key and she goes in. When Jack isn't
around , Wendy starts to look throu gh the book, and on every
page sees, "A ll work and no play makes Jack a dul l boy," writ-
ten in all th ese different ways and in different styles and
everythin g.
Kubri ck cuts from her face to th e pages, from her face to
th e pages, from her face to the pages; you're getting more and
more frightened by what's going on here. And you know
w hat's going to happen. You don 't want it to happen , but you
know it 's going to happen. It 's what the horror movie is- it's
somethin g like a girl jerking you off in a car, OK? You know
th at sooner o r later th ere's going to be an orgasm; the ques-
ti on is when is .it goin g to come, and how intense is it going
to be? So, back and forth, back and forth. We know Jack 's
goin g to find her, th e hand's going to come down on her
shoulder and he's go ing to say, " Do you like it?" But we want
th at to happen. We don't want it to happen, but we do want
it to happen. The same way th at in many senses, you want
to have the orgasm, but at th e sa me tim e, you don 't want the
orgasm to happen, because th en it 's over. You know what I
mea n?
The one alternati ve that's not picked is for no one to come,
right?
Yes, and that's exactl y what happens here, because Kubrick,
fo r some reason, God alone knows what it is, elects to cut
away and show us Jack Torran ce approaching her. In some
cases it works, but that in parti cul ar is the mi stake of a man-
basically it goes back to pride-a man who's so sure that he's
unab le to make a mi stake, that has elected to do a picture in
a genre th at he doesn't understand. He has made a mistake
th at 's fundamental, but you can't explain to somebody why
it 's wrong, th ey either know it's wrong or th ey don't.
But you explained why it 's wrong.
I ex pl ained why it's wrong, except I can't explain why it 's
wrong to cut away and show him approaching. It 's something
that Alfred Hitchcock does all the time, except I think it 's
because Kubri ck only shows it toward the very end and he
on ly shows us for a second, and he doesn 't all ow any build,
so th at it 's totall y empty and totall y flat. I tri ed very hard to
get Warner Bros. and Stanley not to cast Jack Nicholson. They
talked about Jack Nicholson from the beginning. I think th at
Jack Nicholson is an exce llent actor and I think he did King relaxes (top) with one of his friends and favorite filmmakers,
everythin g Stan ley asked him in th e movie and did a tremen- writer/director George Romero (left). Together, they made a
dous job, but he's a man who comes across crazy. success of terror with Creepshow. Several other
Everybod y said to me, it wasn't any fun because th e guy projects-including Pet Sematary, The Stand and Creepshow
was crazy from th e beginning. But la ck didn't think he was II-are among their planned future collaborations in film fear.
crazy from the beginning, and Sta nley didn 't think he was crazy Brian De Palma's movie version of Carrie (below) was another
from th e beginning, he wasn't supposed to be crazy, he didn't special moment in King's career. " It was a big thrill because it
think he was crazy-it was just everybody in America who was the first one, " he S<lyS.
went to see th e movi e thought he was crazy. Look at th ose
eyes and you see Randall Patri ck M cMurphy.
So you say, OK, the guy 's as crazy as a shithouse rat, he's
going to get hi s whole family up th ere and kill 'em, with the
result th at there's no moral struggle at all. I wanted th em to
cast Michael Moriarty or Jon Voight. Th ey wouldn't. Not
bankable.
STEPHEN KING AT THE M OVIE S 9
A re you possess ive about your stories?
No, not in the sense that I think anything changes what I've
written. My view has always been that movies are not books
and books are not movi es. I don 't understa nd writers who get
all wound up in the film adaptations of their novels, as th ough
somehow th e novel itself could be tainted by a bad adapta-
tion . I've taken severa l chances and in a couple of cases, I've
gone with low-budget people. For the major books, the only
thing I've ever insi sted on is that somebody pay me a lot of
money up front.
There's two reasons for th at. The first thing is that you sta rt
off with the idea in mind that in any collaborative venture,
the chances that somebody is really going to fuck up are very
high. Look at the Space Shuttle-who had any idea it was go-
ing to blow up? Most movie adaptations that work are shit.
And you know that going in, and you figure th at if you're go-
ing to get plastered with shit, somebody ought to pay you to
do it, they ought to pay you a lot of money.
And the other poss ibility is th at if somebody pays you
$500,000; $700,000; $1 million-which is what Dotie Fyet
paid for Firestarter-if th ey pay that much money, somebody
will make a reasonable effort to make a good movie, so th at
they can get their money back. Nobody sets out to make a
bad movie, but sometimes, they just set out to make money.
And that' s ju st as bad, that's a recipe for di saster.
Did directing your own movie sa tisfy your curios it y?

My curiosity isn 't satisfied yet. I did the job. Now, I'm in
a position to satisfy my curiosity, and I'll see what happens.
The motivation for doing it the first tim e is-not to go back
to sex aga in , but I'm going to go back to sex aga in , beca use
it's the same thing. Th e first time that you get laid, you don't
get laid because you want to get laid, you get laid so that you
can say to yourself, well , I don't have to go through that aga in .
That is to say, that part of it's over. Then , you say to yourself
at some point, I would like to get laid again because that was
fun , or because now I think I could do it better. And th at's
certainly true of the movie.
But I don 't have any real reveren ce for movies anyway. I
go to see them because it's a way to check out my mind.
Now that you've directed one, does it make you more forgiv-
ing abo ut any of the others?
I'm not forgiving or unforgiving. I go to see them like a fan,
they don't do a thing to the book. A movie is a very ephemeral
item. It comes to a theater near you and it's there for two weeks,
unless it's a mega-hit, like E. T., and then it might be at that
th eater near you for 12 weeks, and you say, " Holy shit, th at
picture has been there forever. " But, I ju st had a book that
fell off the bestseller lists, Skeleton Crew, and it was on th e
lists for 32 weeks.
Cat's Eye (top) is a film King likes. "I think it's a good movie,
witty and stylish," he says. But it's Cujo (bottom) that holds a Books live damn near forever. Movies have a first run, maybe
special place in the author's heart. "That's my favorite if they're successful, they have a second run, they turn up on
adaptation of all the movies," King explains, "because it does cable TV, they turn up on network TV. Then, they'll be on
keep some of the spirit and flavor of the work." the shelves at the video store and you say, " Well shit, they 're
at the video store now, you can rent 'em, they're there forever,
it's like a library. " But that 's not true-after a whil e, they just
simply di sappear. It's a question of shelf space. I mean after
a while, sombody's going to take Eaten Alive off the shelves
because nobody watches it, so the movie is gone. But the book
is still around.
There' s an anecdote I use often and I'll use it again. A
reporter once complained to novelist James Cain that the adap-
tation of his novel Th e Postman Always Rings Twice ruined
his book . Cain turned to the bookshelves behind him and said,
" I don't know- it looks th e same to me."
That's how it is. The books will always be the same.
George Romero put King
before the Creepshow cameras
as the ill-fated Jordy Verrill,
about to suffer a lonesome
death thanks to strange weed
from space. The director offers
this review of his star: "Steve's
wonderful, really good . In
fact, I think he was a
frustrated actor all along. He
has great range and good
comic timing. He did a terrific
job."
STEPH EN KING AT THE MOVIES 11

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tephen King's first published novel , Carrie, was written big-buck horror films like Th e Omen and Burnt Offerings. A
S in the furnace room of a trailer while the author was " run-
ning sheeb at a laundry for $1 .60 an hour" to support
his family. As Harlan Ellison describes elsewhere in this
darkhorse? More like a plough horse against a field of
thoroughbreds. United Artists executives held Carrie's budget
to a modest $1 .8 million (modest is a polite publicity term
volume, Ca rrie caused a minor sensation when it arrived at for dirt cheap) and were stunned by its success; no one at the
Doubleday's editorial offices. By the time it was released in studio anticipated the insatiable national willingness to be
April 1974, it was a major sensation; not only had King writ- scared senseless. Carrie returned $15 million net to the pro-
ten a story that battered the senses, but he had done so within ducers and garnered Oscar nominations for the two stars, Sissy
the most ordinary setting-the psychological Cuisinart of the Spacek and Piper Laurie.
American public high school. It was like the plough horse taking the derby.
King's timing was flawless, if coincidental. The public's taste
Ie story focuses on the
T
in reading entertainment had
been whetted by William American rite of
Peter Blatty 's The Exorcist, passage-getti ng
and the impending film through public high school
version had Hollywood alive-and the unusual talents
execu tive s scouring their of a shy, awkward, friendless
slush piles for the sort of teen named Carrie.
" legitimate" horror repre- Carrie (Sissy Spacek) has
se nted by Blatty's work . telekinetic ability; she can
Ex ec utives from several move things, throw things,
studios had gotten wind of break things .. . and burn
Ca rrie and expressed interest: things with a concentrated
by the time Carrie sold to force of will. Her latent
paperback, the certainty of a pyrotic and telekinetic talents
film translation pushed the mature with her first
pri ce up to a staggering menstruation, an event which
$400,000. causes her to be humiliated in
When King got the news, front of a group of teenage
he and wife Tabitha and their girls in the school locker
child were living in a Bangor, room . They peg her with tam-
Maine walk-up on his teach- pons and sanitary napkins,
er's salary. Because the young jeer at her naivete and verbal-
writer was still an unknown ly savage her in the first of
commodity, the first paper- Brian De Palma's many slow
back edition of Carrie was motion sequences. This open-
released without King's name ing scene was a shocker at the
on the front cover. But his time. The mere mention of
time had come. Whether menstruation was one of the
King started a phenomenon cinema's long-standing no-
or was merely a writer in the no's and De Palma had not
ri ght place at the right time, only opted to mention it-he
his name was to dominate the eleded to show it in a scene
bestseller charts from that that graphically demonstrated
time forward. Carrie's total alienation and
The movie version of Ca r- th e thoughtless cruelty of her
rie was released in late 1976. The film was a darkhorse; a cast peers.
of unknowns, based on the novel of an unknown writer and Carrie is sent home to find that mother is equally unforgiv-
directed by a talented, relatively unknown filmmaker up against ing. De Palma cues us visually when Carrie steps into a house

Spacek's portrayal of Carrie White
(\eft) nabbed her a best actress
nomination at the Academy
Awards, while Piper Laurie (as
Carrie's reliP>us fanatic mom)
grabbed a supporting actress
nomination (below) as well as a
few sharp instruments. Opposite
pase: Carrie eventually has the
final say in her last parentaJ dash.
Bottom: Most of Carrie's cast
went on to further Hollywood
success-induding John TraYOlta
and Nancy Allen. Do they look
like high school students to youl

plunged in shadows and dominated by an oi l-on-felt depic-
tion of th e Last Supper. Mrs. White (Piper Laurie) is a de-
ranged, sociopathi c Bible-thumper who is so terrifi ed of her
sexuality that she refers to Carri e's developing breasts as " dir-
ty pillows. " It is not surpri sing to learn there is no Mr. White
at home.
De Palma introduces a twin ge of something more sinister
as he leads us through the Whites' nightly ritual s-Carrie is
beaten by Mummy and locked in a closet to contemplate a
statue of St. Bartholomew (The Marty r) , painted like a harle-
quin w ith glow-in-the-dark-eyes.
Carrie's very abnormality makes her desperately wish to
belong, thou gh her efforts are consi stentl y sabotaged by rival
Christine Hargenson (Nancy Allen), a long-fingernailed, socially
sophisticated, empty-headed, w hiny shrew, one of those girls
who devotes most of high school to accumulating dates and
outfits.
The school yea r is one agonizing disaster after another for
Carrie, but a glimmer of rescue arises when schoolmate Sue
Snell (Amy Irving) prompts her conscience-ridden boy friend
Tomm y Ross (Wi lliam Katt) to ask Carrie to the Prom . Carrie
accepts the invitati on with some wariness but with a certain
desperate hope that she may finally be accepted. Mrs. White
condemns, cajoles and begs Carrie not to go, but Carrie has
found the strength of will-along with a dramatic increase in
her strange powers-that lets her get her way.
Prom night arrives. De Palma begins to carefully and ex-
pertly pace th e last third of the film. The Prom is held in an
achi ngly tacky high-school gym, complete with Reynolds Wrap
decorations and dime-store crepe to lend the sense of an
archetypal school dance. Carrie glows with happiness for most
of the evening-until Chris springs the vicious practical joke
that has been planned with ........_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _----,
cunning. Carrie wins a ri gged
election for Prom Queen. "SoMEONE bEGAN TO IAUGIt, A
When she steps onstage to
accept her crown, Chris and soLiTARY, AFfRiGItTEd ItYENA
her boy friend Bill y Uohn SOUNd, ANd SitE did OpEN itER
Travolta) pull the string that EYES, OPENEd Tit EM TO SEE wlto
dumps a bucket of pig blood
all over Carri e. iT WAS ANd iT WAS TRUE, TItE
Her humiliation and anger FiNAL NiGItTMARE, sitE WAS REd
are turned on the school body
and th e film goes split- ANd dRippiNG WiTIt iT, TItEY
sc reen to cove r all th e ItAd dRENCItEd itER iN TItE VERy
devastation as Carrie uses her SECRETNESS of bLood, iN FRONT
abilities to torch the school
gym and everyon e in it. A of ALL of TItEM . .. "
holocaust in her wake, she
goes home to confront her '---_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.....
mother.
Mrs. White has filled th e house with lighted candles, but
is nowhere to be seen. The cand les bathe Carrie in an eerie,
warm glow; the music soften s; De Palma begins a long
sequence which quietly builds the suspense until- when we
know we can't take one more second of wondering where
the hell mom is-she steps out of the shadows and gives her
little girl a loving hug before stabbing her with a butcher knife.
Outraged, Carri e reta liates. De Palma creates a gris ly end
for Mrs. White as her daughter ca uses knives and other im-
plements to hurl across the kitchen, pinning Mrs. White's arms
and legs to the wall until she resembles the bloody statue she
has worshipped . Mrs. White dies with a martyr's rapturou s
smile and Carrie's now uncontrollable power makes the house
implode, coll apsing to bury them both.
As a grace note, survivor Sue Snell's constant nightmares
bring her back to the site of the destruction and-in one last
grab by De Palma-a bloody hand is thrust through the earth
to pull Sue into the dark layers below.
Uust kidding. Carrie's dead ... rea lly, she's dead!)
I
n 1974, young filmmaker Brian De Palma read a book by
young author Stephen King, on the basis of a recommen-
dation from a friend .
De Palma had directed several films, notably Phantom of
the Paradise (1974) and Sisters (1972), and was casting around
for a project. He had received much favorable attention for
his early comedic efforts, Greetings (1968) and Hi, Mom
(1970), but had yet to develop the style that would earn him
the reputation for being a premiere suspense director. The
book, Ca rrie, intrigued him, and after making a few inquiries,
De Palma discovered the novel was being considered at several
studios but wasn't optioned .
He contaded Phantom 's producer, George Litto, who began
developing the property. De Palma was called in a year later
by United Artist' s produdion head Mike Medavoy. (According
to De Palma, Medavoy's partner Paul Monash was not a big
De Palma fan and was slated to produce the film . Medavoy
insisted on De Palma and rallied other executives into his
corner.)
King's novel was constructed in a non-linear fashion: narra-
tion is interspersed with after-fact reporting, eyewitnesses,
scientific monographs, and newspaper reports to achieve a
montage of viewpoints that ultimately gives us the whole story.
De Palma and screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen had to pick
a focus for the film and abandon King's format in favor of the
story. The focus was, of course, Carrie and her tormentors,
in a story relating the linear course of Carrie's senior year.
Produdion began early in 1976, with principal photography
scheduled for 50 days, though the editing requirements
stretched post-produdion over several months. Though De
Palma has garnered a reputation as a diredor whose homages
to predecessors Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks border
dangerously close to plagiarism, and though scoring from
Hitchcock composer Bernard Herrmann have become
trademark lifts in De Palma 's movie scores, the diredor made
innovative use of split-screen and slow-motion techniques. De
Palma comments, in a 1977 Cinefantastique interview:
"I felt the destruction had to be shown in split-screen,
because how many times could you cut from Carrie to things
moving around? You can overdo that. It's a dead cinematic
device. So, I thought I would split screen. I spent six weeks
myself cutting it together. I had 150 set-ups, trying to get thi s
thing together. I put it all together and it lasted five minutes,
and it was just too complicated. Also, you lost a lot of visceral
punch from full-screen adion.
" Then my editor and I proceeded to pull out of the split
screen and use it just when we precisely needed it. Each time
I use split-screen, I continue to learn more and more about
it. [Carrie) worked some
"BEfORE sltooTiNG STARTEd, ways, but didn 't work others.
It's the one thing that makes
BRiAN cAllEd ME iNTO Itis me think every time I look at
officE. TItE ACTRESSES wlto the movie and say, 'Well,
maybe I didn't make the right
plA YEd My SCItOOlMATES WERE
choice there.... '"
TItERE. TItE GiRls MAdE fuN of The screenplay was not
ME, CRiTiciZEd My dRESS, TItE particularly problematic in
terms of effedS requirements.
WAy I WORE My (De Palma notes that they
ItAiR . .. Nobody would TAlk couldn't afford any problems
on Carrie's budget.) Carrie's
WiTIt ME. I REALiZEd wltAT ItAP-
powers are cause-and-effed:
PENEd TO CARRiE could she twitches and something
ItAPPEN TO ME." gets devastated. The burden
of visualizing her destrudive
-Sissy SPACEk powers fell on produdion
designer Jack Fisk, Sissy
Spacek's husband, and special effeds diredor Greg Auer, who
had both worked with De Palma on Phantom of the Paradise.
Auer's major job was articulating De Palma's artistic

demands. One memorable shot-during the "spot light" dance
between Carrie and Tommy, in which the camera records the
whirling dancers for one continuous, dizzying three-minute
sequel)ce-was achieved by placing the actors on a motor-
ized platform spinning in one direction, while the camera
dollied non-stop in the opposite direction.
The film 's last act is devoted to the pivotal "Prom Night"
scene in which Carrie is provoked into an explosive demonstra- Opposite pase (top): For a change, things are going pretty well
tion of her " wild tal ents." De Palma, with Spacek's coopera- for Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) after Tommy Ross (William Katt)
tion , placed the actress on a soundstage where the gym was takes her to the prom. Not ewen friend 5,ue Snell (Amy Irving) is
re-created (based on the real-life Pier Avenue school in Cali- safe from Carrie'5 wrath-well, at Iea!t in her nightmare5. That is
fornia's Hermosa Beach) , and cautioned her to stand among Spacek's own hand coming from beyond the gra~ at bottom.
the flames until " you can't stand the heat anymore." Spacek Below: The prom tums into a dance of death when Carrie vents
was enthusiastic about De Palma's direction: " I was Carrie. all of her psychic fireworb. Alas, Carrie's home life isn't any
better than her school life.
Fire couldn't hurt me. I stayed until my eyebrows got singed."
The producers had neither time nor budget to get very fancy
in the closing scenes in which Carrie brings down the house.
Fisk was required to create an exact half-scale miniature of
the White house, and the filmmakers spent a frustrating even-
ing trying to simulate the crushing hail of rocks called for in
the script. Time was running out for their night shoot as dawn
approached . De Palma said to hell with the rocks, let's burn
the thing. They liked what they saw and abandoned the rocks
scheme entirely.
Music for the film was by Pino Donaggio, who was a
replacement for Bernard Herrmann (who had passed away
before completing the score) . Herrmann was the composer
for several Hitchcock classics (Vertigo, Psycho, Mamie) and
was De Palma's first choice on hi s previous films. De Palma
hired Donaggio for his similar musical style, but retained some
original Herrmann material by laying in some Psycho violin
riffs during Carrie's power surges.
One additional problem created by the bargain budget was
that it forced the producers to stick with unknowns for the
leading roles. Producer Paul Monash exhibited a sure instinct
for young talent when he cast Peyton Place (Ryan O 'Neal and
Mia Farrow debuted) and relied on those instincts while help-
ing De Palma cast Carrie. He was able to gather the talent
which carried the movie with such authority-and most went
on to stardom after th eir work in the film .
-De Palma contacted Sissy Spacek, in part, because of his
working relationship with her husband jack Fisk. Spacek had
also worked with De Palma as a set decorator on Phantom
of the Paradise (on which Fisk served as art director). Spacek
recalled that De Palma had phoned her personally to audi-
tion, then she found herself in the midst of a "cattle call" when
she showed up at the casting session. Monash had seen Spacek
in Badlands and liked the quality he saw. De Palma had her
in mind for the part of Chris Hargenson but, at the last minute,
gave her the lead.
-Amy Irving (Micki and Maude) , who recently married
director Steven Spielberg, debuted as Sue Snell.
-Nancy Allen (Dressed to Kim, who later married Brian De
Palma, debuted as the bitchy Chris Hargenson .
-William Katt (Greatest American Hero, Baby), debuted as
BMOC Tommy Ross .
-john Travolta (Saturday N ight Fever, Grease), made his
movie debut as Billy Nolan, Chris' not-too-bright boy friend.
But Monash and De Palma's greatest coup was convincing
Oscar-winning actress Piper Laurie to come out of retirement
to star in thi s low-budget sleeper. Piper Laurie's (nee Rosetta
jacobs) last fi Im performance was in 1961 's The Hustler, based
on the novel by Walter Tevis. Her performance earned her
the Oscar and she left Hollywood for Woodstock, New York
to raise a family. De Palma met with Laurie in New York and
was won over by her look, and Monash was able to convince
her to take the role.
One more young talent found a spotlight as a result of this
hit film: Stephen King-a name soon to dominate the horror
genre in books-and on screen .

T
here are only a few directors in the world whose names kind film from a one-of-a-kind filmmaker.
and work are discussed by critics and observers with
almost obsequious awe, among them Nicholas Roeg, he film begins with a dizzying helicopter's eye view of
Fritz Lang, Werner Herzog, Federico Fellini , Ingmar Bergman,
Werner Fassbinder-and Stanley Kubrick.
In 1978, Kubrick enjoyed a
T a pristine northern lake. Some critics have commented
that the opening shot is the only moment of serenity
for the next two-and-a-half
reputation as a tyrannical hours. The remainder of the
visionary who had brought to film focuses on the undoing
the screen such works as A of an ex-school teacher and
Clockwork Orange, 200 1: A frustrated writer, Jack
Space Odyssey and Dr. Torrance Oack Nicholson),
Strange/ove. The film com- who is hired as the winter
munity waited-then reeled- caretaker for the imposing
when Kubrick announced in Overlook Hotel nestled in
October of that year that his Colorado's high Rockies. A ti-
next film would be based on tle card informs us of
the work of a popular Ameri-
can horror novelist. THE INTERVIEW
The novelist was Stephen during which manager Stuart
King and the book was The Ullman (Barry Nelson) warns
Shining. Jack that the last caretaker,
Kubrick selected The Shin- Delbert Grady, succumbed to
ing after a year of sifting cabin fever over the long
stories and scri pts and winter months in the isolated,
although he had dealt with snowbound Hotel. Grady
every human terror in his took an axe to his wife and
films-obsession, violence, twin daughters, then a
holocaust-he was eager to shotgun to himself.
plunge into King's overtly "You can rest assured, Mr.
supernatural world of Ullman, " says smilin ' Jack,
suspense and horror. "nothing like that is going to
"The novel is by no means happen to me." Jack takes the
a serious literary work," job, glad to have the seclu-
Kubrick commented at the sion for himself and his fam-
time, "but the plot is, for the ily so he can finish that novel.
most part, extremely well Back home in their tiny
worked out and for a film that apartment, wife Wendy
is often all that really mat- (Shelley Duvall) is concerned
ters." This somewhat offhand when seven-year-old Danny
remark is the key to the con- (Danny Lloyd) passes out dur-
troversy that has surrounded ing a precognitive vision
The Shining since its release: the director abandoned many involving the Overlook-though the incident is explained away
crucial plot elements of the book, resulting in a film that was by the Torrances' G.P. as an elaborate construct of Danny's
clearly Kubrick's The Shining, not King's. subconscious, stemming from an earlier incident of abuse at
But that is the essence of auteurism, a polite French term the hands of his drunken father.
for the unconditional primacy of the director's vision in any " Redrum " is the only thing Danny remembers from this
cinematic situation . Whether Kubrick should have honored episode, and we will hear it repeated over and over in the
the primacy of King's vision is a different matter-and akin pretend voice of Tony, Danny's imaginary friend that lives in
to flogging a dead horse. The Shining is what it is: a one-of-a- his mouth, who (Danny says) is responsible for many disturl:r

ing vIsions. "Daddy got the job, " says Danny, his tone
foreshadowing the awful dividends.
Redrum?
CLOSING DAY
The Torrances arrive and
are given a tour of the
"A STORY of TItE SUPERNATURAL
facilities. They are shown the CANNOT bE TAkEN ApART ANd
kitchen by Halloran (5catman ANALYZEd TOO closEly. TIlE
Crothers), a tall, lanky black
cook who recognizes that lit- ULTiMATE TEST of iTS RATiONALE
tle Danny has a talent for is wltETItER iT is Good ENOUGIt
telepathy and the apparitions
TO RAisE TItE ItAiRS ON TItE
of past and future. Halloran
calls it the "shine", a talent he bAck of YOUR NECk. If you
boasts as well , and warns SUbMiT iT TO A cOMpLETEly
Danny that he may " see"
things-but they won't hurt LOGiCAL ANd dETAiLEd ANALysis,
him . But Danny senses iT will EVENTlIAlly AppEAR Stephen King wasn't too crazy
Halloran's fear, and when he about the casting of Jirl
AbsuRd." NichoI!IOI1 for The Sl!inins's
asks about one of the hotel
rooms, Halloran tells him -STANLEY KubRick, ON Jirl TorrarKl!. Below:
NichoI!IOI1 utters the dassic
angrily, " Don't you go in ThE ShiNiNC; line, "Here's Johnny!"
there!"
A MONTH LATER
As the Torrances settle in to the daily routine of hotel-sitting,
things start to go wrong in small ways. Kubrick gives us a look
at the Torrances' day, little slices of boredom, awkwardness
and madness akin to the free-floating anxieties let loose in a
sensory deprivation tank.
TUESDAY
The Hotel-possessed somehow by the evil decadence of
its ghostly former tenants-has started to assert its presence.
Room 237 attracts Danny like a child magnet; Jack has become
haggard and belligerent.
THURSDAY
Kubrick shows Wendy and Danny playing in the middle of
a virginal snowfall, while inside, Jack stands staring out the
window, deadly-looking and crazy as a thousand battlefields.
Redrum. The family is snowbound . Jack will later sabotage
any chance to escape.
SATURDAY
The title cards cease as we watch Jack's descent into utter
lunacy. The hotel stirs into life like an angry nest of hornets.
Danny's visions become more frequent and infinitely more
horrifying-elevators spew a sea of blood, the twins lie
dismembered and bloody in a hallway, a corpse rises soggily
from the scum of a half-filled tub. Wendy's confused
helplessness keeps her near hysteria and Jack is becoming
dangerously unraveled.
Danny passes by the forbidden room to find the door open,
the pass key dangling from the lock. Downstairs, Jack has had
a nightmare while dozing at his writing desk. He wakes
screaming for Wendy and, after she arrives to comfort him,
Danny enters the lobby catatonic with terror at whatever was
in room 237 .
Time seems to telescope as the hotel calls up the varsity
squad of apparitions. At first, they appear only to Jack. Although
he has been on the wagon since the incident with Danny, Jack
finds himself in the expansive Gold Room bar, bemoaning the
empty shelves and dry taps.
" I'd sell my soul for a glass of beer," he says aloud and,
as if he has made a pad, " Lloyd" Ooe Turkel) appears, along
with a full inventory of spirits. Lloyd pours Jack a drink and
they discuss Jack's family. Jack complains that Wendy won't
let him forget the child abuse incident, though he perversely
protests: "I wouldn't touch a hair on his goddam head-I love
the little son-of-a-bitch."
Redrum is murder, Danny discovers in a mirror.
The line between reality arid the paranormal starts to fuzz
as Kubrick shows a vision that is shared by Danny and the
vacationing Halloran but is, In truth, Jack's waking experience
when he investigates room 237, where he figuratively and
literally embraces the hotel 's evil.
Later, while Jack mingles in a ballroom full of reveling ap-
paritions, he is taken aside and implored by the shade of
Delbert Grady to " correct" his headstrong wife and child who
want to leave the hotel. (The phones are out and Jack has
destroyed the last link-a shortwave radio-with the rest of
the world.)
Only Halloran senses something has gone very wrong, and
heads back to Colorado for the boy's sake.
Kubrick's pace has been leisurely-it is two hours and 10
minutes into the movie before Jack finally flips out. A few
minutes later, Jack makes his intentions clear to Wendy in an
intense scene on the hotel staircase: ''I'm not going to hurt
you-I'm just going to bash your brains in. I'm going to bash
them right the fuck in."
The last half hour sees Jack on a psychotic rampage as the
hotel comes fully awake, showing Wendy and Danny the evil
that lurks within, and driving Jack to stalk his wife and son,
murder the hapless Halloran, then chase Danny in frenzy
through the frozen labyrinthine hedges on the hotel grounds.
Jack is completely possessed and inarticulate, becoming con-
fused and hopelessly lost in the maze, while Danny escapes
with Wendy.
The last lingering sequence starts on Jack's frozen corpse
and travels inside the hotel to an extreme close-up of his face
in a framed black and white photograph dated 1921 ,
establishing at least in spirit,
that Jack has always been the
"TltE ShiNiNt; is SORT caretaker for the Overlook-
of LikE I LOVE Lvcr and always will be, in one
GONE bAd . .. IT's A form or another.
One of the surest indica-
GREAT, biG bEAuTifuL tors of the respect garnered
CAR wiTlt NO MOTOR by a director is the awe-
some profundity attributed to
iN iT . .. " his work by scholars and
-STEpItEN KiNG critics.
However, trying to deter
mine the deliberate intentions of a director can be a double-
edged sword. For instance, in a volume entitled Kubrick by
French critic and scholar Michel Ciment, the author made
much of Kubrick's decision to end The Shining in the bowels
of the hedge maze:
" . .. The most remarkable idea was undoubtably the
final one of the labyrinth. It enriched the plot with a
new mythic dimension ... If it is, as has been noted by
Paolo Santarcangeli, a symbol for the maternal belly,
for the intestines, it is also the extension of the objec-
tive correlative to Jack's psych ism, already represented
by the Overlook Hotel . ..
When Ciment queried Kubrick for the orgins of this
remarkable coup de grace, he responded simply:
"The maze ending may have suggested itself from the
animal topiary scenes in the novel. I don't actually
remember how the idea first came about."
As it so often happens, Ciment has simply overstepped his
bounds in the enthusiastic search for artistic resonance, whether
it's there or not. This is not to imply a lack of resonance in
Kubrick's storytelling or that Kubrick was after pretty pictures
and not pretty ideas: it's just wise to remember that filmmak-
ing is the art of compromise.
During the production of The Shining-as with most of his
films-Kubrick's operative word was control. He selected the
property, co-wrote the script with Diane Johnson, and acted
as producer as well as director. He oversaw all aspects of pro-
duction, the selection of equipment and hand-picked person-
nel, casting, set construction and design. Kubrick had no
difficulty interesting Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall to por-
tray Jack and Wendy, but an extensive search involving almost
5,000 boys was conducted before selecting Canadian native
Danny Lloyd for the crucial role of King's young hero.
Though principal photography was scheduled for 17 weeks,
an average length of time for
a feature film, Kubrick need-
ed England 's EMI-Elstree ~~I REAlly ItAd LiTTLE TO do WiTIt
Studios for nearly a year to TItE ACTUAL sitooTiNG, bUT, LikE
construct the massive sets
representing the Overlook.
ARTIIUR CLARkE ON 200 1 ,
The principal photography I WAS CONSULTEd DURiNG OUR
ran into 27 weeks, 10 weeks fiRST TAlk, STtNLEY MENTiONEd
over due to illness and Jack
Nicholson 's troublesome TIIAT ItE'd likE TO CItANGE TIlE
back injury. In a three- ENdiNG-itAVE All TIlE MAiN LEAds
character story, there was no
way to shoot around the
killEd off, ANd RETURN TIIEM
leads. From May 1978 to LATER AS GhosTS. I ToLd ltiM TItE Shining moments of terror:
April 1979, Kubrick kept his AudiENCES wooLd ItAVE Itis ItEAd (opposite top) A ghost cracks up;
sets closed, carefully monitor- Wendy (Shelley Duvall) locks
ing all visitors and releasing if fACEd wiTh TIlE slAUGItTER of herseff in the bathroom, but her
virtually no information on cltARACTERS TIlE)' CAREd AOOtIT." security doesn't last (bottom).
the particulars of the Below: jack prowls the maze, an
project-a pol icy that con-
-STEpitEN KiNG impreMive set built at EMI-Elstree
tinued throughout production
Studios in Great Britain.
and well after release in 1980.
The lion's share of the budget-some estimates go as high
as $18 million, though a source close to the production puts
the figure closer to $11 million-went into reconstructing the
facade and interiors of the Overlook, based on a sprawling
complex in Oregon 's mountains called the Timberline Hotel.
A full-front facade was erected and another stage was filled
with the spacious reconstructed lobby and hallways. A massive
set fire also increased the amount of money spent.
One puzzling change from King's novel was the room
number. King had the apparition in room 217 but in the film,
the room is 237. When Kubrick was asked if there was any
purpose in the change, he replied that the owners of the
Timberline Lodge had a room 217 and were afraid no guest
would want to stay there after the film was released . However,
there was no room 237-so the change was made for the
benefit of the Timberline.
Kubrick made extensive use of the then-recent innovation,
the Steadicam, designed and operated by cameraman Garret
Brown, whose name may seem familiar from Lucasfilm epics.
The Steadicam is not so much a camera as a camera-mounting
harness (gyroscopic system) that allows a camera to be car-
ried with little or no sway 'n' shake, a typital danger with a
moving, handheld camera.
The set construction was designed with the Steadicam in
mind: hallways led off the main floor in continuous, multi-
level construction to allow uninterrupted traveling shots. Danny
rides his tryke throughout the hotel, taking corner after corner
without a cut-foreshadowing the film's labyrinth ending-
the camera giving a snake's eye view from the back of the
bike. Cinematographer John Alcott, a veteran of four Kubrick
films (A Clockwork Orange, 2001, Barry Lyndon and The Shin-
ing) was responsible for the planning and lighting of the com-
plex shots: " I spent three or four weeks pre-lighting every shot
and every set. All the lights in the lobby and hallways were
rigged-the chandeliers, all the bracket-mounted lights,
everything was connected to a rheostat board off-set. I would
regulate the lights during the shots, calling the instructions over
a radio, while the camera traveled."
Part of Alcott's preparation was to light each area and take
slides to check the registration on 35mm film. "It's just part
of being ready. It was one of the great things Stanley taught
me-to be ready so the director has as much time as possible
to do his job, which is not waiting around for a cinematogra-
pher to light a set."
The Shining was Alcott's first extensive experience with

Steadicam, and he defended its use in response to accusations
at the time of the film's release that Kubrick had spent too much
time playing with his new toy:
"People do overuse it-they've got it and they feel they must
use it. Like a zoom lens. I don 't use them, but people get them
they've paid for them and they use them, regardless. Pictures
were made for years without zoom lenses and made very well.
"We knew we were going to use the Steadicam and we
designed for it. It was used when we couldn't get a track to
achieve what we wanted . There are times when you can't get
from A to B without it, particularly on location, where you
would otherwise have to take out walls or duplicate existing
structures for a particular shot-then you have a circumstance
that requires, properly, a Steadicam.
" There is an early sequence in the film where Jack Nicholson
enters the lobby, crosses it, goes down a hall and into the small
office of the manager. If you had to have dollies and lay track
and take out walls, it would have been extremely more com-
plicated, noisy and difficult."
Steadicam was used to achieve some spectacular shots.
Alcott relates that, for Danny's tricycle tour of the hotel,
cameraman Garret Brown and his Arriflex camera contraption
were put in a wheelchair to follow Danny down the corridors.
It was again used for scenes in the maze, including the final
hedge maze sequence-filmed in a soundstage-where Jack
stalks Danny through snow made of styrofoam chips and rock
salt. (All the snow featured in the exterior shots was com-
r---------------------, promised of styrofoam and
The maniacal Jack orders his "ThE dEVASTATiNG SUbTlETY of salt which, toward the end of
fawrite drink from the Overlook filming had to be piled into a
Hotel's undead barkeep Lloyd NicholsoN's TORRANCE liES iN huge drift outside the facade
(Joe Turkel). entia knocked
Nicholson's performanre since it
iTs obviOUSNESS. . ." to effect Danny's escape from
a second story bathroom
was obvious that his character -RicitARd JAMisoN, window.)
was bonkers from frame one.
"KubRick's ShiNiNCf" In restrospect, Kubrick's
film is one of the few adapta-
tion s of King's work remarkably free of special makeup or op-
tical effects. Though there are many unforgettable images, vir-
tually every horrific vision was done on camera, without the
benefit of special makeup appliances or optical augmentation .
Lloyd doesn't look like a ghost, nor does Grady-they look
like people-but we know they are ghosts, and Kubrick is rely-
ing on our imaginations and circumstance to make them
sinister, not makeup. The suspense lies in what we imagine
could happen, not in what actually occurs.
Wlto Is Tltis Cuy KubRick, ANd Wlty DOES

EVERYONE TAkE HiM So SERiously?
As with any work by an auteur-as noted, a filmmaker as
responsible for every frame on screen as a painter is for every
stroke on a canvas-much has been written about the subtext
that exists in The Shining; in other words, the visual and in-
tellectual resonance behind the events on screen. The danger
of such analysis is intellectual gobbledygook, particularly if
one starts looking for subtext in films like I Spit on Your Grave
or The Care Bears Movie, but because Kubrick is a deliberate
visual stylist and a thinking man's director, there is always more
than meets the eye; always evidence of layers of ideas and
implication in every sequence. But, as pointed out earlier, try-
ing to determine what Kubrick means for you to discover is
like trying to tell somebody what Picasso meant by Guernica.
(For two interesting essays on this aspect of The Shining, and
on the filmmaker himself, see Kubrick, Holt Rinehart and
Winston, 1984 by Michel Ciment and Film Comment, July
1980, " Kubrick's Shining" by Richard Jamison.)
For sure, Kubrick meant to make a horror movie. He an-
nounced that he wanted to make the ultimate horror movie,

much as he claimed 200 1 to be the ultimate science-fiction
movie. The Shining was choreographed so every shot ad-
vanced the story toward its inevitable conclusion-in some
ways, the story is so lean, the backstory which contributed
to King's delicious characterizations and plotting was sacri-
ficed in order to concentrate on jack's degenerative mental
state, and allow Kubrick to concentrate on images, as is his
style. (No one has ever accused the man of breathtaking pace).
Kubrick and Nicholson 's jack Torrance is not a normally trou-
bled kind of a guy going bad through temptation and
possession-we know immediately he's a mental time bomb.
The suspense rests in how and when the timer's set to go off.
But, as King remarked in his opening comments, Kubrick con-
sistently defuses his bomb.
Some argument can be made for the labyrinth as theme:
jack 's sanity seems to be spiraling in on itself with no way
out; he looks down at a table top model of the maze and, as
we look down with him, we see tiny figures moving and sud-
denly realize we are looking at Danny and Wendy in the real
maze-as if jack is looking through the Overlook's eyes at its
next victims; certainly the hotel itself, as reconstruded for the
film, is a labyrinth maze of corridors which Danny explores
on his bike in several sequences; and the film 's strudure (vi-
sion within vision making abrupt jumps-turns-from image
to image and point-of-view to point-of-view) is a sort of visual
labyrinth that is contained by the framework of the story-as
the hedge maze has four sides.
However, to say the hedge maze adds a mythic Uack as
Minotaur) dimension and is, in fact, a deliberately symbolic
representation of jack's psychopatic state of mind, or to offer
that jack is Oedipally driven to re-enter the womb of the
bitch/mother, represented by Wendy and latently by the hedge
maze as a Freudian symbol of the bowel/womb area (as our
honored French critic Michel Ciment has pointed out and in
which Time Magazine critic Richard Schickel concurs) may
be more conjecture than fact.
Sure, it sounds good . It has the neat fit of a round peg in
a round hole. It is completely plausible, given what exists to
support the analysis. But the danger here is the duck syndrome:
the thinking that if it looks like a duck and swims like a duck
it must be a duck. The problem is, until it quacks, it might
just be a platypus in drag.
Kubrick is the only real authority about The Shining, and
he's quite succinct about the elements that concern him as
a filmmaker: "I suppose you could say there are major qualities
which go to make a great film-story, ading, and the cinematic
aspects." Any other processes and decisions informing his film
may remain a mystery until he communicates them.
But, judging by the following comment, whatever he meant
to show is not ultimately as significant as what you see and
what it means to you:
" People can misinterpret Top: Though ,ack Torrance has
almost anything so that if "WE ARE CAPAbLE of TilE always been a resident at the
Overtook, Wendy can only play
coincides with views they GREATEST G~ ANd TilE the role of victim. Bottom:
already hold. They take from Halloran (Scatman Crothers) also
art what they already believe, GREATEST EviL . .. TilE pRobLEM has the "shining," but it won't
and I wonder how many pe0- is TIIAT WE OfTEN CAN'T protect him from the swing of an
ple have ever had their views axe.
about anything important diSTiNGuisll bETWEEN Til EM
changed by a work of art?" WilEN iT SUiTS OUR PURposE."
Commonly, a good horror -STANLEY KubRick
film is what scares you . A
great horror film is what
scares everybody. But the jury is still out on The Shining; there
is no consensus among critics deciding it is in fad a master-
piece of horror or a stylish piece of self-indulgence. However,
it is one of the few films based on King's work that merits the
discussion .

f there is a movie that best represents Stephen King's roots its spirit is resurrected in Creepshow.
I and macabre sense of humor, the nod has to go

Creepshow-five little "telegrams" of terror and a
wraparound tale under the cover of an E.C comic book. King
A little irony is good for your blood.
Creepshow was King's first produced screenplay. He wrote
four original short stories to accompany a previously published
gives what he calls his "E .C rap" in explaining some of Creerr story ("The Crate"), penned a little vignette as a wraparound-
show's origins. and scripted the entire project expressly for diredor George
"In the old E.C comics, the guilty were always punished . Romero after the two met in 1978. Romero told the tale of
That was the traditional ....-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _....... their first meeting.
American view of morality. " Warners had gotten me
Even our novels and other involved in 'Salem 's Lot
writings, which were con- before it went to television-
sidered great literature, they wanted to get it out fast
tended to be that way. Then, and I wanted to do it,"
after World War II, we started Romero says. "There were
to get the idea that, although about 5,000 screenplays
the cause of 'good' won, the floating around, everybody
'good' also got their guts and their mother was writing
blown out or died from inhal- one, and I wanted to go back
ing gas. to Stephen 's, which I had
" And there was the murder read and liked. So, I flew up
of six million Jews. You have to meet him in ·Maine."
to keep in mind that the peo- Like two kindred souls,
pie involved in E.C and Romero and King began talk-
similar comic publishers were ing about horror films. King
all Jewish: William Gaines admired Romero's movies-
and AI Feldstein-I don't Night of the Living Dead and
know what they would say Martin-and Romero ad-
about it, but it's significant to mired King's writing. Though
me, that the Biblical 'Good 'Salem 's Lot fell through for
over Evil ' comics became Romero and went instead to
horror comics after the Tobe Hooper, Romero and
Holocaust. It was the last gasp King became friends. When
of the romantic idea that evil Romero returned to visit the
is punished by the forces of following summer, they
good. They couldn't justify began discussing doing a pro-
that idea anymore, so what ject together. They decided
you started to get in E.Cs was they might be able to come
the kind of story where the L-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _....J up with a film that would
wife really does kill her husband and run off with her scare people to death-at least they would give it a good try.
lover . .. they bash the poor guy over the head and drop him Romero was able to interest several studios on the basis of
into the lake with bricks wired to his feet. And they get away the proposed combination, but United Film Distributors, a sub-
with it. So you had to introduce a supernatural element to get sidiary of United Artists Theater Circuit, came up with the cash
the scales back in balance." first, signing Romero to a three-picture deal. They agreed to
In the '40s and early '50s when horror and the supernatural bankroll the $8 million Romero figured he needed for Creerr
were just for kids, when Weird Tales and Amazing Stories were show, and agreed to handle two more films-Day of the Dead
something you hid from your folks, the comics were one of and Creepshow II . Romero was happy about the budget- "It
the few outlets for the scares and wonders that now keep the was enough money to do everything we wanted to do"-and
motion pidure studios in business. Though E.C folded in 1955, Creepshow went to camera in late May 1981, in Pittsburgh .

C
reepshow was King 's first crack at an anthology for-
mat. It's .a difficult structure for any fi lm: the writer must
create a continUity
between the stori es in order "How do you GET 2~ 000
to hold the audi ence 's atten- ,
ti on because each story has ROACItES TO do, GO, ANd ACT Makeup FX pro Tom Savini helped bring
the EC look to Creepshow's monsters
(or shou ld have) a dramatic WItEN WItERE ANd Itow you (opposite). Below: Director George
payoff- the audience has to ' It ?" Romero coaches star Hal Holbrook on
hang in there whi le the new WANT T EM TO the intricacies of " The Crate." Viveca
situation and new characters -CREEpshOW (pRodUCTioN Lindfors, meanwhile, had a field day as
are . introduced. Several NOTES) the batty Aunt Bedelia in King' s
devices have been used over "Father's Day," hitting the bottle (at
the years with varyi ng degrees bottom!).
of success, but most filmmake rs stay away from the format
simply because it's hard to manage. (Woman Times Seven was
essentially an anthology, with Shi rl ey MacLaine as a continu-
ing thread in each story. Twilight Zone: The Movie used a nar-
rator yv ithout much success. Th e Yellow Rolls Royce made
the titl e vehicle the focus as it passed from owner to owner;
it worked- more due to the stellar cast than the car.) Creel>'
show's solution was brazen and wonderfully simple: since the
stories were an homage to classic comic book horror, King
and Romero elected to honor the artists that brought the stories
to life. E.C. Comics arti st Jack Kamen was hired to create splash
pages and panels that would segue from live-action to live-
action between the stories. He created the spectral figure that
walks us through from beginning to end, and sets the style
for the whole film : broad action, splashy colors and kinetic
composition.
The film opens as an angry father (Tom Atkins) catches his
10-year-old son Uoe King) reading a trashy horror comic. He
throws it in the garbage where the pages flip open to the first
story, " Father's Day."
The Granthams have a morbid ritual of gathering in the man-
sion each Father's Day-the anniversary of the murder of
patriarchal Nathan Grantham. Mother and the two grown
children wait for Aunt Bedelia (Viveca Lindfors) to arrive-
drun k as usual, and still gui lt-ridden after taking her father's
life in a rage over the decades-old murder of her lover. Bedelia
stumbl es over to Nathan's tombstone in the family plot to of-
fer a toast to th e old creep who ruined her life. She recall s
th at long-ago Father' s Day. Nathan Uon Lormer) was whining
for hi s Father's Day cake-whining, then demanding, then
bellowi ng, " I want my cake! " Bedelia couldn't take it
anymore-she grabbed a heavy ashtray (which, if you watch
carefull y, appears in each segment that follows) and split
Daddy's head open.
" Happy Father's Day .. . " Bedeli a salutes as night falls in
the graveyard . She can't believe her eyes when the earth shifts,
then crumbles. " / want my ca ke!" says the pustulent voice
of Nathan's corpse Uohn Amplas) as it ri ses and strangles
Bedelia to death. Nathan shambles around the ground s and
into the kitchen. Sylvia Grantham (Carrie Nye) goes to in-
vestigate and doesn 't come back. Her son and daughter
fo llow ... and Nathan surprises them with Sylvia's head
on a platter. " I got my cake! " he explains. Happy Father'SDay.
Next is " The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, " in whi ch
King himself stars. " George didn 't have to twi st my arm too
hard ... " notes King of his appearance as a dirt-poor farmer
who doesn't quite have both oars in the water. A meteor plum-
mets to Earth behind Jordy's farm one night. Jordy slowl y
realizes he could make a couple of bucks selling it as a
speci men down at the university. Jordy's visions of getting as
much as $200 for thi s godsend sends him into, what is for
Jordy, a frenzy of activity.
But when he touches th e meteor, he gets goo-" meteor
shit," as he ca lls it-a ll over hi s hands as it splits in two. Jordy
entertains a di smaying vision of the ridi cule he will suffer for

having broken the meteor, and figures the most he's likely to
get now is 50 bucks. Still , 50 bucks is 50 bucks: Jordy puts
the meteor in a bucket and goes back inside to watch televi-
sion and have a beer, mercifully untroubled by the thought
of the meteor goo. He falls asleep watching TV, and wakes
to find green vegetation growing on the arm of his chair. And
his arm. And the beer bottle. And hi s face. And his tongue.
It's everywhere and it itches worse than long underwear.
It seems to grow before his eyes, taking over the house and
yard . The itching is unbearable: the last we see of Jordy that
night is when he steps into a tub of water, sighing, "That's
much better."
The house is barely recognizable the next morning. A long
green lump, vaguely human in shape, crawls over to a shotgun
and struggles to point the barrels at where its head must be.
"Let things go right-just thi s once!" it moans, then pulls the
trigger. The camera pans outside to show the landscape
covered with strange weeds growing their way toward town .
The first two stories are the light stuff. King and Romero have
been doing five-finger exercises in horror: now they get down
to the serious business of making you jump out of your seats.
" The Crate" was the one already existing tale adapted for
Creepshow, and tells the story of Henry and Wilma (just call
her Billy) Northrup. They are a marriage counselor's dream:
belligerent, viCiously incompatible, each filled with murdero'us
contempt for the other. But Henry (Hal Holbrook) is a little
weak-willed, and daydreams about doing away with Billy
(Adrienne Barbeau) without being able to ad. Henry's one
solace is his friend Dexter (Fritz Weaver), an associate at the
University where they both teach. It is Dexter who finds the
solution to Henry's problem.
A janitor at the university lab discovers a crate abandoned
and forgotten under a basement stairway. Marked "Horlick's
University, 1876," the janitor is excited enough about the find
to call Dexter with the news. The two men drag the crate into
the lab room and pry it open. The janitor peers inside. "1 think
there's something in there . . . " are the last words out of his
mouth besides " Gaargggghhhh" as whatever is in there gob-
bles him up. Dexter is driven out of his wits and runs upstairs
where he meets a grad student. The student is skeptical and
goes down to investigate. Then, there's only Dexter, who runs
to Henry's in a panic, looking for help.
"It ate them entirely?" Henry asks, with a cunning smile.
He drugs Dexter and leaves a note for Billy who is due back
soon. Henry goes to the lab and, although sickened by the
evidence of a massacre, he tidies the lab and waits for his wife's
arrival. Henry is giggling uncontrollably when Billy shows up.
He introduces her to the crate. He panics when nothing
happens-and just as Billy is about to vent her wrath, Henry
is saved by the fanged , insatiable horror that lives within the
crate. " Just tell it to call you Billy!" Henry chuckles, then loads
the crate (and the evidence) into the car, and dumps it into
a water-filled quarry where we hope it will stay for another
hundred years or so.
Tom Savini, best known for his More watersports are in
splatter FX in Friday the 13th and "TIlE WRiTiNG iN MOST hORROR store in the next story,
Maniac, enjoyed the opportunity " Something to Tide You
fiLMS is dONE by pEopLE who
to create some old-fashioned Over. " Richard Vickers
monsters for Creepshow. Opposite ARE NOT WRiTERS • •. ThERE'S (Leslie Nielsen), a well-tO<lo
page: Daddy (John Amplas) gets videophile, has discovered
his "Father's Day" cake with a GOT TO bE SOMEThiNG MORE TO
his wife Becky's affair with
little help from Carrie Nye. SAY ThAN, 'I ThiNk I'LL GO OUT Harry Wentworth (Ted Dan-
ANd TAkE A Look AROUNd, son). Harry is trying to do the
right thing by confessing the
MAdGE • .. ' "
relationship to Richard, but
-STEphEN KiNG arrives at the Vickers' home
to find Richard waiting for
him. He shows Harry a tape. Poor Becky (Gaylen Ross) is suf-
fering Richard's revenge and is up to her neck in trouble-
she's buried shoulde~eep in the sand on the Vickers' seclud-
ed beach front as the tide comes in. At gunpoint, Richard forces
26 STEPH EN KING AT THE MOVIES

Harry to accompany him to another part of the beach. Harry
has to dig his own hole and also bury himself up to his neck.
Richard helps a little, then sets up a video monitor and camera
so the lovers can watch each other drown.
"You can try and hold your breath," advises Richard as he
leaves, "but you'll have to hold it a long, long time." Richard
returns home, watches a little close<kircuit TV, but he knows
how it turns out.
The next day, he sees that
all the evidence has been H.CAN "oLd My bREAT" FOR A
washed away. LONG, LONG TiME!"
Several nights later, he's
awakened by a noise that -CREEpshOW
sounds like someone walking
around the house in wet
shoes. His security cameras show nothing-but he can hear
the noise outside his bedroom. The things outside are much
worse than he anticipated: the bluish, slimey, water-puckered,
soggy ghosts of Harry and Becky have come to invite Richard
to his own little beach party. Turnabout is fair play. Richard
is left in the sand as high tide arrives, but he boasts, "I can
hold my breath for a long, long time! "
The last spade in King's five-card flush is the segment that
earns Creepshow its name: "They're Creeping Up On You."
In Upson Pratt, King has drawn a character who is a thinly
disguised parody of Howard Hughes during his last days. A
neurotically tidy, reclusive multi-millionaire, Pratt (E.G.
Marshall) is sequestered at all times in his high-tech, hermetical-
ly sealed penthouse apartment. Although the environmental
controls are supposed to keep things germ-free, Pratt is hav-
ing a little trouble with bugs. As if it was heralded by the suicide
of a business associate he caused to go bankrupt, Pratt notices
a roach has found its way into the penthouse. He calls for help
but there is a sudden brownout that leaves the building without
power. Though there are emergency generators for the pent-
house, Pratt must face the bugs alone. But they're
everywhere-in his cereal, in his sink-they begin to pour from
every crack and crevice in the room .
Pratt makes a dash for his sealed bedroom, determined to
lock himself inside until someone can rescue him. As he
double-checks the room, he notices the blanket covering the
bed has begun to twitch. He throws back the blanket to reveal
thousands of the scuttling little monstrosities. He succumbs
to a heart attack as they engulf him-but the camera merciful-
ly cuts to sometime later. Pratt is stretched out, dead. The pent-
house is bug-free. But Pratt's body is splitting, twitching and
-thousands of roaches stream out of his chest, throat and
mouth. Yuck.
The sun rises on the abandoned comic book as two noisy
garbagemen (one is Tom Savini in a cameo) discover the
Creeps how comic, and notice an ad for a voodoo doll clipped
from its pages. Up in the house, Daddy has a pain in the
neck-it's his little boy, of course, who is upstairs stabbing a
Daddy doll again and again and again .. .
A little cautionary tale for parents everywhere.
W
hen Romero first approached potential underwriters
for Creeps how, he found that few of them really
understood the concept. They asked him to change
the name, they asked him to change the cast, they wanted that
" comic-book stuff" removed. But Romero-a notoriously in-
dependent filmmaker who has turned down many offers to
go " Hollywood"-stuck by his guns until U.F.D. offered to
finance the project the way Romero wanted it done.
King was on hand for any emergencies during the filming.
(Occasionally, time and budget considerations during filming
forces on-set rewrites-frequently, the rewrites seem to have
been handled by cameramen rather than writers.) King was
present as often as possible during principal photography, and
explains why:

"George has a lot of respect for what I've written . We got
into a situation that is an exact flip-flop of any writer-director
relationship I've ever heard of. For instance, during the cut-
ting process of the film, the distributors weren't happy about
the length [2 hours and 10 minutes] and wanted it cut to two
hours. So, I went to Pittsburgh to try to help get that last 10
minutes out. I would say to George, 'Well, this can go, we
don't need these guys sitting around talking!' George would
argue, 'No, that can't go, that's important.' Instead of him say-
ing we've got to get rid of stuff, he was arguing to keep it in."
Romero returned the compliment. "It took a burden off me,"
he says. "There's a reason Stephen's successful and it's because
his instincts are right. Someday people are going to leave his
stuff alone. "
Romero used existing locations for four of the five stories.
Pre-production began in January 1981 to plan the complex
12-week schedule to be fit into Pittsburgh's short summer. A
northern suburb provided the "Father's Day" mansion and
grounds; crews created the mouldering graveyard and dressed
the home's interiors to reflect the Grantham family's tastes.
A vacant lot was commandeered for the facades and grounds
appearing in the " Jordy Verrill" segment, while interiors were
completed on a soundstage. Local homes doubled for sites
in "The Crate," as well as the Pennsylvania University
campus-but the crew had to hop over to New Jersey for the
"Tides" beach house and oceanfront. For the burial sequences,
actors Ted Danson, Gaylen Ross and Leslie Nielsen were
placed in rigs covered with sand. A wave-making machine was
imported for control of the "tide" while shooting.
The most elaborate set was for E.G . Marshall's guest spot
, . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , in "They're Creeping Up On
You." The "penthouse" was
"1 IIAd TilE CAST. IliAd TilE constructed on a soundstage
MONEy. IliAd TilE WRiTER. 1 and the entire set sealed in
plexiglass and tape for roach
kEPT WAiTiNG FOR SOMEONE TO
control. Some 25,000 of the
WAkE ME Up ANd TELL ME 1 WAS creepy little Blaberus Blabe-
dREAMiNG· " rus and Blaberus Giganticus-
16,000 domestic and 9,000
-GEORGE ROMERO giants from Trinidad-were
used in the cockroach-crazy
segment. Marshall admitted he "would rather not do it again
any time soon." Roach wranglers and entomologists Dave
Brody and Raymond Mundy rigged infra-red lights to fool the
roaches into thinking it was dark so they would move out on
cue.
The roaches were unceremoniously gassed after filming.
Makeup artist Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead, Friday the
73th) created and supervised Creepshow' s elaborate effects,
a comprehensive collection of ghosts and beasties.
Latex, foam, and a couple of Rice Crispies for maggots went
into Nathan Grantham's rotted corpse. Some reverse
photography and "green stuff" turned Stephen King into a
walking parsley plant, and prosthetics transformed Danson,
Marshall and Ross into their ghoulish selves. Savini 's proudest
accomplishment, however, was the denizen of "The Crate,"
nicknamed Fluffy.
Fluffy took five months, and several assistants, to create the
molds and casts forming the monster's head, arms and
shoulders. Operator Danny Ferrucci was fitted into the casts
and an underskull was molded to accommodate his head
within Fluffy's. Cables, bladders and fluid sacks articulated the
face and toothsome grin, and the fur coat was added overall ,
sometimes a hair at a time.
Romero and King had a carefully considered wish list for
the cast, which they were able to fill with few exceptions. The
stars and veteran character actors were eager to put in a few
day in Pittsburgh . Romero was able to get broad performances
from everyone involved: Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau,
Carrie Nye, E.G. Marshall, Ted Danson and Stephen King.
(Stephen's son Joe was featured in the prologue and epilogue
at George's request.) Romero comments, " This sort of film,
very fun and very stylized, needed name value, or at least
recognizable faces-something I've managed to avoid in almost
all my other films. But I loved it; it was wonderful to have
so many experienced people."
The least experienced actor was King, as he admits: " George
was great. I had a little trouble at first-George wanted a
caricature of a dirt farmer, not a real one, and I had a little
trouble giving it to him at first. He took me aside and said,
'Steve, you know the Roadrunner cartoons?' I said I did. He
said, 'You know how Wile Coyote looks when he falls off a
cliff?' I said I did. George said, 'Well, that's what I want. '
"I was fine after that." Opposite page: Ted (Cheers) Danson (left) could probably use a beer
as he suffers a slow death courtesy of Leslie Nielsen in "Something
King and Romero plan to collaborate again, though neither
to Tide You Over." "Just tell it to call you Billy," advises Henry
is sure whether it will first be on Pet Sematary, The Stand or (Holbrook) to his shrewish wife (Adrienne Barbeau) upon
Creepshow II . Romero has the rights to all three projects, and introducing her to the creature in "The Crate" (right). Bottom:
says it looks like Pet Sematary will be first. He's anxious to They're creeping up on the greedy Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall). Joe
work with King "anytime, the sooner the better," and sum- King (above top) had a role in Creeps#Jow's linking device, while
marizes their relationship: "I respect Stephen. He does his job Papa King (above) took center stage for "The Lonesome Death of
right and it lets me do my job better." Jordy Verrill." Note director Romero's comic-book framing.

M
aking its first appearance in 1979, The Dead Konchalovsky to direct-much to the dismay of David
Zone was the novel that really solidified Stephen Cronenberg, who, according to The Reporter two days earlier,
King's position as a premier writer in the horror/thriller had already been signed . Cronenberg had been visiting the
genre. Although there was immediate interest in translating offices of director pal John Landis where he bumped into Debra
the novel to film, the process was long, difficult, and at times Hill, who told Cronenberg she had been hired to produce
very confusing. Dead Zone and would Cronenberg be interested?
The rights to film the novel were first secured in 1980 by " I said yes right away," Cronen berg relates. "It had been
the feature film division of Lorimar. They contracted screenplay three years, but I must have had it on my mind because I said
writer Jeffrey Boam to draft a script and slated the project for yes without thinking." Eventually, it was all sorted out and
direction by Stanley Donen under the auspices of producer production began in Toronto in January 1983.
Sydney Pollack (Tootsie) . However, a Lorimar executive,
O
apparently unaware that n the outskirts of a small
Donen had been signed, in- New England town, a
vited director David Cronen- confusion of light marks
berg to take a look-see at the the midway of a small traveling
script. Cronenberg was very carnival. As the booths and rides
interested in doing it but, close down for the night, a young
several profuse apologies schoolteacher stands mesmer-
later, discovered the project ized before a swindle known as
was spoken for. After three the Wheel of Fortune. The spin-
years and a few false starts, ning, clacking wheel has not
Cronenberg got his chance. entranced him as much as the
Lorimar had been taking a fact that he knows what numbers
financial beating on some will fall. He is surrounded by
major box office flops, and stragglers who do not question
abruptly closed its feature film his gift, but merely enjoy the
divsion, shelving The Dead opportunity to beat the shill at his
Zone. In 1981, Dino De game.
Laurentiis expressed interest, Johnny Smith is conscious on-
and secured the rights from ly of the spinning wheel and the
Lorimar. certainty of his premonitions.
King was contacted to try This scenario from King's
his hand at the screenplay: "I novel introduces the reader to
thought the screenplay for the idea that Johnny Smith has a
The Dead Zone was the best little something extra-a paranor-
I had even done in terms of mal psychic ability that allows
an adaptation. I started talking him to glimpse into the past, and
first to Michael Trevino, who wanted Johnny Smith to come more important, the future. The balance of the story takes place
from Texas and to show his sensitivity by 'talking to horses.' after Johnny awakens from an injury-induced coma of five
I said, no, I don't think so. Then , it was Dino De Laurentiis, years' duration. His abilities have increased dramatically,
and back and forth, they commissioned another though interfering with his sharply focused foreknowledge are
screenplay ... " De Laurentiis had slated Debra Hill (Hallow- "dead zones" where he cannot "see," or cannot interpret,
een) to produce the project and had her contact original scripter certain events. Even so, his life becomes a nightmare of
Jeffrey Boam to rewrite the draft he had produced for Lorimar, dangerous visions.
while both sought a director. King's story is complex and lengthy-forcing Cronen berg to
Many names appeared in connection with the project. The abandon three script drafts and have screenwriter Jeffrey Boam
Hollywood Reporter printed a story in September 1982 that start from scratch . Cronen berg explains: "I thought the way
De Laurentiis had selected Russian director Andrei Mikhalkov to be faithful to the story was to throw the book away and

concentrate on being faithful to its tone, its feel. It's a big book
and so much happens, I could see from the screenplays we
had that any attempt to do it literally wasn't going to work."
The first quarter of King's novel is condensed into the first
10 minutes of the film. Johnny (Christopher Walken) and his
girl end a night at the carnival with a good night kiss, Johnny
drives home in the rain and breasts a hill where a milk tanker
has overturned. Hi s VW crashes into the side and, several
dissolves later, he awakes in Opposite page: Doctor Weisak
the Weisak Clinic five years IIWdl. .. SUppOSE. .jUST (Herbert lorn) soon
after the accident. understands the awesome
He is shocked to learn that
SUppOSE you could IlOp iNTO A abilities of Johnny Smith
so much time has passed, he TiME MAClliNE ANd GO bAck TO (Christopher Walken) in David
is devastated to learn his girl Cronenberg's well-acted
TilE yEAR 19}2. IN GERMANY. version of King's The Dead
friend Sarah (Brooke Adams)
ANd SUppOSE you CAME ACROSS Zone. After just appearing in
has since married another Gandhi, actor Martin Sheen
man, but most traumatizing is HiTlER. Would you kill lIiM (below) at first resisted playing
the experience of a "vi- slimey Greg Stillson, a far cry
sion " -he touches his nurse's
OR lET lIiM liVE?" from any wholesome
hand and sees her child - nE DEAd ZONE characters.
trapped in a house fire. He
tells her there's still time, and the child is rescued.
No one understands his new ability, but his doctor, Sam
Weisak (Herbert Lom), is forced to acknowledge Johnny's
talents when he learns, through Johnny's vision, that his mother
escaped the Polish Invasion and had not died as Weisak
thought. Weisak seems to understand Johnny's new burden
and is alarmed when the truth becomes public, forcing Johnny
to a reclusive existence.
"I think Johnny Smith becomes a truly tragic figure in the
movie," comments Cronenberg. " He becomes completely
alienated because of his abilities."
Johnny is haunted by thousands of requests to help fi nd lost
dogs, lost children, lost husbands-" Iost lives" he calls them,
and turns down a request from local Sheriff Bannerman (Tom
Skerritt) to help solve a case of serial killings in nearby Castle
Rock. But a visit from Sarah, when they are finally able to
consummate their love, causes Johnny to have a change of
heart, and he is able to use his vision to solve the murders
and bring Deputy Frank Dodd (Nicholas Campbell). to justice.
The national attention Johnny gets forces him to move and
take up tutoring as a livel ihood. Seeing Sarah again, when she
knocks on his door as a campaign volunteer for senatorial
candidate Greg Sti llson (Martin Sheen). on ly torments him, until
he is able to help a student avoid a tragedy with his gift. But
soon after, he is plunged into a horrible dilemma. While shak-
ing Stillson's hand at an outdoor rally, Johnny sees that Stillson
is an unbalanced, vengeful psychotic who is destined to plunge
the world into nuclear war as President.
"At this point," Cronen berg remarks, "Johnny's character
in the film is almost Christ-like-he's the first charader of mine
who's almost a martyr-a reluctant martyr, of course. I don 't
think anyone about to be bound to a stake and burned is very
happy about it-but he knows it's his destiny and he can 't do
anything about it. "
Johnny seeks Weisak 's advice and decides to do what he
knows must be done. Armed with a rifle, he attends a Stillson
rally and attempts to assassi nate the politician, but is distraded
when he sees Sarah on the podium, and is mortally wound-
ed. Though Johnny fails, he has forced Stil lson into display-
ing hi s true character when the politician uses Sarah 's child
as a shield . Johnny is dying, but he touches Stillson and sees
that he has successfully sabotaged the future. As Sarah whispers
" I love you " in his ear, Johnny dies.
Cronen berg draws a comparison between Johnny Smith's
trial s and the phases experienced by terminal patients-denial,
regret and acceptance. He also fee ls there's a case to be made
for a parallel between the cru cial events in Johnny's story and
the seven stations of Christ as he made his way to his destiny
on Calvary. Either way, the film retains the book 's " tone" by

clueing the audience at all times (as did King in his novel) that
Johnny Smith is doomed. The final scene is wrenching in the
way classic tragedy must be-by creating a catharsis (the glad-
it-wasn 't-me feeling) that drives the story home.
hen you consider that David Cronenberg was the
W visionary behind Scanners, Videodrome and The

Brood, it is a little startling to hear that the visual
continuity underlying The Dead Zone was inspired by the
paintings of Norman Rockwell.
" Rockwell had this kind of mythological , timeless New
England where he set many of his paintings, and Stephen had
that same tone in the book," says Cronenberg," I wanted all
the visual keys to have that look-we tried to re-create the
lighting that Rockwell used, we painted Greg Stillson's cam-
paign poster in the Rockwell style, I did everything I could
think of to distill that look onto the screen."
It was Norman Rockwell slid over to American Gothic at
the edges, the director notes-Stephen King 's kind of
Americana.
Cronen berg's first consideration was casting.
" We talked about many people. I mean , you always do and
Chris Walken was one of them, though he wasn't my
immediate choice. I wasn 't totally convinced that Chris was
right. He was much older than the character we had in mind,
and I was afraid that 'detached' quality he has about him would
make it difficult for him to be a sympathetic character.
"But then I started to look at some of the things he had been
doing. One in particular was the Kurt Vonnegut story Who
Am I This Time? which was directed for PBS by Jonathan
Demme. Chris played his character in that project in a very
sweet, beautiful way-it convinced me that Chris could do it. "
Bill Murray had been King's first choice.
Stillson's character was a challenging change-of-pace for
actor Martin Sheen, who is best known for his characteriza-
tions of contemporary political heroes such as Bobby Kennedy.
Before agreeing to take the role, Sheen spent four hours with
Cronenberg and Hill discussing the character, but finally
accepted.
"He had just finished Gandhi," Cronenberg recalls, "and
had spent a lot of time in India and was really into karmic
values. He was worried that playing this really sleazy, terrible
guy would be karmically bad . Sheen is a really funny guy, but
he seemed seriously disturbed about it. Once we got into it,
though, he enjoyed it so much ... well ... he never mentioned
that other stuff again."
" You know, it was my ego," Sheen explains. " You always
want to be the hero." Sheen had initially objected to the
climactic scene where he uses a child to protect himself from
the assassination attempt. He finally agreed, though, remark-
ing, "I don 't know any other way we could have done it."
Sheen saw his portrayal as a way to dramatize the very type
of politician he would dedicate himself to defeating.
Brooke Adams was cast as Sarah Bracknell, Johnny Smith's
true love. Adams and Walken had played opposite each other
once before in an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's The
Philanderer. Sheriff Bannerman-Cujo's supper-is Tom
. . . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , Skerritt from Alien. Nicholas
nyou ARE EiTkER iN possEssioN Campbell is Deputy Dodd,
of A VERy NEW kUMAN AbiLiTY only a consonant away from
the cartoon character.
... OR A VERy oLd ONE." Cronenberg filled out the top
- TkE DEAd ZONE spots with veteran character
actors Herbert Lom as Dr.
Weisak and Anthony Zerbe as wealthy Roger Stuart. Colleen
Dewhurst had a brief appearance as Mrs. Dodd.
When Hill and Cronenberg scouted obvious locations
around New England, they were disappointed to find that none
of the locales satisfied the Rockwell look the director had in
mind. Associate producer Jeffrey Chernov then looked

Opposite, top: A crazy Mrs. Dodd (Colleen Dewhurst) tries to keep the police at bay when they come for her psychotic offspring. King
welcomed Cronenberg's idea of cinematically placing Johnny Smith into his psychic visions. For example, when Johnny grabs a nurse's
hand (below), flash, he sees and feels the fiery inferno that has engulfed her horne and menaced her child. Bottom: Stillson's blue collar
mann wins over the masses. Only Johnny Smith knows the dansers he represents.

After spending several years in
a coma, Johnny Smith later
awakens with a most unusual
gift, allowing him to see
candidate Stillson's future
(below). He doesn't like it.
Finally. Johnny finds peace.
northward to discover a quiet burg outside Toronto that fit the

bill. The restored and well preserved town of NiagriH>n-the-
Lake was perfect. The production relocated to facilities in
Toronto, Cronen berg's hometown, and commenced nine
weeks of principal photography in January 1983.
Though the budget was set at $7 million (U.S.), Cronenberg
says, "1 think Dino told everyone it was more-but Dino
always does that." The biggest chunks went into re-creating
the Polish Invasion for Weisak's WWII flashback, a full-sized
gazebo constructed in Niagra's Village Green where Johnny
"sees" the murderer Sheriff Bannennan is trying to track down,
and the set for the child's room that Johnny sees in flames.
Cronenberg translated Johnny's hospital vision to screen by
devising a set, with SFC coordinator John Belyeu, in which
Chris Walken appears to be in the little girl's bed, experienc-
ing the fire and the girl's plight, flames sprouting from the
blankets on what had been his hospital bed.
King comments, "David added a dimension to the visions
which hadn't even occurred to me-that of putting Johnny
Smith in his own visions. I thought it was wonderfuL"
"1 was trying to find a way to play them on screen,"
Cronen berg explains. "If I had just cut to images, it would have
given a newsreeVflashback sense to it that I didn't think would
communicate how powerful the visions were, how they shook
him ... It's like when you have a dream with yourself in it.
You wake up and know it's a dream, but they're somehow
more potent, more powerful and have that feel of reality. That's
what gave me the idea."
During the shoot, Walken was protected by a Nomex suit
(a flameproof material) and covered by a hospital gown of the
same material. The little girl crouched next to a trapdoor to
offer her a quick escape. As the camera panned away from
Walken, he was quickly lowered from the stage on a seat
which was holding his body to the opening in the bed. When
Walken and the girl were off-camera and safely away from
the scene, the combined hospitaVhome set burst into flames-
on cue, though Walken confessed he thought, momentarily,
something had gone wrong.
Aside from being a spectacular effect, Cronen berg effectively
shows the curse of Johnny's gift. Johnny not only "sees," he
experiences: each vision is physically traumatic. As an aid to
Walken's perfonnance during certain scenes, Cronen berg
would fire a .357 Magnum (a very large and noisy handgun)
at carefully timed intervals to cause Walken to flinch involun-
tarily on cue, making Johnny Smith appear to twitch spas-
modically during his visions.
The production made use of existing locales for the Weisak
Clinic, the various homes and exteriors. A minor flap arose
over the gazebo. Though the structure was a faithful reproduc-
tion and architecturally consistent, some locals felt it wasn't

Director David Cronenberg
(left) wanted a Nonnan
Rockwell feel for his Dead
Zone locations and this style is
evident in Stillson's campaign
posters. Below: Johnny and
Sarah (Brooke Adams) share a
tender moment and some
fleeting fun before the
acddent that plunges them
both into The Dead Zone.
in keeping with the town's historical nature, and lobbied to

have the film crew dismantle it. Perhaps upon learning that
the quarter-million dollar gazebo was intended as a gift, the
consensus was to leave it standing.
To bring King's story to film, Cronenberg selected a team
of technicians who've collaborated with him on several other
films. Debra Hill comments, " David inspires a tremendous
loyalty among the people who have worked for him." Pro-
dudion designer Carol Spier had worked previously with
Cronen berg on Scanners, The Brood and Videodrome, as had
lensman and diredor of photography Mark Irwin. Producer
Hill brought special effeds coordinator Jon Belyeu to the pro-
dudion from a stint on Halloween III, as well as stunt coor-
dinator Dick Warlock.
As Cronen berg pointed out, his principal goal was to visually
"shorthand" all the novel 's complexity and still retain the
flavor-even though it was somebody else's flavor.
"King's material is very different from mine, " he says. " King's
charaders are usually very simple, open and honest, and the
charaders that I write are generally none of these things. They
are urbane, sophisticated and complex-if not twisted. I'm
more comfortable in dark corners."
His alliance with Dino De Laurentiis was a case of strange
bedfellows. De Laurentiis has a reputation for controlling his
produdions with an iron fist: Cronenberg has a reputation as
a bit of a maverick-not that he is a difficult man to deal with,
but he is a notoriously independent filmmaker. Happily, it
didn't turn out to be an irresistible force meeting an immutable
objed, though Cronenberg confesses :
" I talked to many people who were also worried about that.
But Debra Hill is a very strong producer and ran interference
for me. And Dino was very involved with Dune. That kept
him very busy and left me alone to do what I was doing. But,
listen, Dino is not a stupid man. We did script sessions with
him, he had good comments. He flew up to Toronto because
he wanted to meet all the 1""""----------------------,
adors we cast, even the ones ~~Do YOUR dUTY, JOliN."
in the smallest roles. He has ~~YES. MA."
a real good, visceral sense of
filmmaking-and you have to -TilE DEAd ZONE
listen to these guys because
sometimes they're right. As it turned out, I didn 't have the
experience with him that I know some people have had.
" I ended up with the movie I wanted and he ended up with
the movie he wanted . We were both happy."
Dead Zone is certainly one of the truest of the adaptations,
both in tone and content. Though Cronenberg compressed the
events and charaders and tightened the focus of the sprawl-
ing novel, the film faithfully concentrates the essence of King's
Dead Zone: an American tragedy.

id-summer of 1982, producer Richard KOOritz received a number one bestseller at the same time the movie adapta-
M a 760-page manuscript from author Stephen King.

They had become friends after Kobritz produced
'Sa/em's Lot, a TV mini-series based on King's novel of the
tion was being filmed .
uring postwar, pre-inflation 1957, the Detroit assembly

same name. The story Kobritz read was a chilling tale of seduc-
tion and vengeance, passion and possession. The irrational lave
of a teenage boy, Arnie Cunningham, for his first car,
D lines were the bread and butter of the American
economy. It was a time of cheap gas, plentiful steel,
and an insatiable national hunger for the dream machines be-
" Christine," a 1958 Plymouth Fury. Two other teens were ing cranked out by the big three-Ford, G.M. and Chrysler.
caught in a nightmare situation threatening to submerge them Carpenter opens his film in a re-created Plymouth plant in
in an eerie limbo in which the lines between past and pre- Detroit, late '57, where a singular red and white Fury rolls
sent become indistinct. A down the line amid the roar
dance of death to the accom- of machinery and the whine
paniment of Little Richard of air tools. Fi nned, fitted,
and the Big Bopper. sleek and shiny, another new
Kobritz contacted Mark '58 is ready to cruise. The
Tarlov of Polar Film with the foreman is glad to see this one
idea of making a bid on the go. It has been trouble all the
manuscript. Tarkov agreed way down the line, killed a
and, as Kobritz relates, " We line worker-somehow even
made a bid on the book, and the air feels cold
within a period of time that as the car
seemed to be merely mo-
ments, we got it, and it was
just that simple."
Producer Kobritz then left
Warner Bros. Television, after
eight years as senior president
of production, to work on
Christine. Kobritz wanted
director John Carpenter
(Halloween, The Thing) to
take the reins. " John and I
had been friends for about Some cars are just
five or six years as a result of , born bad.
a previous picture, Some- 1976-
body's Watching Me, and we Arnie Cunningham
had talked about doing (Keith Gordon) is the
something else together," school jerk. There's no getting
Kobritz says. " Coincidentally, around it. The minute you see
he had been in New York, I the adhesive holding hi s
had been in Australia, and we had now touched base after glasses together, the moment the garbage bag breaks all over
about nine months. He asked what I was up to and I said we the driveway, you know this guy.
just bought a book. He knew of Christine and asked if I had Arnie's only real friend is Dennis Guilder Oohn Stockwell),
liked it. I said I thought it was sensational. Then John said, the football captain and BMOC. They are the high school 's
if you like it that much, why don't we do it together? And that, odd couple. As Dennis drives Arnie home from school one
basically, is the genesis of the movie." day, Arnie sees a for sale sign on the rusting hulk of a '58
Kobritz's enthusiasm for the project was soon buoyed by Plymouth Fury sitting in the yard of Roland D. LeBay (Roberts
record sales of the novel upon publication . In a unique situa- Blossom). This unloved, ugly, neglected piece of iron is Arnie's
tion in filmmaking, Christine the novel went on to become kind of car. Carpenter trails the camera over one cancer-ridden

fender, then the other-for future reference. Arnie raids his sav-
ings to buy it, despite LeBay's stories of all the people who
died in the back seat.
Arnie's parents refuse to left him keep it, but the car has
already had an influence on
him. He defies his parents
and keeps the car at Darnell's "Wltu WAS iT? SoME SORT of
Garage, where he starts work-
ing part-time to make enough
AfREET? AN ORdiNARY CAR TItU
money to restore it. ItAd SOMEItOW bECOME TItE
Arnie begins to change in dANGEROUS, STiNkiNG dWElliNG
other ways. His face clears
up, he puts on a little muscle, pLACE of A dEMON? A wEiRd
he stops wearing his glasses MANiFESTATioN of LEBAY'S
and starts to be almost as cool
as his buddy Dennis. A new LiNGERiNG PERSONALiTY, A
girl moves into town, Leigh ItElLislt ItAUNTEd ItOUSE Tltu
(Alexandra Paul), and has her RollEd ON CoodY EAR RubbER?
eye on Arnie. Things couldn 't
be better. I didN'T kNOW. All I kNEW Roberts Blossom portrays
But then things start to get WAS TItAT I WAS SCAREd, TER- Roland Le Bay. Would you buy
very, very strange. a used car from this manl He
In a matter of weeks,
RifiEd. I didN'T ThiNk I couLd has a 1958 red and white Fury
Christine is utterly trans- GO TItROUGIt wiTh Tltis." named Christine for sale.
Maybe it's not the prettiest car
formed. The body panels are ~RisTiNE ever made, but it's definitely
straight, flawlessly painted, the meanest.
the chrome is pristine, the
motor runs like new. Dennis, Darnell (Robert Prosky) and Leigh
are mystified by how fast Arnie has fixed the car-and they're
a little curious about where he got the money. Dennis means
to ask when Arnie takes him for a midnight cruise, but when
the dash glows green and the radio switches to oldies all by
itself, the football hero swallows his questions.
Arnie has gotten downright nasty ill-tempered and abrasive
at school until he finally has a showdown with the school delin-
quents. They break into Darnell's Garage to take revenge on
Arnie's car.
At this point, Carpenter covers the car the way he would
cover any human star. He backlights the scene, inter-cuts a
number of close-ups, and dollies around the Fury as she seems
to be . .. waiting. But the kids are able to trash her and leave.
Arnie and Leigh discover the damage, and Arnie goes quietly
berserk, sending Leigh home in tears. Carpenter lets the camera
linger for several beats on Christine, until something weird
begins to happen. A dent pops straight. The grill uncrumples.
Christine is alive-
-and is she pissed.
She seeks her own revenge as Carpenter takes us on a tour
of her rampage. In a fit of jealous pique, she causes Leigh to
choke almost to death during a date with Arnie at the drive-
in. One by one, she stalks Arnie's enemies, crunching them,
ramming them, running them off the road, or blowing them
up. Arnie comes under suspicion and is visited by a car-wise
detective named Junkins (Harry Dean Stanton). Christine has
left her paint all over town-but Junkins can't find a scratch.
Dennis and Leigh suspect there is something otherwordly
about Christine and, in fear for their lives, arrange a trap at
Darnell's. In the climactic confrontation between Christine and
an International Harvester front-loader, Christine and Arnie
meet their end.
Or do they?
arpenter and Kobritz agreed early that the young
C actors to be cast in the pivotal roles shouldn't be too

well known, feeling perhaps they would be a distrac-
tion to the title vehicle. They auditioned extensively in Los
Angeles and New York and were most impressed by Keith
Gordon (Dressed to Kill) who was cast as Arnie. For the role
of Leigh Cabot, they chose Alexandra Paul (Paper 001/5) and
for Arnie's friend and the story's "hero," Dennis Guilder, they
decided upon a young actor named John Stockwell. Harry

Dean Stanton (Escape from New York) made a brief appearance
as Junkins and Robert Prosky (The Keep) played Darnell.
Carpenter was most impressed with Gordon: " We audi-
tioned him and he was good, able to play both sides of the
character. Casting is the central ingredient to making a movie
and Keith was extraordinary. He was willing to play it all the
way to the edge."
With a budget of $10 million and a shooting schedule of
five weeks, principal filming began on April 15, 1983.
Carpenter and crew chose to shoot at various locations within
a 30-mile radius of Los Angeles, though the story setting is
Pennsylvania and the script called for Northern California.
Carpenter was wisely adamant about insisting there be no palm
trees in any footage, though it presented some problems for
location manager Karlene Gallegy, considering there are very
few places in Los Angeles that are free of a betraying frond
or two. She managed to solve that problem, as well as locating
a huge, free-standing building for the Darnell garage climax,
and a building to double for a late '50s auto assembly plant.
The assembly plant is where Christine is baptized in blood,
crunching the arm of a line worker. Carpenter explains why
he and screenwriter Bill Phillips devised the flashback: " The
auto plant was an elaborate set, but it came about because
we had to make a choice about the novel. The book is about
this bad guy from the '50s haunting this young kid from the
'70s, and we felt that it would get into a kind of 'sillyland'
if we stuck with that idea. So, we made the car basically evil.
We gave her a personality, rather than having Arnie haunted
by Roland LeBay."
Produdion designer Danny Lamina handled the re-creation.
" To do the auto plant, we had to research back into history
and find out what they looked like in 1957. We used what
was once a furniture manufaduring plant in Sun Valley. I think
it looked pretty authentic and gives the film a good feel, right
down to the mechanics of the assembly line and the clothing
of the auto workers. John also did something very interesting
with the shot, " Lamina adds. " In order to create a moody,
'fadory feeling: he used Fuji (film) stock, which has a tendency
to give the scene an old feel and helps the audience perceive
it better when there's supposed to be a sense of age added
to what they 're seeing."
Lamina was also in charge of Darnell's. "The building had
to be large enough to stage the final sequences between the
, . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , bulldozer and the car. It also
"1 did ChRiSTiNE bECAUSE iT had to be free-standing so that
WAS AN OPPORTUNiTY TO do A
there weren't any columns in
the way of camera move-
MoviE AboUT kids, ANd AboUT ments and action."
ARNiE CUNNiNGIiAM. 1 WAS The site chosen was a
former pipe factory whose
iNTERESTEd iN TilE EMOTiONAL
length exceeded a quarter
ASpECTS of iT AS oppOSEd TO mile. " When John saw it, we
TilE SUPERNATURAL ASpECTS. 1 increased the concept from
about a 250-foot building to
TllouGIiT TilE SUPERNATURAL about 340-foot because he
ASpECTS of TilE book WERE was so in love with tne
building and its scale,"
SOMEWIIAT WEAk, bUT TilE
Lamina says. "It would allow
TRiANGLE bETWEEN TilE kids WAS him to come up with some
REAL iNTERESTiNG." great adion sequences in a
space that large."
-JOliN CARPENTER The next major location
needed was an "expendable"
gas station . " We had to find a place that was safe enough to
have our explosion in a rural setting to accommodate story
requirements," Lamina says. "We found a location in Newhall,
California, which has Valencia in the background, so we had
a glow of city lights and the gas station appeared to be on
the edge of town . We built a station from the ground up in
a way that would be safe to blow it according to plans."
f\!rhaps envious of its wide-
tran radials, OIristine sets
~ with a '67 Camaro.
Director John Carpenter (right)
sets up a scene for Keith
Gordon who plays Christine's
chaffeur Arnie Cunningham,
quintessential nerd tumed
"cooI" dude. Arnie has met
the car who's "bad to the
bone" -as explained in the
film's theme song by George
Thorosood. Now, he's not
such a nice guy. At the drive-
in, Arnie makes a pass at leigh
(Alexandra Paul) which makes
OIristine W!fy jealous. The '58
Fury later earns her name.

Leigh realizes the perils of
drWe-in romance when
Ouistine causes her to choke
during the intermission.
Christine faces mortality
herself in a brief encounter
with the business end of a
front..Joader.
Carpenter is an accomplished musician and has scored many

of his own films. For Christine, he used a selection of '50s
and '60s rock & roll to punctuate the events and dialogue.
The rest of the score was his own composition. "It is one of
the better scores I've done, simply because it supports the
scenes-but it's an invisible score, you don't remember it,"
Carpenter comments. "The rock & roll was fun, but I tried not
to use too much of it."
In an usual turnabout for most productions, the locations
and cast were almost peripheral to the real star of King's
story-Christine.
Though the concept of an auto as a protagonist is not new
(The Car, Duel, My Mother the Car-a 1928 Porter), Christine's
quirky habits were a challenge. The car had to seem driverless
many times, it had to appear to regenerate itself, it had to keep
itself gassed, lubed and washed, and have the tires rotated
every 10,000 miles.
Kobritz points out, "Here's a car that you can beat up; ram
into; it backs up into a corner and begins to grow again. Its
headlights pop back into place, its hood uncrimps. That's in
the book and you don't stop to think how it's going to be
done."
Carpenter agrees. "The transformation of the car was really
a difficult thing to show. And how many times do you show
it? We did one great one, and then it became a case of you've
seen it once, now what do you do?"
Special effects artist Roy Arbogast was responsible for
breathing life into Christine. A "head hunt" (hood hunt?) was
conducted to find enough vehicles to fill the film's needs.
Through newspaper advertising in major cities and scouring
junkyards all over the country, by tracing current owners
through the Department of Motor Vehicles in California and
elsewhere, lomino and transportation coordinator Eddie
Voelker were able to collect 23 1958 Furys. They were made
r--------------------..., to look alike down to the ex-
act shade of red, mirrors of
"1 WAS AT A PARTicuLAR TiME the same type and design,
iN My CAREER WilEN 1 WANTEd bumpers, antennae, that fun-
ny vibration at 35 mph,
TO do A liTTlE biT MORE WiTIl
mouldings; all the same from
CIlARACTERS--ANd, FRANkly, iT car to car.
WAS WIIAT 1 WAS OFFEREd AT "We had to take the car
from total destruction to a re-
TilE TiME. 1 dON'T kNOW NOW newed state," says Arborgast,
TIIAT 1 would do iT AGAiN." " Christine can take an enor-
mous amount of abuse and is
--JOliN CARPENTER
capable of coming out of it,
're-growing.' We've burned
her, blown her apart, and squeezed her into such a way as
to narrow her entire chassis, and every time we've brought
her back into a normal state, regenerating new bumpers, new
headlights, new grill. Then, there were all the other mechanical
effects. "
Twenty-three cars later, Arborgast and Carpenter still weren't
able to come up with everything they wanted. The director
reveals, "You know, the most difficult sequence in the book

and the script was the midnight ride when the two fellows
go out driving on New Year' Eve. [King created a hallucinatory
scene where Dennis experiences the ghosts haunting the Fury
and possessing Arnie] . It was intended to be a different kind
of scene, and it tumed out to be an average scene. We wanted
to give the car some kind of special power, but it was almost
impossible to get it on film , so we changed the scene slightly
and made it more of an ador's scene . .. but I was a little
disappointed."
Even though there were 23 Christines used to achieve the
various effeds, there was a little mechanical magic going
around the set.
"Two things were amazing," relates Kobritz. "First, that the
cast and crew, to a person, referred to her as 'Christine.' Not
'the Plymouth: not 'bring it on to the set.' It was always 'her:
always in feminine terms. And second, King told me he chose
a 1958 Plymouth Fury to be Christine because it was the only
car in the '50s that no one ever wrote about. It was not your
Chevy Bel Aire. It had no cult following. It was this kitsch,
chromed, ugly thing that no one cared about."
Carpenter has a singular understanding of man's longtime
affair with the machine, and thinks that Christine represents
some deeper roots than the average gearhead would suspect.
"We're becoming much more in love with our machines
now," the diredor notes. "I think we're embracing them. We're
also embracing money, and embracing machines and embrac-
ing the 1950s idea of good guys and bad guys. It's a kind of
reversion back to a more peaceful time and we're going at
it full blast.
"I've always been fascinated by how machines tum on you.
I've always found it to be true in reality. My love affair with
machines centers around one machine that I really deal with
extensively and that's a helicopter. I became a helicopter pilot
in 1982, I got my commercial pilot's license. It's quite a feat.
It was one of the most important things I've ever done in my
life, simply because a helicopter is an enormously complex
machine. It requires a lot of personal courage simply to be
able to fly it. I'm somebody who has always been involved
in the arts, writing and direding movies and music, and I've
never really had to confront a life-and-death situation as you
do in a helicopter when you're a pilot. I'm aware of what
machines can do to you, and if people drove cars like we fly
helicopters, there wouldn't be any accidents. You can't take
a helicopter for granted. Ever! Or it will come and bite you ."
Is his love affair with helicopters prompted by a machine
phobia? Carpenter wonders. "Maybe .. . in a little compo-
nent . . . but I think more than that it fulfills man's ancient
dreams of flying," he says. "Helicopters are my only integra-
tion with machines other than what I've learned about
moviemaking-you are so dependent on cameras and .other
equipment. I used what I know about helicopters slightly in
Christine, although what I see is that people tend to take driv-
ing cars for granted. There's this massive, arrogant assump-
tion that this car will go now, and I may do what I want."
Perhaps King meant Christine as a warning against that
massive, arrogant assumption.
Kobritz suggests, "We invest so much in our automobiles
and King has added another element. More than just the
fascination with a car is our sexual perception with a car. We Hell on wheels chases one of
measure our maturity, our acceptance by an automobile. King the doomed victims down a
plays on all that but adds an ingredient: what if a car was just blind alley.
born bad .. . for some reason would seek vengance . .. out of
jealousy or whatever?"
As Carpenter remarks, you can't take certain machines for
granted. Ever. Not for a second. Or they will come and bite
you.

I
f all the adaptations, King insists Cujo is his favorite: " It
O keeps the spirit and the flavor of the work; it's this big
dumb slugger of a movie. It stands there and keeps on
punching. It has no finesse; it has no pretensions. I thought Dee
Wallace should have been nominated for an Academy Award."
their fears. Cujo was only part of the story."
The family is Vic and Donna Trenton and their son Tad. Vic
and Donna's marriage is deteriorating and they've moved to
Castle Rock, Maine, to try and pull it together. That was the
story that intrigued Teague, but Cujo was the driving force
King's admiration is warranted. Of all his novels, Cujo is behind the events. Teague was forced to spend most of his
the least likely candidate for a film: a big, friendly mutt con- energy trying to make the dog work, in order to buoy the Tren-
tracts rabies and goes on a murder spree, then spends 200 tons' story. It was like slogging through a swamp filled with
pages waiting for a woman to step out of her car. quicksand to gain a piece of dry land.
The second problem was the intentional miscasting. King
has the uncanny ability to make the most innocent situations
the source of unspeakable terror, so he made Cujo a Saint Joe Camber's dog Cujo is a big, good-natured creature out
Bernard: a big, fluffy, dopey-looking, 200-pound, brown and for a ramble one summer morning. He sticks his nose
white huggy-bear of a dog. Visually, 5t. Bemards are about in the wrong hole and is bitten by a bat. The bat is in-
as terrifying as a 200-pound, fected with rabies, and passes the
pink and white Easter bunny. r - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . disease along to Cujo.
The third, and biggest prob- The Cambers are not well-
lem, was the narrative. King off-Cujo seems off his feed, but
focused on Cujo from two a vet fee is out of the question.
standpoints: what Cujo does Across town, Castle Rock has
and what's going on in his some new residents, Vic (Daniel
head while he does it. King Hugh-Kelly) and Donna Trenton
doesn't anthropomorphize (Dee Wallace) and their seven-
the animal, he simply crawls year-old son Tad (Danny
into his head and gives the Pintaurol.
reader a play-by-play as the Teague establishes the tension
rabies infect the brain tissue early: Vic is a workaholic, a
and disintegrate the dog's typical driven young executive in
functions, driving it slowly a small advertising agency on the
berserk. * "How do you take verge of losing an important ac-
a picture of that?" laments count. Donna is a bright, creative
director Lewis Teague. " I was woman with too much time on
first approached by the pro- her hands and the fear that she's
ducers in summer 1982 to do not keeping up with her hus-
a horror film about a rabid band's needs. Though most of
dog. At first, it didn't sound their problems aren't verbalized,
good to me. I wanted to do their son Tad manifests his in-
something more ambitious. securities with vague nightmares
But they were persistent and, about monsters.
when I read the book, I got A short aside: King had the
very very excited about the Trentons moving into the house
dynamics of the family-they formerly occupied by Frank
were completely plagued by '--_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.J Dodd, the Castle Rock killer from
• Rabies is also known as hydrophobia because it seems to make the Dead Zone who took his life in an upstairs bathroom. King
victim fear water. The virus causes swelling and extreme pain in the implies that the monstrous presence Tad senses is the spirit
throat, but dehydrates the animal, making it constantly thirsty. With of Dodd's evil which-somehow-comes to possess Cujo.
torturous irony, the animal finds it almost impossible to drink. The Teague felt this idea was an unworkable convolution in an
swelling and joint pain is followed by "delirium" and convulsions, already troublesome story.
encephalitis, paralysis and death. The incubation period is three to Meanwhile, Mrs. Camber (Kaiulani Lee) and her son (Billy
six weeks, and the disease is almost always fatal.
Jacob) prepare to leave on a long-anticipated trip to the city, leav-
ingJoe to mind the house. Cujo is nowhere to be found. Teague
foreshadows events as the Cambers' boy hunts for Cujo to say
goodbye. Sound effects cue the dog nearby, just hidden by the
ea rly morning fog. A low
growl as the boy approaches "SIIE FElT A SCREAM buiLdiNG iN
lets us know that Cujo is
already so far gone that he IIER CIIEST, cOMiNG Up iN IIER
doesn't even recognize hi s TIIROAT LikE iRON, bECAUSE SIIE
owner. Teague intercuts the
boy getting closer to the sound
couLd FEEL TilE dOG TliiNkiNG AT
of the animal we now susped IIER, TElliNG IIER 1',., CjOiNCj TO
is deadly, creating the antici- CjET rOIJ bAbE. 1',., CjOiNCj TO
pation of attack, but he doesn't
pay it off just yet: Mom ca ll s CjET rOIJ, kiddo. ThiNk AbolJT
her son back to safety. ThE ,.,AiIMAN All rOIJ WANT TO.
Cujo deteriorates in tandem
with Vic and Donna's relation-
I'll kill hi,., TOO if I hAVE TO,
ship. Donna has taken a lover; ThE WAr I killEd All ThREE of
Cujo takes a life, stalki ng and ThE CA,.,bER§, ThE WAr 1',., CjO-
killingJoe Camber. Vic leaves
town on the heels of an argu- iNCj TO kill rOIJ ANd rOIJR §ON.
ment. Joe's neighbor comes YOIJ ,.,iCjhT A§ wEll CjET IJ§Ed
over to the Cambers to visit Dee Wallace and five-year-old Danny
TO ThE idEA."
and is disemboweled . Donna Pintauro make Cujo believable terror. It's
has an ugly scene with her lov- -ClJjo Stephen King's favorite movie. "It stands
er when she tries to break off there and keeps on punching:' he says.
the affair. Teague finally brings the threads together when Donna
has to take the family Pinto out to Joe Cambers' place for repairs.
Aside number two. Try to imagine Teague's problems here. The
film's last 40 minutes condense the last half of the novel. Where
King was free to create suspense by letting the narration jump in
and out of Donna's head, Cujo's head, and all over the coun-
tryside, the film is obligated to one place [the Cambers' yard], one
set [the inside of the Pinto]. and one event-Cujo trying to eat the
Trentons. Teague deserves nothing but admiration for pulling it
off. The diredor left the car only briefly to develop the subplot
where the sheriff and Vic are afraid that Donna may have been
kidnapped, but he can't spend too much time with it at the ri sk
of losing the tension he's trying to create. We already know what
has happened. The fj 1m story has to stay with the car, where there
are no dark corners, creaky doors or hidey-holes for monsters.
Donna's car dies at the Camber place. Cujo looms like a
nightmare and begins to terrorize Donna and Tad, imprisoning
them in the car with no food or water while the sun turns it into
an oven during the day.
Like a godsend, Sheriff Bannerman comes out to investigate at
Vic Trenton 's urging. Cujo, pretty hungry by now, has a Banner-
man lunch in Teague's grisliest scene. The mailman is Donna's
last hope for rescue. No one comes. Tad is dehydrated and
delirious, becoming comatose in the heat. Donna knows it's up
to her and somehow, with a mother's hellish fury, she rescues
herself and her son-but not before Teague has pulled out the trick
bag to keep us guessing whether the dog is dead or hot.
Last aside. Teague acknowledges a debt to film editor Verna
Field Uaws) for showing him some suspense tri cks when he was
editing his other creature feature Alligator. The rest he learned
during his apprenticeship with Alfred Hitchcock. Cujo's "false"
ending is a fake-out shared by many thrillers, among them The
Terminator, A lien and Silver Bullet. King had let Tad die in the
novel-Teague confessed he couldn't make himself do it after
all they had been through . He lets the kid live.
I
suggested selling Cujo to Taft International, " says King,
"although they couldn't pay as much as some of the other
people, mostly because I had seen a low-budget picture
called The Boogens and I thought it was really good. And I sug-
gested Lewi s Teague as the diredor because I had seen Alligator.
I thought A lligator was great, very funny, and the guy could
handle animals. Well , Taft went with Peter Medak instead,
the guy who did The Changeling. He lasted one day.

He walked off the picture saying he couldn't handle it, and
they brought Teague in at the last minute."
Teague tells what happened from his end: " When I was first
approached to do the film, I wasn 't available. I was supposed
to be doing a film for Dino De Laurentiis. So, Daniel Blatt,
the producer, hired another director, and that was Peter Medak.
He prepared the film, but, for many reasons which I won't
go into, he left on the second day of filming. Meanwhile, my
project with De Laurentiis had fallen through, and they called
me back for Cujo . I had to walk in with no preparation."
After Taft had first acquired the property, they contacted King
to write a screenplay. King recalls, "I asked, 'How do you want
it? Do you want to shoot it quickly?' They said yes. 'Do you
want to shoot it cheap?' They said yes. So, I went out and did
a screenplay they could bring in quick and cheap. But, mean-
while they went out, got a production deal and got the
screenplay rewritten . I'm not bitching, though, because that
screenplay was much better than mine. It's the book. They
went right back to it. "
The screenplay was actually rewritten twice, once by Bar-
bara Turner, who used a pseudonym when the film was re-
leased because her script was rewritten, and once by Teague's
writer, Don Carlos Dunaway, who the director called in for
a last-minute rewrite when he came on the project. " I wanted
to concentrate on the family and their fears-that hadn 't been
developed to my satisfaction," Teague says, " but there was
very little time to write the script to do that. "
Teague's immediate problem was to overcome the
benevolent renown of St. Bernards as Alpine rescuers, helpers
of humanity, man's friend in need; he had to convincingly por-
tray this normally fluffy, friendly animal as a demon of
destruction.
"The dog turns into a veritable monster in the climax-he
performs some extraordinary feats no real St. Bernard could
possibly do," Teague says. " We had to get a dog to turn into
a monster, to be ferocious, to be frightening, to do the feats
the story required. We used five dogs, each skilled in a par-
ticular area. The animal trainer, Karl Miller, did an extraor-
dinary job. I mean, St. Bernards are virtually untrainable,
despite their renown for rescuing lost travelers in the Alps-
that's about all they can do."
Peter Knowlton was the effects artist in charge, and Teague
described what was involved: "Along with five St. Bernards,
we had several mechanical heads, something I had to do on
Alligator as well. Each head performed a specific action . Then,
we had a Labrador in a St. Bernard suit-we even had a man
in a St. Bernard suit when it had to look like the dog was
r - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . ramming the car and pulling
off door handles. I tried to
~~MONSTERS, STAY OUT of Tltis ROOM!
make montages of the action
You ItAVE NO busiNESS ItERE. sequences to achieve a kind
No MONSTERS UNdER TAd's bEd! of expressionistic style that
would make the dog as con-
You CAN'T fiT UNdER TItERE. vincing as possible."
No MONSTERS ltidiNG iN TAd's clOSET! Production designer Guy
Comtois (Quest for Fire) com- .
IT's TOO SMAll iN TItERE. ments, " Today's movie au-
No MONSTERS OUTsidE of TAd's wiNdow! diences are far more critical
You CAN'T ltoLd ON OUT TItERE. and selective than audiences
in the past. We have made a
No VAMpiRES, determined effort to make Cu-
NO WEREWOLvES, NO TltiNGS TItAT biTE . .. jo visually honest."
Cujo's budget was a
NOTltiNG will TouCIt TAd medium-sized $5 million,
All Tltis NiGItT." and was shot in eight weeks
of principal photography,
-Cujo (EXCERpT fROM "MONSTER WORds'1 with an additional two weeks
of second unit work. All film-
ing was done at Northern California locations.
"We shot most of the film in the Mendicino area, " recalls
Teague, "because King had set the story in Maine and
A lot of mud, some wet foam and a little
red dye tum a friendly St. Bernard
(opposite page) into a fearsome beast.
Right: Sheriff Bannerman (Sandy Ward)
and a detective quiz VIC Trenton (Daniel
Hugh Kelly) about his missing wife.
Bannerman investigates further,
eventually meeting the crazed Cujo for
lunch. Bannerman (abcwe) is the main
course. Below: A trained Bernard
executes some gymnastics at the urging
of trainer Karl Miller-all the better to
further persecute the imperiled humans.
STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 4S

Mendicino has a very Maine-like appearance. It had Cape Cod
houses, church steeples, and a seacoast in the background .
One interesting thing we discovered while we were
shooting-we had a scene in a graveyard up there. I noticed
on the headstones most of the
'w E USEd fiVE ST. BERNARds, people buried there had been
from Maine! Apparently, the
ONE MEChANiCAL dOG, SEVERAL town had been settled by
MEChANiCAL hEAds, A LAbRAdOR Maine residents in the last
iN A dOG SUiT, ANd A MAN iN A century ... it was an in-
teresting coincidence."
dOG SUiT. I ThiNk iT wORks." The production company
-LEWis TEAGUE used a warehouse for a
soundstage while construct-
ing an interior set for Tad's bedroom . " I wanted to use an ex-
panding set," says Teague. " I wanted to shoot in an expres-
sionistic style. Everything else was shot on natural locations."
Teague enthused over Dutch cinematographer Jan DuBont.
" We had a great working relationship with Jan-he's an ex-
traordinary talent." DuBont was a European cinematographer
before emigrating to Hollywood after filming Turkish Delight.
The cast is headed by E.T. 's Dee Wallace, who also worked
with producer Dan Blatt on The Howling. Her husband,
Christopher Stone, also appears in the film as Donna's extra-
marital lover. Dee Wallace explains, "Donna has problems
like those of many contemporary women who are searching
for self-€steem . She has moved from New York to a small town
in rural Maine. Her husband [portrayed by Daniel Hugh-Kelly
of Ryan 's Hope] can still conduct his advertising business, but
what is she supposed to do? She's out of control of her own
situation; it's her dilemma. her fear, and it dominates her life."
Wallace illustrates what Teague feels is the meat of King's
story. "I'll tell ya," the director says, "I don't know if Stephen
King is trying to 'punish' Donna for having an affair or what,
but I'm less judgmental than that. I understand people who
experience fear and that's what I'm interested in exploring.
Fear is a dominant emotion in our lives-fear that you're not
going to meet your deadline, fear that you're not going to work
next week, fear that you won 't have the rent next month, fear
that you're going to be unloved . .. you can go down the list.
But what is significant is that these are imaginary fears. These
things don 't exist. But if you obsess on them, they can become
demonic.
" This family was allowing themselves to believe fears that
were intangible and, in the process, making them real in their
imaginations. To me," Teague insists, " Cujo's materialization
is a manifestation of their internal fears, the monsters that exist
inside themselves. That was what appealed to me about the
story-it's a favorite theme of mine. "
Rounding out the cast is young Danny Pintauro in his first
feature role, although a veteran of 35 commercials and daytime
television . Pintauro won the role in auditions over more than
200 other young actors, and was incredibly convincing. Pro-
ducer Blatt comments, " When I first saw Danny, there was
no doubt in mind that I had found precisely the right individual
for the role. But the audition didn 't really prepare me for his
amazingly mature talents."
Filming wrapped in February 1983 and editing was com-
pleted by June. Scoring, dubbing and editing were done in
Los Angeles, the score provided by Charles Bemstein. The film
runs 97 minutes in length, with 14 of those minutes devoted
to what King has described as "some of the scariest on film ."
Teague confessed he was a little disappointed in the film;
mostly because he never had time to develop the themes he
felt were inherent in the story. "I really was under a handicap,
because I came in so late. You can 't develop much subtlety
in a couple of days. I don't know how many people came
out of the theater understanding that the family had given life
to their internal fears, but I think they were able to recognize
real people who experienced a real dilemma. What happen-
ed to that family was real enough and frightening enough to
bring them back together. But it could have been better."
Dee Wallace (opposite pase)
convincingly portrays Donna
Trenton, trapped in her car by
a mad dog. Actually, she has
been trapped by five
dogs-Iookalike St. Bernards
trained for different acting and
athletic tasks. Wallace handled
some of the fight sequences
herself though a double filled
in to wrestle with a 200 lb.
canine in this scene (above).
There was a happy ending
though. In his OOW!I, King had
the boy die, but film director
Lewis Teague let Tad (Danny
Pinlauro) live.

D
irector John Carpenter confesses that Christine was of abnormalcy. Neither Charlie nor her parents asked to be
not his first choice of a King novel to film. "looking different, but their differences plunge them into a paranoid
over his work, I thought there was one really cinematic existence that ultimately ends in tragedy.
story that he wrote, which was Firestarter. It had a real potential Producer Frank Capra Jr. was able to assemble a phenomenal
for being a fine movie." cast on the basis of King's name and an intriguing script by
Firestarter marked the beginning of Dino De laurentiis' casting Stanley Mann. Supporting roles were filled by award winners
love affair with child star Drew Barrymore, granddaughter of George C. Scott, Martin Sheen, louise Fletcher and Art Carney,
John, daughter of John Drew. in what has been unkindly
Drew portrays ll-year-old described as "the most grossly
Charlene, the pyrotic offspring miscast film of the decade."
of parents whose lives (and King calls Firestarter a near-
mental abilities) were altered miss. "With a little work, it could
during a government drug have been truly bad-right now,
experiment using college it's the Mommie Dearest of the
volunteers. genre."
The intriguing (albeit The author's opinion is widely
gruesome) core of the novel is held. Despite a strong cast and the
contained in a paragraph, in resources of Dino De laurentiis,
which Andy McGee tells his Firestarter didn't ignite much
daughter about her power: " enthusiasm. A close examination
'As far as we can tell, honey, of the film reveals why.
it's called Pyrokinesis. lt means
D
being able to light fires irector Mark lester
sometimes just by thinking commented before the
about fi res. It usually happens film's release: "People
when people are upset. Some shouldn't come expecting to see
people apparently have real gross shots of someone's
that . .. power all their lives hands being burned to a crisp
and never even know it. And or that kind of thing, cause we
some people ... well , the didn'tdo it. I think, instead, you'll
power gets hold of them for a see a very suspenseful movie . .. "
minute and they ... they burn True to his word, lester refrained
themselves up .. . from buming h.mds, though he
" 'One [story] was about a did have a few melting, flaming
lady who had burned up in the skulls.
living room of her trailer lester opens his film with a coo-
home, and nothing in the fusing sequence in which Charlie
whole room had been burned (Drew Barrymore) and her father
but the lady and a little bit of Andy (David Keith) are chased by
the chai r she had been sitting undercover types. Andy "pushes"
in . .. ' " a cab driver into taking them to the
This phenomenon inspired airport. His "push"-an ability to
Stephen King's story in which make other human see things
the progress of the genetically which don't exist, or do things
enhanced child is covertly charted by ''The Shop", a hush-hush, against their will-is obviously exhausting, and definitely causes
mythical organization of scientists and operatives gathered to find nosebleeds. (King's character was experiencing minor brain
ways to exploit the "wild talents" they've created. hemorrhages; lester does not make this clear at any time during
The novel lays an accusing rap on drug experimentation, the the film, though David Keith seems forever dabbing at his nose
"Big Brother" tactics of governmental agencies, and the burden with a red-stained handkerchief.)
L-_ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _......
Despitl' dil't'ctor Marie Lt'Stt"l" s protests that graphic

shots of burning corpst'S wen' not thl' main meat of
Firestartl'r, almost $2 million was spent on burning
buildings and cars and Sl'tting fir(' to stunhnl'n and
dummies as Wl'II as st'Wf'al hl'ads for cIosl'-up
meltdowns. All the firewort<s hl'Ipl'd showcase
Chartit" s "wild tall'nts." And though the l'ffl'Cts
wen'l'xtl'nsiw, no onl' was injured during any of thl'
stunt S4"qUl'nCl'S.
50 STEPHFN KIN G AT THE MOVIES
Charlie and her Dad make their way to the airport, where Dad
" pushes" a pay phone into di sgorging its contents while Charlie
displays her unique talent by pouting, staring, and igniting the
feet of a nearby soldier in transit. The true problem of Firestarter
becomes immediately evident. Drew Barrymore is a cherubic
little girl with cu rl y hair and baby cheeks. The script requires her
to communicate a variety of dark emotions-anger, dislike,
despair, intense concentration, sorrow-but she seems to have
only one expression (shared by seven-year-olds the world over):
a pout. Her smi le is angelic and her tears are real, but before the
film is through, it's painfully evident that Drew has pouted her
way through scene after scene, with an awareness of the camera
that is as obvious as it is off-putting. Acting is not second nature
to Drew; it seems to command all her attention. She knows she's
acting, and so do we-a death blow for any performance.
Another difficulty with both central cha racters is visualizing
their phenomenal abili ties. Dad gets a bloody nose (the
audience's visua l clue to what is happening), and Charlie's hair
spreads away from her head- weak solutions for a tough
problem.
Through flashbacks, Lester gives us the back-story: men from
the Shop brutally and senselessly murder Andy 's wife (Heather
Locklear) and kidnap h is daughter. He rescues her and they begin
their flight to-where?-then are picked up by an old farmer (Art
Carney), and confide their plight to him and his wife (louise
Fletcher). The agents confront Charlie and Andy at the farmer's
house. With uncontrollable anger, Charlie immolates all seven
agents and their automobiles. Obviously disturbed over the
slaughter, she vows never to use her power again .
The Shop sends in the A-Team-code-name Rainbird, an
American Indian assassin (George C. Scott) . His superior (Martin
Sheen) instructs the psychotic hit man to bring in the father and
daughter. Rainbird tracks them down and returns them to the
Shop-a sprawling Southern plantation used as a front for the
agency 's nefarious activities. Dad is drugged, and Charlie is
sweet-talked by Rainbird (posing as her janitor) into performing
for the scientists who sudden ly become aware that this child
could destroy the whole facility . Before they can kill her, Dad
arranges her escape, launching the climactic 20 minutes of the
film , a pyrotechnic extravaganza. Dad is mortally wounded by
Rainbird, and his parting
words to his child are instruc-
tions that she shou ld level the
joint. There follows the most
"1 WONdER Itow TItEy'd likE iT iF At seven years old, Drew
deliberate acts of destruction I SET TItEM ON FiRE? ApART of Barrymore (top) was too young
to bear the burden of a
and mayhem in any of the itER AskEd coolly, ANd SitE feature film_ Portraying
Stephen King films. Charlie McGee, she was in
Body after flaming body is SQUEEZEd itER EyES SItUT iN GuilTY virtually every scene of
hurled through the air; trucks ltoRROR. IT WAS NASTY TO TltiNk firestarter. David Keith,
and ca rs explode without restrained by baddies at left,
warning; bullets melt en route;
TItAT WAy. IT WAS bAd." played her father.
and Charlie finally sends huge -FiRESTARTER
fireballs into the mansion ,
destroying it utterly.
Lester lets the camera linger on each scene of destruction,
cutting back to Drew to establi sh the source, but creating no
energy with the cuts. The sequence quickly forms a pattern-
shot of Drew, shot of target, shot of fireba ll , shot of exploding
target, shot of burning target; back to Drew, and then the order
repeats for the next target. By the third or fourth repetition, the
audience is left to wonder why this little girl is spa ring no one.
She has had time to reconsider . . . but now it seems deliberate,
setting the kid up as a murderer. At the end, she looks hopeful-
ly heavenward and says, " For you, Daddy." But it doesn 't quite
work to get her out of the eth ical dilemma she has been boxed
into by Lester. Had he established more spontaneity and made
obvious her lack of control over events, or at least had her try to
stop, maybe we wouldn 't feel so ambivalent about her charader.
The final scene has Drew returning to the kindly farmer and
his wife. The farmer takes her to the New York Times office to
tell her story. One only hopes the prosecutors will go easy on a
STEPHE N KING AT THE MOVIES 51

On location in North Carolina (far left), Lester and his crew
oversee one of 5e\'eral carefully choreographed on-screen
immolations. Art Carney and Louise Aetcher portray the kindly
couple (immediate left) who protect Charlie from Shop agents.
Many critics felt that someone should have protected these
award-winning actors-and George C. Scott, below, who plays
the ruthless assassin Rainbird-from signing to appear in .
Firestarter.
minor: no matter how righteous the cause, after the first 10 or 12

deaths, there may have been a little premeditation involved.
K ing's novel posed a special problem for the filmmakers:

fire. Lots of it. It is dangerous, unpredictable, difficult
to control, and fmpossible to fake. Screenwriter Bill
Lancaster's first script, written for original director John Carpenter,
was light on effects and tamer than the draft rewritten for Lester
by Mann. De Laurentiis and producer Frank Capra, Jr. preferred
the second draft, which followed the book more closely, but it
required such wide-ranging fire effects that one-quarter of the $15
million budget was slated for effects alone. Though the De
Laurentiis complex is the single largest outside California, the
producers turned to Hollywood to execute the various stunts,
importing stunt co-ordinator
Glenn Randall and pyrotechni~
"Tltis AbiliTy TO START fiRES
cians Mike Wood and Jeff Jarvis.
MAy ONly bE ThE Tip of TItE Filming began in late 1983
.ICEbERG . •. " near Wilmington, North
Carolina, at various locations
-FiRESTARTER around this smallish, mid-
southern community. An expan-
sive local plantation, Orton, served as the model for The Shop--
though a full-scale facade of the house and barn were rigged for
the demolition scenes which climax the film.
The brunt of staging Firestarter's effects fell on technicians
Jarvis and Wood-from igniting a soldier's feet to destroying a
building, the technicians had to play with fire fortwo-and-a-half
months. After preliminary shooting (which featured no effects),
the last few weeks of lensing concentrated on igniting extras
clothed in flame-retardant body su its, setti ng hands, feet and faces
afire, rigging fireballs, hurling cars and trucks, and exploding
buildings. Several scenes required Scott and Barrymore to be
close to controlled lines of fire.
Lester was acutely aware of the safety hazard. On particular-
ly hazardous takes, stuntwoman Linda Lee Arvidson doubled for
Barrymore. The biggest hazard was to the seven stuntmen work-
ing for Glenn Randall. They donned lightweight fire suits under
their clothing, coated exposed areas with a retardant salve that
would gain them a minute or two of protection, and then allowed
themselves to be torched .
Crew stood by with fire extinguishers, and despite the
sequences' complexity and danger, there were no injuries dur-
ing the production. Wax and polyester were combined to create
melting skulls for close shots; dummies and articulated puppets
doubled in scenes too perilous for extras.
Rainbird's immolation at the movie's end was achieved
through a combination of live George C. Scott, stunt double,
articulated puppet, and flaming dummy. Lester kept up to 10
cameras trained on the one-take scenes-there was neither the
time nor the money to reconstruct a house or acquire another
half-dozen carefully prepared cars to burn .
It seems unlikely with such an ample budget, talented cast, and
expert crew, that Firestarter should have fai led-but letti ng a $1 5
million feature rest on the shoulders of a seven-year-old actress
and an unproven director proved to be an overwhelming
obstacle.

CHILDREN OF THE CORN
N ew World Pictures. There's a name to conjure with. coast from me in Rockport. They sent me some scripts that
Between 1954 and 1982, Roger Corman, first at were terrible, and I sent them Children of the Corn , saying
American International and later at New World, gave I thought it would make a great movie. They agreed, so I sold
us B movies from Attack of the Crab Monsters to Battle Beyond it to th em as a partnership for $500 or something like that.
the Stars. Corman's New W orld films could rate with the best I did two drafts of the screenplay; they kept insisting I add some
from AlP, Hammer, Amicus and Universal. He gave oppor- ki nd of Vietnam metaphor.
tunity to a slew of young film- , . - - -_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _...., "About a year after that, the
makers over the yea rs: Peter two partners split . .. One of
Bogdanov ich, Joe Dante, the conditions of the split was
Allan Arkush , Paul Bartel, that each of them would have
Gary Kurtz, Martin Scorsese, a year to get the project off
and Francis Ford Coppola. the ground. One of them tried
But in 1982, either tired of and didn't make it; the sec-
the business or because New ond guy tried, and United Ar-
World Pidures had somehow ti sts almost produced it. Then,
become too legitimate, Cor- for some reason, they backed
man turned over the reins to down, so he turned around
a group of lawyers (who in- and sold the property to New
sisted Corman agree not to World Pidures."
produce films for severa l So, New World-maybe to
yea rs). They immediately beat the heat of Firestarter, or
tried to clean up New to get the jump on Cat's
World's act. According to Eye-scrambled for a script,
producer Donald Borchers diredor and crew. Five weeks
(Vamp): " The first thing we after acquiring the property,
did was upgrade production they had a crew on location
level s and tried to mix up the near Sioux City, Iowa, to
production slate. Previou sly com mence filming.
with New World, the pidures King 's story is near-class ic
carried an identification label horror: innocent travelers in-
automatically. If it was a New advertently plunged into a
World pidure, you basically nightmare where everybody
knew what to expect. " dies horribly. The end.
New World's new broom Screenwriter George Gold-
swept in some new talent and smith aspired to a bit more of
new money-and one of pro- a story: innocent travelers
duction exec utive Larry plunged into a nightmare
Borchers' (Donald 's brother) where almost everybody dies
personal pet projects: a horribly. The end.
Stephen King short story ' - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . . . . . Gatlin , Nebraska is corn
ca lled "Children of the Corn. " country-acres of th e stuff. A young couple touring the
Although Children of the Corn was first developed at Hal country by car run astray of the freeway, and while on a back
Roach Studios and released in conjundion with same, Borchers road, nearl y run over a child. As Burt (Peter Horton) run s
was able to slip the projed over to New World-end of the back to check on the kid, he di scovers the boy's throat has
line in a process beginning years before in Maine. According been cut.
to Stephen King: " I was interested in getti ng something pro- But we know why, si nce the first five minutes of the film
duced in Maine by a producti on company based down the show the mysterious upri sing of the town young against the

Opposite page: Linda Hamilton ends up just hanging around in this Iow-budget thriller as teens
terrorize a tiny town and the tourists who visit it. They are the Children of the Com. Abowe, they
take a stab at law enforcement.

These young stars answered Children 01 the Com's most
memorable question: "What happened to your Mommy and
Oaddyf' Maybe they tried to send the kids to bed early. It's too
late for that now. The film established at least one record in
cinema history, as evidenced on these paaes-the mo5t slayings
before the end of the opening credits.
adults, urged on by a disturbed sociopathic nine-year-<>Id

named Isaac. We witness several brutal slayings in this pro-
logue and we know that Burt ought to tum right around and
get back on the freeway.
But this is a horror movie. They
hop back in the car, throw the
"HE hAd A STRONG SENSATiON poor dead runaway in the trunk
of bEiNG WATchEd. IT WAS A and head for their undoing.
Burt immediately knows s0me-
fEEliNG hE hAd REAd AboUT iN thing is amiss-the food prices
boob, MosTly ChEAP ficTiON, don't reflect the rise in the cost
ANd hE hAd AlWAYS doubTEd of living, shops are dusty and
unused, and the kids look like
in REAliTy. Now hE didN'T. IT orphans.
WAS AS if ThERE WERE pEoplE Burt and Vicky (Linda
Hamilton) start to unravel the
iN ThE CORN, MAybE A lOT of
mystery, at first feeling somewhat
ThEM, coldly ESTiMATiNG parental toward all these
WhEThER ThE WOMAN could mysterious kids. But the
discovery of a desecrated church
GET ThE GUN OUT of ThE CASE and an unholy ledger, and their
ANd USE iT bdoRE ThEY could growing SuspICion that
something is dreadfully wrong,
GRAb hiM, dRAG hiM iNTO ThE
forces the adults to confront the
shAdy ROWS, CUT his kids-which naturally results in
ThROAT-" Vicky's abduction. She is sum-
marily bound to a crucifix as a
-"ChildREN of ThE CoRN" sacrifice to "He Who Walks
Behind The Rows."
Do they get away? Of course.
New World was trying to change its image.
O
ne thing is sure about Children of the Corn: neither
the stars nor the director would pose a serious
threat to Stephen King's top billing. Producer Donald
Borchers lined up an untried director, Fritz Kiersch, and two
first-time youngsters for the pivotal roles of Isaac and Malachai.
Linda Hamilton (who went on to star as Sarah Connor in The
Terminator) came from television roles and an appearance in
the overlooked drama Stone Boy. Starring as Burt was Peter
Horton-again a first feature appearance, although he did go
on to marry Ladyhawke's Michelle pfeiffer.
Possibly the most familiar performer was R.G. Armstrong
as Chester, the grizzly gas-pump jockey. Armstrong is one of
those guys-the faces you always know with the names you
can never remember. A veteran of 60 movies, Armstrong
appeared in Children of the Corn to make an even four genre
features after The Beast Within, fvilspeak and The Car.
The bottom line with Children of the Corn is that it was a
rush job. New World needed to create cash flow. They had
acquired a King property-still a magical name in the pre-
Firestarter days-and needed to coattail on the inertia from
1983's onslaught of King.
A fourth draft script was whipped into shape and approved,
a crew and cast was slapped together and shipped to the
Midwest before the com got cut in late August.

Special makeup effects-mostly gory prostheses and stage
blood-were provided by Max Anderson and Erica Ueland,
and SPFX Inc., with Eric Rumsey.
King's fictional horror, "He Who Walks Behind The Rows,"
was that old standby: the invisible menace. After all, how do
you describe the indescribable? What kind of makeup do you
put on the face of hell? What size shoes do you need for the
satanic evil of He Who Walks?
King wisely created an off-stage menace who leaves no
witnesses.
Kiersch and Kirby, hip-deep in an effort to visualize the
unknowable, found themselves a little short on funds and ideas
to develop the terrifying menace, even if its on-screen ap-
pearance would be brief.
The traditional wisdom in horror filmmaking is that there's
more audience fear in what you imagine will be on-screen
than can possibly be achieved by what you actually see. There
is truth in this wisdom, although in recent years, both Jaws
and Alien were able to provide creatures that only confirmed
the audience's worst fears. The point is, some very, very scary
horror films succeeded without showing a damn thing-The
Haunting of Hill House, The Bad Seed, Halloween-so
Children of the Corn's filmmakers had an option to leave the
heavy forever a mystery.
They compromised by devising a way to visualize its ap-
proach without actually having to show a "thing"-He Who
Walks Behind The Rows kinda, sorta burrowed (in a menac-
ing way, to be sure). His approach was marked by a fast-
moving lump of earth, which immediately suggested to one
viewer an altemate title for the film: Gophers of the Damned,
or maybe Moles From Hell.
With the benefit of hindsight, one could offer a number of
altematives to the KirbylKiersch solution (King had rows of com
spreading to show the enormity of the entity), but the enemy
here was time and money-they didn't have much of either.
Children of the Corn may not
have offered enough "high
concept" story to have ever "1 d.iNk MAybE TItEY killEd
been material for a great hor- ltiM. SACRificEd ltiM iN TItE
ror film, but the lack of plan-
ning, the lack of imagination, CORN. ISN'T TItAT A silly
and the hurry-up pressure cer- STORY?"
tainly contributed to the silly,
half-assed 93 minutes that -"CltildREN of TItE CORN"
ended up on-screen.
As King commented, "I think these people will go on to bet-
ter work."

e at's Eye was the third in what will be at least six Dino
De Laurentiis-produced features based on King's work.
They include Dead Zone, Firestarter, Cat's Eye, Silver
Bullet, Maximum Overdrive and Pet Sematary, when it goes
into produdion in 1986-87. In Silver Bullet, King describes
was a crippled thing- though, in many respects, a lively, fun-
ny scary 94 minutes.
King's screenplay opens with a funeral for a little girl who
has unaccountably died in her sleep, most likely a vidim of
SIDS, though the grieving mother fixates on the idea that the
how-despite all his best intentions-he ended up scripting family's gray tabby had stolen the child's breath. When mom
yet another feature: arrives home, she grabs the nearest weapon-an Uzi machine
"One of the things that amuses and interests me about Dino gun the old man happens to have lying around the house-
is how successful he has been r----------------------..... and stalks the cat.
in getting me to do things I Meanwhile, the cat is
had no intention of doing. He upstairs in the child's
bought a number of my Night bedroom, stalking the
Shift stories from Ameri- baseboards, following the
canlBritish producer Milton tinkling sounds of bells com-
Subotsky and asked me if I ing from behind the walls.
would write an original story The mother bursts in, firing a
to go with two of the stories clip at the cat who barely
he already had. I had a story escapes. Camera down to a
in mind called 'Cat's Eye' that hole in the baseboards as
was supposed to be about a mom leaves the room after
little boy whose cat is falsely the cat, where we hear the
accused of trying to kill him jingle of bells and see two
by stealing his breath. I glowing red eyes about six in-
switched the sex (Dino ches from the floor.
wanted Drew Barrymore, King has the ghost of the
who was then shooting Fire- dead girl appear to the cat,
starter, to play the child) and imploring it to find the
turned the story into a little creature that actually took her
film script. life and it sets out on a quest,
"Dino came up to Bangor giving us a cat's eye view of
in his lear again, this time the lives it encounters as it
accompanied by Martha seeks a final showdown with
Schumacher, the film's pro- a malevolent troll.
ducer, and sat in my office Though this opening se-
and drank coffee and some- quence was shot and shown
how persuaded me to write in a rough cut to test au-
the whole script. I'm still not diences, King reports: "The
entirely sure how he did it; I prologue was cut at the
think it was a form of benign behest of Frank Yablans (then
hypnotism. I started by shaking my head and saying it absolute- head of MGMlUA). There was one audience in America that
Iy couldn't be done, my schedule was killing me already, and saw it with .. . everything, and verbally they responded to it
ended by nodding the fool thing and telling him I could have pretty clearly . .. and most of them responded to it on the critic
a first draft screenplay for him in a month or so." cards pretty favorably. There was a percentage-there's always
The wraparound story was about a troll, a cat and the ghost a percentage-that said they didn't like this or that, but the
of a little girl. If you have seen Cat's Eye, you saw the last half difference between the critic cards with that sedion and
of the wraparound. The first half was essentially the back story without it, was that the people who saw the prologue said they
of the cat, the first bookend in what King had designed as a understood the movie, and there was a huge response to the
matched set. film without the prologue from people who said, 'I don't know
The details may help you to understand that what remained what's going on .' "
Reportedly, Yablans insisted that it be dropped because some
mothers seemed sensitive to a child's death, and animal lovers
seemed sensitive to the idea of a cat being shot at. The final
cut was made without director Lewis Teague's knowledge or
input.
Whoever was responsible, the decision to drop the prologue
dealt Cat 's Eye a fatal blow.
The released version starts with the cat leaping aboard a truck
(after being chased by a St. Bernard that looks suspiciously
like Cujo and nearly being run over by a '58 two-tone red-
and-white Plymouth Fury sporting an " I Am Christine" bumper
sticker) which carries it to New York. The cat hits the streets
and stops under a store window. A ghostly face begins to speak
from the mannequin of a little girl in the window, urging the
cat to " Find it before it's too late" but, without the backstory,
you have no idea what she refers to, why this particular cat,
or what this talking ghost is doing in a New York storefront.
Needless to say, audiences were confused . Critics were con-
fused . But the numbers were plain enough: Cat's Eye made
a poor showing at the box office, and sank under the waves
after a couple of weeks.
Unfortunately, audiences missed some exceptional perfor-
mances, and two clever, well executed adaptations that are
the real meat of the film.
he opening sequence of Cat's Eye segues into a segment
T based on the King story " Quitters, Inc." James Woods

(Videodrome) plays Morrison, a man with a smoking
habit who is talked into trying to quit. He seeks the aid of a
mysterious company called Quitters, headed by the oily, quiet-
ly sinister Mr. Donatti (Alan King). Donatti has refined methods
used by his "family" to help people quit smoking. He shows
Morrison a glassed-in room where the cat rests on a grid.
Donatti pushes a button on a remote-<:ontrol device and low-
voltage electricity charges the grid, making the poor critter do
the boogie. Morrison is horrified, but it's too late. He is warned
that the first time he backslides, his wife goes into the booth .
The second time, his daughter (played by Drew Barrymore
in one of her multiple roles in Cat's Eye). Donatti tells Morrison
there are not many three-time offenders-and he'll be watched .
"You may see some of our agents all of the time," he warns,
"you may see all of our Drew (Firestarter) 8aJTymore and
agents some of the time. But "TltE buiLdiNG SLOPEd AWAY her feline co-star pose for a eat's
you'll never see all of our Eye publicity shot (left). In "The
agents all of the time. Good
LikE A SMOOTk CkALk cliff TO Ledge," a stunt double for Robert
day, Mr. Morrison ." TkE STREET fAR bElow . . . If Hays swings through the air above
with the greatest of ease.
The rest of "Quitters" con- you fElL Tku fAR, you wouLd
cerns Morrison's struggle to
quit the habit-he does kAVE pLENTY of TiME TO REALiZE
backslide before the end and JUST wku WAS kAPPEN-
his wife (Mary D'arcy) gets a
turn in the booth to the tune
iNG . .. you'd kAVE TiME TO
of 96 Tears . When she learns SCREAM A LONG, LONG SCREAM.
why, she forgives him-but ANd TkE souNd you MAdE WkEN
Morrison is not quite off the
hook. You see, Quitters has you kiT TkE pAVEMENT wouLd
this weight control program bE LikE TkE souNd of AN OVER-
as part of the service, and if
you gain too much weight,
RipE WATERMElON."
they cut off your wife's little -"TkE LEdGE"
finger.
The cat escapes the Quitters facility and turns up in Atlantic
City for the next segment based on " The Ledge." The cat is
on a busy street in Atlantic City, and the ghost (now a little
girl in a TV commercial on a store front set) urges the cat to
keep going. A high roller named Cressner, played by Dune's
Kenneth McMillan, walks out of a casino in time to see the
cat make a dash for the pedestrian safety island in the middle
of the busy street.
He bets his companions two grand that the cat can make

it across, and wins. Cressner takes the cat home as a reward
for winning the bet, but hi s mind is on his young wife, su~
posedly on her way to New York to meet her tennis pro lover,
Norris (Robert Hays). Cressner arranges to have Norris picked
up and waits in his penthouse for his revenge. Norris' car is
planted with heroin and
"HE CARESSEd iT, FONdLEd iT. Cressner threatens to have
WkAT WAS TkAT oLd SLOGAN? him put away forever-unless
he wants a chance to get
So ROUNd, SO fiRM, SO fully even : if he walks around
pAckEd. TRVER WORds kAd Cressner's building on the
five-inch ledge that runs just
NEVER bEEN SpokEN. HE pVT TkE under hi s penthouse, he can
ciGARETTE iN kis MOVTk ANd have the wife, his life and
$10,000. " Cmon," urges
TkEN PAVSEd, cockiNG kis kudo
Cressner, "this'll be fun."
"HAd TkERE bEEN TkE Norris has no choice-he
sliGkTEST NoiSE fROM TkE climbs over the penthouse
balcony and begins sidling
clOSET?" around the building, buffeted
by high winds, antagonized
and baited by Cressner, and
beleaguered by a territorial pigeon .
Somehow, with the eat's moral support, Norris makes it
around the building and returns to find that Cressner has made
good on his bet. Norris' car is clean, there's a sackful of money,
and there's Marcia Cressner-though everything is missing
below her neck. Norris is outraged and forces Cressner to take
a bet; the same bet Cressner offered Norris.
"You 're right, Mr. Cressner," Norris says, training a gun on
Cressner as he steps out onto the ledge, " This is a lot of fun ."
Naturally, Cressner doesn't make it around the first corner. He
lands 20 stories below, very near the cat, who has escaped
from his penthouse.
In the final segment, the cat has made its way to North
Carolina, and Teague gives us sound effects and POV shots
to indicate a very small creature sheaking up on the home of
Hugh and Sally Ann Uames Naughton and Candy Clark) and
their eight-year-old daughter, played again by Drew Barrymore.
(All the characters in Cat 's Eye have either first names or last
names; but not both names. Barrymore's character has no
name; she is simply referred to as Our Girl in the credits). The
cat follows the creature into the house and upstairs where,
we assume, it disappears into a wall.
Our Girl is delighted to have a cat in the house and begs
Mom to keep it. Mom relents, until one night when Our Girl 's
little Budgie is murdered by the troll. Mom blames the cat and
sneaks it off to the pound, leaving Our Girl defenseless that
night when the troll comes to steal her breath . But the cat
escapes, bee-lines for the house and arrives in the nick of time.
The troll fights fiercely but ends up shredded by a room fan.
Hey, hey!
Teague was able to pull exceptional performances out of
his cast: Alan King proved to be a gifted actor and James
Woods- more noted for sinister roles-turns in a fine comic
performance. McMillan was utterly convincing as the lunatic
Cressner and Hays makes everyone sweat as he goes around
a make-believe building.
The year since Firestarter saw a much more mature perfor-
mance from Drew Barrymore, and (as The New York Times
critic Vincent Canby enthused) the cat is superb. A tip of the
hat has to go to Teague and handler Karl Miller for making
the cat work brilliantly.
f you are a King fan at all, Cat 's Eye is a feast of self-
I referential nudges and winks that Teague and King sprinkled

from beginning to end, as well as tidbits of King's brand
of gross-out black humor: Brand X, as he calls it. A few you
may have noticed, such as Cujo and Christine in the opening
sequence. Others you may have missed include:
-James Woods watching the Dead Zone on television,

remarking, "Who writes this stuff, anyway?"
-Ken McMillan telling Rob Hays he'll get " The girl, the gold
watch, and everything, " referring to a 1980 TV movie in which
Hays starred .
-Candy Clark reading Pet Sematary in bed (everybody reads
King novels in this pidure, though not always in bed-this was
PG-13 after all) .
And so on. Like Creeps how, the stories in Cat 's Eye make
no attempt to moralize to the audience or chastise the
characters-everybody seems to get what they deserve for 90
minutes, things turn out OK in the end with a lot of fun and
a few scares in the middle- it's what King calls a "moron
movie," the quarter-pounder with fries of entertainment.
Teague was not a King fan until he read Cujo as part of his
preparation for that film . He developed " a great relationship"
with the writer during production and feels it may have in-
fluenced King to suggest him for Cat's Eye .
"It has gotten to the point," laments Teague, who also
helmed Alligator, " if there's an animal in the title, I end up
with the script."
The diredor had been casting around for a script for almost
a year when he was contacted by De Laurentiis for a second
King projed.
"I was reeling from the disappointment of having had to tum
down Clan of the Cave Bear. I had declined because Univer-
sal , the studio that was originally going to produce it, wanted
to do both books simultaneously-Clan and Valley of the
Horses . I didn 't think it was possible to make a good film out
of Valley and I thought the production problems in trying to
make two films would have been impossible.
"Consequently, they went and hired another diredor. But
as they went into production, I guess they realized the validi-
ty of what I had forseen and ultimately dropped Valley in favor
of Clan of the Cave Bear.
"Well, it was like walking "15 Tltis MORE fUN TitAN A
around the corner and seeing ItUMAN bEiNG sltould bE
your old girl friend with her
new boy friend-arghh, right AllOWEd TO ItAVE, OR wItU?"
in the heart like a dagger. -eAT'S EYE
There I was, having learned
another great lesson in life, which is to have a little faith and
a little less fear and to trust my basic instincts.
" That's when Dino called ."
Teague went in for a meeting with the producer and " almost
as an afterthought, Dino mentioned that Stephen was writing
a script and would I be interested in reading it. "
Two weeks later, the screenplay arrived in the mail.
"I read it and enjoyed the hell out of it," Teague says. "I
laughed out loud about 10 times while I was reading it. I think
Stephen is an extraordinary writer. He has flashes of brilliance.
He recycles his characters, which I think is some of the fun
of his books, and he was having fun with the script in the same
way."
Teague had a nine-week schedule to complete the project
at the De Laurentiis facility in North Carolina. The director
was faced with two problems: a difficult, episodic format and
a screenplay that called for three things every filmmaker is ad-
vised to avoid : children, animals, and special effects. Teague
had the experience to handle the last three, but acknowledged
the problem of the film 's structure, compounded by the miss-
ing prologue.
"I think one of the problems of an episodic picture, like
Twilight Zone: The Movie or Creepshow, is no matter how Our Girl confronts her
good the sequences are, it is difficult to make the transition disbelieving parents (Candy Clark
from one to the next," he says. " In fact, the better they are, and James Naughton, above> in
the more difficult it is. You have a dramatic 'payoff' in each the final segment of Cat's Eye, the
sequence that leaves the audience both satisfied and depleted, King anthology that went bust at
the box office. In a step above her
then suddenly, there's a whole new bunch of characters you
Firestarter stint, Drew Barrymore
have to get to know. adequately played muhiple roles
"That's difficult. The audience has been patient and you 're in Cat's Eye. Opposite page:
asking them to be patient again. In this film, the problem of "Quitters, Inc" appealed to anti-
smoking coalitions everywhere.
the cat was the real story, the continuing thread that weaves as a troll to obtain a wider range of action in the troll sequence ..
throughout the other stories, so your attention is immediately " We did make one tactical error, though," recalls Teague.
tran sferred to a familiar character with a problem, and your " When the crew built the chair and other furniture, instead
audience is willing to be patient again while they discover what of building it out of balsa or foam or some other light material,
the new plot is. It's a risky device and Stephen made it work they built the furniture out of solid hardwood:"
in the screenplay. An educational beat: The inverse cube law states that a chair
" Cat 's Eye had much more in its favor," Teague continues. made six times larger does not weigh six times as much- it
" In Twilight Zone, for instance, there were four completely weighs four times six times as much, the weight increasing
different stories, written by different writers, directed by dif- geometrically with the mass cubed .
ferent directors. Each story was dissimilar in style and content " I'll tell ya," Teague continues, "they were heavy mothers.
and there was no connection at all that was successful to any If I had to move the thing, it took a forklift and 20 guys."
degree. But in Cat's Eye, there was only a qualitative difference; Problems of this nature aside, Teague reported that the rest
they took place in the same time period, the same 'un iverse.' of the filming went smoothly and was completed on time and
They're written by the same man, directed by one director with on budget. The rest of Teague's technical crew included Jack
a similarity of tone and style for each segment. I think the script Cardiff as director of photography. Cardiff's distinguished career
overcame any perceived difficulty with the format. " includes classics such as The African Queen and The Red
The other problematic aspect of Cat's Eye was its complex- Shoes. De Laurentiis was able to secure Cardiff for Conan the
ity. " An episodic or anthology-type film is infinitely more com- Destroyer prior to his assignment on Cat's Eye. Other De
plicated because you 're dealing with four separate stories, in Laurentiis alumni included production designer Giorgio
this case, 'The Ledge: 'Quitters: the troll story and the link- Postiglione, stunt coordinator Glenn Randall, special effects
ing segments," Teague says. " In 'The Ledge: for instance, the coordinator Jeff Jarvis and art director Jeffrey Ginn, all of whom
entire scene outside the building was shot on soundstages and contributed to Firestarter.
involved miniatures, blue screen work, hanging miniatures and Though most of the effects were on camera-a technique
transparencies. That all had to be planned and storyboarded, that Teague employed on both Alligator and Cujo and
the sets constructed and the shots staged in advanced. Doing prefers-some additional opticals were provided by Van Der
a third of a movie is not a third of the work involved in the Veer, an L.A. based company that De Laurentiis also used for
whole movie; it involves almost as much planning as the Dune. Glenn Randall undertook most of the second unit direc-
whole. Doing this kind of film is extremely laborious and we tion and Cujo 's Karl Miller and staff handled the several cats
didn't have a lengthy shooting , . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . that were required to ac-
schedule to work with ." "HERE, kiTTY, kiTTY, kiTTY . .. " complish what appeared on
Modelmaker Emilio Ruiz -eAT'S EYE screen.
supervi sed the sets for AfterCat's Eye's release, the
" The Ledge," creating flats and forced perspective masonite thing that most concerned Teague was the accusation of animal
structures to simulate downtown Atlantic City. Cressner's pent- cruelty. Though Teague's reputation is first and foremost as
house facade was constructed with about 280 feet of seven- a director with the patience and experience to work with
and-a- half-inch-wide ledge. Night shots of the real Atlantic animals, there were some grumblings about the cat being
City were rear-projected as a backdrop and the set was filled "electrified" and harrassed to create a believable performance.
out with foreground models and miniatures. Down perspec- Teague is emphatic that that was not the case:
tive shots were on a miniature street and cars, which were " I've had animal trainers and representatives from the ASPCA
wired with itty bitty headlights and cable-moved for verisimil- on the sets of Cat's Eye, Cujo and every film I've ever done
itude. The complicated set took 25 men four weeks to build . with animals," Teague says. " I'm particularly sensitive to any
While the " Ledge" set occupied one soundstage, another objections that people may have about harming animals and
crew took five weeks to con struct a large scale model of Our scenes in my films in which animals appear to get hurt. Both
Girl 's bedroom on a nearby stage. The bed was large enough, Cujo and Cat's Eye used camera trickery and special effects-
at 40 feet, to make it into The Guinness Book of World no animals were ever harmed. But realism becomes your
Records. Carlo Rambaldi designed the feature creature and, enemy when you 're dealing with animals . . . because people
although the fully articulated model could handle most of the aren 't willing to suspend their disbelief that much."
script's requirements, producer Martha Schumacher and However, enough was enough for the director. He explains,
Teague opted for the large-scale set and a little person dressed " I'm not going to do any more movies with animals."

After two siIy AirpMneI movies, Ut's Eye found actor Robert Hays still ftyins hi8h and
aawlins aIons liThe Ledae." The (M's Eye FX people (top left) meticulously mnstructed
owenized sets for the troI to frolic in. c.vto Rambaldi's whimsical, but deiIdty, troll
makes a grand entrance, staBe left (i.e. bottom risht).

I · I~III BIJIIII
B
efore we shamble into Silver Bullet and take a look- They change at the full moon, werewolves can "infect" their
see at Stephen King's treatment of one of horror's victims, they have supematural strength and are full of
standbys, the werewolf, let's talk for a minute about murderous cunning. There is only one way to kill a
archetypes. werewolf-a silver bullet before the end of the last reel. Hence
An "archetype," in the storytelling vemacular, has come to King's title, which we discover is a double-layered pun .
mean a character that incorporates universally recognized King explains the origins of his werewolf story in his book
characteristics, or plays on universally understood fears. In Silver Bullet (Signet, 1985): "Silver Bullet is probably the only
short, a model. Archetypal characters are those such as Tar- movie ever made that began as a calendar proposal. The
zan, Sherlock Holmes, Superman, Hamlet, Mickey Mouse, and proposal was made to me in the lobby of a hotel in Providence,
more recently, Luke Rhode Island, during the
Skywalker, Mr. Spock and World Fantasy Convention in
Indiana Jones. The last three 1979, by a young man from
are based on currently anach- Michigan named Christopher
ronistic ancestors, David Zavisa . . . [he) had an inter-
of Judaea, Pentheus, and esting concept. He thought
Odysseus, underscoring the maybe I could conceive a
fact that character-types that story which would run in 12
have recurred in storytelling monthly installments of
since man first huddled in vignette length; each of these
caves trying to verbalize (and installments would be accom-
dramatize) the important panied by a Bemi Wrightson
events in his life. Of course, painting . .. That was a new
you can't have heroes with- one, at least to me. I started
out villains: Mephistopheles, to play with it a little, to rock
Caligula, Captain Ahab, Ming and roll with it a little, to see
the Merciless, Darth Vader- if there was anything there,
you get the idea; dark-eyed, and if there was, if I could
furrow-browed, mustachioed make it work."
or helmeted bad guys. King did make it work,
Horror, too, has its arch- developing 12 little vignettes
types; the grunting, demonic, of horror centering around the
mindless apparitions sharing appearance of a werewolf in
the cave origins of the the little burg of Tarker's Mill.
storytellers. Myths of King sent the book to Dino
vampires date from ancient De Laurentiis for his con-
Greece, likewise poltergeists sideration, and the producer
and other spirits. Foul- " - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -_ _ _ _---1 acquired the property. De
tempered imps are as old as civilization. But there are modem Laurentiis urged King to draft a screenplay.
archteypes, dating from the mid-nineteenth century. Mary King's screenplay added to the werewolf "oeuvre" in a uni-
Shelley created an archetype with Victor Frankenstein 's que way. This werewolf talks and has a rather bizarre sense
Monster. It has endured more than a thousand filmed varia- of humor. His first murder victim is a night railroad switchman,
tions. Ditto Bram Stoker's Count Dracula. The discovery of who hums a jingle for "Rheingold beer" as he works late one
the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamen spawned The Mummy, evening, until the werewolf decapitates him in one powerful
and European folklore of the Dark Ages led directly to our swipe. The creature grabs the switchman's bottle, takes a swig,
contemporary revisionist's werewolf, that hairy, liJHmacking, and throatily mimics his victim-
fanged Jekyll and Hyde (to drop another archetype), whose "My beer is Rheingold the dry beer .. .
biological clock coincides with the full moon. Think of Rheingold whenever you buy beer .. . "
Lon Chaney'S portrayal in 1941 's The Wolf Man provides - as he lopes away from the corpse, swinging a beer bottle
virtually all the cinematic common wisdom about werewolves. from one furry paw.

E. r,'s Carlo Rambaldi supervised the film's creature design. Three
months and several rejections later, Dino De Laurentis and director
Danjel Attias settled for the short-snouted versions on screen. Mike
McCracken, another makeup FX vet, provided scores of Silver Bullet
werewolves. Thirty extras-including the hairy folks pictured on
these pages-were meticulously outfitted for the nightmarish
congregation scene. When not coping with the werewolf horrors,
Gary Busey and Corey Haim enjoyed the location atmosphere.
Kin g has introduced a monstrou s entity: not only super-

naturally endowed, but wickedly self-aware at all times,
whether in his human guise or in hi s various lupine forms.
For some reason, King's delightful twist on the run-of-
the-mill werewolf didn 't find its way into the movie. The
produdion did have its problems and it was rumored that King
and fi rst-time director Daniel Attias had some differences
over the script. What appeared in the final cut was a third-
generation version of Chaney'Stormented creature, kind of big
and hairy and unimaginative. Designer Carlo Rambaldi's on-
screen wolf transformations were remini scent of the changes
executed elsewhere by effects artists Rick Baker and Rob Bottin.
In short, nothing reall y new, other than the suggestion that:
" In the made-up stories, the guy who's the werewolf only
changes when the Moon is full. But maybe he's really that
way almost all the time, only as the Moon gets fuller, the guy
gets wolfier," as ' the young heroine comments to her
Uncle Red .
Interestingly enough, the film depends on the audience's
familiarity with the werewolf myth. There are no explanations
offered over how it happens or who it happens to, there are
no whys or wherefores: the wolf has come to Tarker's Mills,
and it is killing people.
A
lthough Silver Bullet was Daniel Attias' first feature,
the young director shows a sure hand and a sense
of style. He worked for both Francis Ford Coppola and
Steven Spielberg before hooking up with Dino De Laurentiis
as an assistant director on Firestarter.
He opens Silver Bullet with a brutal slaying; a lot of POV's
and quick cuts establish a nice sinister mood, then he cuts to
a pastoral setting of a town
meeting on the village green.
~~No MATTER WItAT I SAy . .. In eight minutes, all the central
charaders have been introduced:
DON'T OpEN TItAT dOOR."
the werewolf, the Coslaw fam-
-LARRY TAlboT, ily- Nan (Robin Groves), Bob
TItE Wolf MAN (Leon Russom), daughter jane
(Megan Follows), their crippled
son Marty (Corey Haim). The
Reverend Lowe (Everett McGill) and Sheriff joe Haller (Terry
O'Quinn) . The stage has been set with economy.
It is not until that night that the town is certain someone
is murdering the citizens. Stella Randolph (Wendy Walker) is
savagely killed in her second-story bedroom. The sheriff and
townspeople are disturbed, but the murder remains unsolved,
and more a topic for cracker-barrel conversation than serious
alarm .
Marty, meanwhile, is a source of disruption in his family.
His older sister jane resents the attention he gets, his mother
Nan resents the burden he places on her, and his Uncle Red,
exceptionally well portrayed by Gary Busey, tries to make
everyone aware that Marty is a regular boy, although Uncle
Red has a little trouble of his own keeping to keep his nose
out of the bottle. Marty is Uncle Red 's favorite and he builds
a special motorized, 50 mph wheelchair for his nephew which
is promptly dubbed the Silver Bullet.
The movie becomes fairily formulized at this point. The
werewolf picks off vidims one by one, and the town shuts
its doors in fear. Except one night Marty ventures out on the
Silver Bullet to shoot off some fireworks, courtesy of Uncle
Red. He finds the werewolf waiting. Quickly, Marty lights and

launches a rainbow rocket, blinding the creature's left eye,
which gives him time to escape. Marty confides in his sister
about the incident and now
their path is clear-who in
town has a freshly-missing "I'M TOO oLd TO RUN AROUNd
eye? Who else but Reverend
Lowe? Lately haunted by
pLAyiNG TilE HARdy Boys MEET
nightmares featuring his REVERENd WEREwoLF. . . "
congregation-all needing a -SiLVER BullET
shave and a manicure and
~owling at the moon.
The children beg Uncle Red to help, but he remains
unconvinced that there is a werewolf until Marty has a narrow
escape from the human Reverend Lowe. Finally, Red becomes
a believer and tells the sheriff, who that night decides to pay
a visit to the good Reverend. (If everybody went out during
the day, it would be smarter, but not as scary.) The sheriff gets
shredded and Marty is next on the list.
Jane and Marty ask Uncle Red to have a silver bullet made.
He then sends theirfolks off to New York on a pretext. Together
they wait for the next full moon, on Halloween night.
The werewolf arrives as predicted and during the tense
climax, Marty manages to put an end to its siege of terror.
S ilver Bullet reunited D.E.G. 's Martha Schumacher with

director Daniel Attias and creature designer Carlo
Rambaldi, who began his association with De Lauren-
tiis on Barbarella , the 1968 Jane Fonda vehicle.
Silver Bullet was the fourth King film produced by De
Laurentiis (Dead Zone, Firestarter, and Cat's Eye are the
others), and as Schumacher remarks: "We had gathered a list
of names we thought might be good potential directors for the
film, but as soon as we met Dan, there was no question we
had our director. He had sensational ideas, he has an excellent
reputation, and he was very confident . .. . three important
traits."
Script in hand, Schumacher offered the picture to Attias, who
was a bit nonplussed at the opportunity. " Truthfully, I'm not
quite clear on the exact details of how I was chosen to direct
this film," Attias says, " except that on a Friday afternoon, I
received a call from my agent, and by Monday, I had my first
picture as a director. It happened very quickly."
Attias spent three months in pre-production and another eight
weeks filming seven million dollars worth of moonlit mayhem.
A big chunk of the budget went to special makeup effects.
Attias found himself sharing the spotlight on his first film with
a group of De Laurentiis veteran stunt and makeup supervisors.
King's script called for the werewolf on camera. Long shots,
medium close and extreme close shots required a full body
suit for Everett McGill, a number of heads with varying degrees
of articulation, and one super-deluxe head with 12 cable
controls to curl a lip in a sneer, raise an eyebrow, and bare
a fang or two. Although Rambaldi had three months to design
the heads and suit, much time was lost trying to accommodate
King's concept of a "werewolf with a difference."
Ape-like and dog-like heads were made until De Laurentiis
settled on a satisfactory head, although it left Rambaldi with
only five weeks to complete the work. (To give an example
of the amount of time elaborate makeup effects can consume,
when makeup artist Rick Baker was approached to do chimp
suits for Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan , he told the film-
makers he would need two years to plan and execute the suits.)

Five weeks, even with the assistance of makeup artists
Michael McCracken, Sr. and Joe Mercurio, did not allow the
team to create anything breathtaking. This difficulty may have
prompted Attias to limit the werewolf shots to quick, shadowy
cuts-an arm here, a paw there, a fang and eyeball
elsewhere-rather than allowing the audience a good, long
look at a man in a werewolf suit, which is what he had to
work with.
The filmmakers did let out the stops for Reverend Lowe's
dream sequence, dressing almost 30 actors in a variety of wolf
gear. The performers were grouped into A, B, or C classes,
depending on articulation and placement, for a group howl
culminating in a congregation of wolves at a church service.
Transformation scenes were accomplished with the addition
or subtraction of appliances augmented by facial movements
controlled by air bladders underlying the latex and foam pieces.
This devices have become de rigeur makeup effect since their
use in The Howling and An American Werewolf in London.
The North Carolina town of Burgaw served as the quiet burg
of Tarker's Mills, Maine, with location and interior shots equally
divided.
Attias cast two relatively unknown young actors in the prin-
cipal leads, along with Everett McGill (Quest for Fire) as the
ominous Reverend Lowe, and Academy Award winner Gary
Busey in a role that let him walk away with the picture.
The major flaw in Silver Bullet is its subject: although both
Attias and King strove to accentuate the relationships in the
story, the characters and the featured monster suffer from the
sort of cinematic shorthand that relies on stereotypes. The
sheriff is a stern-jawed, decent guy trying to keep his town
together; the bad guy priest is the repressed, sinister type found
in a dozen " B" horror flicks; all the men of Tarker's Mills are
not-too-bright, beer-guzzling,
unshaven, ill-tempered, and
III kNOW wlto you ARE; I
white; the women scream a
kNOW wltu you ARE. Wlty lot, but don't do much other-
dON'T you kill youRsElf?" wise. The surprises in this film
occur because you don 't
-SiLVER BullET know which corner the wolf
is coming from-but you
know from the git-go how it will end. It follows a formula
established in the '30s, and it's as if the filmmakers hope that
we've been watching all those werewolf movies so they can
dispense with tedious explanations. However, nothing is more
tedious in a horror movie than the lack of suspense which
occurs when you can figure exactly what's going to happen
without bothering to watch .
King's script offered some new bite to an old story; unfor-
tunately for Silver Bullet, somebody decided to stick with the
old saws.

Opposite top: lunchtime on location for Silver Bullet. Getting a hamburger through the masks was a real problem. Everett McCili
(opposite center) has a dual role as the menacing Reverend lowe and the lumbering creature who's blinded by fireworks. Sharp detective
work leads the kids to conclude that the Reverend has been moonlighting. They enlist the aid of Uncle Marty (Gary Busey), the man who
made the Silver Bullet, to investigate the evil.

n the promotional trailer for this not-Iast-but-Iatest adapta- moron movie, Rambo is a moron movie, I loved 'em both .
I tion , Stephen King, cloaked in shadow, steps forward into

the green-filtered baby spot as he says, "Y'know, a lot of
people have made movies out of my stories . .. but I thought
I went in there and I made a picture and there are a lot of
people shooting at each other and there's some passable
charaderization, but I was more interested in pace than I was
it was time I took a crack at doing Stephen King .. . After all , in charader. I wanted to make an entertainment."
if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself." " Trucks" was typical King fare (the phrase "King fare" makes
Allowing for a bit of hyperbole, that's why Stephen King his work sound like something you pick out from a menu, but
ended up screenwriting and there is a consistency of style
directing one of his own short and content that even King
story adaptations. depreciatingly describes as
King was reludant. Dino "the Big Mac and fries of
De Laurentiis had acquired literature"): the story is an
the property-a short story almost tongue-in-cheek exer-
called " Trucks" from the cise in "what if?" What if all
1978 collection Night Shift- the Peterbilt and Reos and
and contaded the writer to Kenworths and Mack diesel
produce yet another semis took things into their
screenplay. King begged off own ... hands doesn't seem
(as he had for Cats' Eye and the right word here, but you
Silver Bullet, though he says get the idea. What if they re-
he was " hypnotized" into do- belled, usurped their drivers
ing them), explaining that his and started to threaten the
busy schedule didn't allow lives of the humans who
him time. De Laurentiis made them? King's human
assigned another writer to charaders, a representative
produce a treatment which collection of flotsam from our
was forwarded to King. nation 's highways, are
Neither of them liked it. King trapped in a-what else?-
was still not inclined to tackle truck stop, certainly appropri-
the screenplay but, at the pro- ate for the irony inherent in
ducer's urging, began to write the situation. His no-win
down some ideas that had scenario ends as the survivors
been kicking around in his take turns filling the tanks of
head-wrote them down and a line of trucks, a line which
wrote them down until he stretches back onto the free-
had written the screenplay. way and disappears at the
De Laurentiis asked him to horizon.
dired. King declined. De King's story was a " what
Laurentiis insisted. King if?" with no " therefore" -the
accepted, on the condition characters essentially sec-
that if at any point in the projed De Laurentiis felt what was ondary to the scenario, what King calls a "situational " tale:
being shot was no good, he would tell King and replace him . "I write about what happens when a bunch of people are in
King approached the projed with no pretensions: a situation where everything is inexplicable," he says.
" I went in with the idea that I was going to make a moron To succeed on screen, King's first job as a screenwriter was
movie . .. " to develop complete charaders with whom the audience could
A moron movie? identify, then develop a storyline that allows a solid ending
" Yeah ... they're the best kind of movies there are as far rather than the no-win, no-way-out anti-climax of the original
as I'm concerned." the author says. "Back to the Future is a story.

Top: A Maximum Overdrive cIHlar gases up the deadly Green Goblin truck, leader of the terror
brigade. Bottom: Maximum Overdrive allowed Stephen King to play director for the first time. His
stars-including Emilio Estevez and Pat Hingle-look on in awe.

The film centers on the Dixie Boy Truck Stop-one of those
fly-specked , greasy, two-bit roadside stands that seem to have
clones from New York to Los Angeles, with the same sort of
customers always perched on a counter stool or tucked on
one side of a formica-topped table. Behind the counter is
parolee Bill Robinson (Emilio Estevez). He flips burgers
and slings hash for the Dixie Boy's owner, played by Pat
Hingle. The gum-chewing, blowsy waitress, kind of a sweet
version of Flo from the TV series Alice, is played by Ellen
McElduff.
As the Earth passes through the tail of a comet, little things
start to go wrong in town, a wind-up toy car attacks a dog;
pop machines, toasters, and coffee pots all over the community
begin an insurrection; automatic tellers and electronic
billboards start to tell people what they really think. The
machines turn to outright revolt as King cuts to the chase. Peo-
ple in cars are inexplicably attacked out on the interstate.
Newlyweds Kurt and Connie Oohn Short and Yardley Smith)
narrowly escape demolition on the highway and hightail it into
the Dixie Boy for sanctuary.
Meanwhile, inside the Dixie Boy, an electronic carver gets
out of control , the juke box goes bananas and , before anyone
realizes something is really
wrong, they look out to see
"HE SLAMMEd OUT TItE dOOR the driveway filled with huge
ANd TltEN ItE WAS spRiNTiNG trucks, lots of trucks-and no
drivers.
ACROSS TItE GRAvEl TOWARd TItE
The big semis start an In-
dRAiNAGE dinlt ON TItE LEfT. dian circle around the dinner,
Two of TItE TRUCks LUNGEd picking off the brave (i.e.
incredibly foolish) souls as
AfTER ltiM, SMokESTACks bLow- they try to escape from the
iNG diESEl EXItAuST dARk bROWN building.
The circling semi's are
AGAiNST TItE sky, ItUGE REAR
joined by the King Pin-a big
wltEELs MACltiNG""GUNNiNG GRAVEl " Happy Toyz" truck and
Up iN SPRAYS." trailer sporting an eight foot,
leering Green Goblin head
-"TRucks" on the front end, which lends
an air of sentience to the
machinery. The Happy Toyz truck seems to understand that
he (it?) and his (its?) companion's immediate problem is run-
ning out of gas.
A front loader chugs up to the front of the Dixie Boy, wav-
ing the big blade menacingly in an attempt to intimidate the
prisoners into being the vehicles' gas pump slaves. This final
indignity forces Bill into action . Bill does a little commando
raid on a neighborhood arsenal, seizing a rocket launcher and
some ammo, determined to fight his way free.
The climax is a confrontation between the Goblin and Bill's
small band of survivors-can a well-placed rocket end the short
(but promising) leadership of the Goblin?
Hell yes, though the battle results in the demolition of most
of the trucks and all of the Dixie Boy Truck Stop.
Bill and the rag-tag survivors set out on foot, and off the pave-
ment to be sure, in a world where man may get his comeup-
pance at the hand, ... er, wheel . .. of his own creation-
maybe to make room for somebody else.
O
f directing, King confesses:
" I wish someone had told me how little I knew and
how grueling it was going to be. I didn 't know how
little I knew about the mechanics and the politics of filmmak-
ing. People walk around the diredor with this 'don 't wake the
baby' attitude. Nobody wants to tell you this, that, or the other
thing if it's bad news.
"I went in assuming if somebody's says, 'We're going to
give you this, or this is what's going to happen: then it is going
to happen, because, when I promise somebody something,
it happens .
Opposite page: Even the watermelons will have their day-thanks to Stephen King-director! Some critics still say that Stephen King
movies are larger than life. Below right: Waitress Wanda June smiles before the horror begins. How can King (bottom) trust this
Maximum Overdrive steamroller?

Trucks take out their frustrations on the human race in Maximum
Overdrive, Stephen King's latest collaboration with movie mogul
Dino De Laurentiis. Emilio Estevez enjoyed working with first-time
director King. Maximum Overdrive-in all its explosive glory-was
filmed in North Carolina.
"But that isn 't always the way it works in the movies."
King began pre-production working for a short while with
a storyboard artist to get an idea how certain things could be
done. Unit publicist Mike Klastorin relates, "Stephen is a per-
son who has worked alone most of his life; he supervises
himself and dictates his own working standards and routines.
But, as a diredor, he was forced into a situation where he
needed the help of all these other people-and he was never
afraid or ashamed to ask for it. He just dived in-the most
amazing thing to me was, here we were doing a film for 12,
13, 14 hours a day, and then Stephen would go home and
write!"
Filming began July 14, 1985, near (once again) Wilmington,
North Carolina. At a location about 10 miles outside of town
at the edge of a highway, the company construded the Dixie
Boy as a facsimile of a working truck stop. It was convincing
enough that more than one trucker stopped in for some java.
Eventually, the produdion was forced to place an announce-
ment in the local papers advising residents that the Dixie Boy
was a prop. Of the $10 million allotted for Maximum Over-
drive, most was spent on location shooting, the Dixie Boy set,
and the hardware-big diesel semi-trailer tradors, vans,
frontloaders, a bus or two, and assorted other vehicles.
"I argued very hard to get $100,000 for a truck 'hospital'
fund," says King. "They were taking such a beating. I never
got it though, and I think it hurt us a little bit in the end. I
had to make some compromises there."
Trucks were run into cars, into buildings, into culverts, and
into each other. They were bashed, overturned, burned and
blown up. One sequence called for a Miller beer truck to ex-
plode, sending gross after gross of cases flying over the coun-
tryside. Trouble was, full cans of beer don 't scatter nearly as
well as empties. Though Miller was happy to provide produd
in exchange for on-screen promotion, the cans were all full.
Thousands of them. Klastorin reports, "Crew members were
encouraged to take beer home and bring back the cans. But
there was too much beer, even for a film crew." The rest were
emptied by hand, resulting in a very satisfying shower of
aluminum upon impad.
" I got to blow up a lot of things. I liked that," King explains.
Before principal photography wrapped on October 2, King
got an intense " how-to" course in filmmaking.
" I had to make my share of compromises, but I think that
if anything astonished me, it was how much more I could get
than I thought I could get, " King explains. "Do you under-
r--------------.;;....---....;;..-, stand what I mean? I got more
HBACIc TO TIlE CAVES. from my adors than I thought
DRAWiNG picTURES iN cltAR- I could get from them. I got
more from special effects than
COAl. This is TItE MOON Cod. I thought I could get from
This is A TREE. This A MAck them; from film editing, from
the camera department,
SEMI OVERWltdMiNG A ItUNTER." everything. I guess I didn't
-"TRUcks" realize how good they were,
and how clearly they
thought. "
King also acted as second unit diredor-picking up shots
that didn't require the adors' presence. One of his first lessons
came from cinematographer Armand Nannuzzi and his camera

lAN n
King makes a cameo appearance in Maximum Overdrive and experiences some troubles with a computerized bank teller machine (top).
The FX people constructed their very own truck stop for the movie. low pay and cheap tips aren't the only things that plague waitress
Wanda June (above right). The machines have plans-and they don't necessarily include human beings. Opposite page: It's not a dog's
world anymore either. Nevertheless, Emilio Estevez and friends try to corne up with a new line of strategy.

operator, whom King had requested after seeing their work
on Silver Bullet.
"We were shooting, I had no second unit crew, and we shot
a lot of the second unit stuff first," King relates. " So, we were
filming a truck, a dump truck, and the action it was supposed
to take was the clutch pedal was supposed to go in, the gear
shift was supposed to move by itself, and the gas pedal was
supposed to go down. These were three separate shots, and
I had a special effects guy running wires underneath to make
these things happen. And the clutch pedal was fine, it went
down and it went out, and the brake pedal was fine, and the
gas pedal was fine, but we couldn't get the transmission. The
light was wrong. We kept getting reflections of these lights
on the inside of the windshield . Keep in mind this is on my
third day of shooting.
" So, I said, 'This is no problem, we'll go around and shoot
it from the other side.' And everybody just stopped and looked
at me like I had made a real loud fart at a party. Here's this
guy with this great big ripe booger hanging out of his nose;
who is going to tell him it's there? So, finally, they all grouped
together in a little huddle, and I knew I had made some kind
of mistake. Finally, the camera operator said, 'I speak to you?'
and I said, 'Sure: and he said, very rapidly, 'You can't do this.'
I said, 'Why not?' and he said, 'Is across the axis.' So, I said,
'What axis?' and he just gave me this blank look, and I thought,
uh-oh. I had a model , and he took me in and used the little
lead figures I had been using for blocking to show me that
you can't go around and shoot from the other side in that sort
of a situation, because the audience becomes disoriented in
space. I never really understood it, but by the third week, I
stopped even trying to go across. I understood where it was,
but I didn't understand why, until about three-quarters of the
way through the shoot, when out of desperation, the film editor
cut in some of that 'across the axis' footage in a love scene,
then I immediately saw what it was and grasped it."
Despite some stumbles and the awkwardness of his new role,
King summarized his experience succinctly: " I had a good
crew, and we worked really hard, and we came in under
budget, ahead of schedule, and I'm happy with the picture.
I think I was all right when I trusted my instincts."
Klastorin adds: "It was a big learning experience for
Stephen-and he was very open . Basically, anybody could
come up to him and say, 'How about doing this?' or, 'I don't
really like that: and he would listen-they would not be
dismissed. And when I say anybody, I mean anybody on the
crew."
Though he's quite firm about not wanting to direct again
any time soon, King admits this first outing didn 't entirely
eliminate the urge to direct.
"My curiosity isn 't satisfied ~~JESUS is COMiNG, ANd is HE
yet, " he says. " I did the job;
now I'm in a position to . d ••. "
PISSE
satisfy my curiosity, and I'll -MAXiM"M OVERdRiVE
see what happens. For exam- L -_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _- - '
pens. For example, the first time you get laid, you don't get
want to get laid, you get laid so that you can say to yourself,
well, I don't have to go through that again . That is to say, that
part of it's over. Then, you say to yourself at some point, I
would like to get laid again because that was fun, or because
now I think I could do it better. And that's certainly true of
the movie. If I did it again, I would know what to do. And
I met many people who worked really hard for me. I would
know who to ask ."

STANd By ME
lthough Stephen King had successfully courted the " The Breathing Method"-" The Body"seemed clearly to be
A reading public since 1976, the romance hit the skids

in 1981. The novel Cujo had been released-a good
effort if not his strongest work-to the resounding criticism of,
the first glimpse at some biographical material. The story
remained unoptioned until late in 1983, when screenwriters
Bruce Evans and Ray Gideon contacted King's agent Kirby
" Well, fine, yes it's scary, but can 't this guy write anything McCauley about the property's availabilty. McCauley seemed
that's not horror?" uncharacteristically coy-the story was available, but, no,
Of course he can. Does. Has. This kind of criticism is at a Stephen did not want to sell it, he had promised it elsewhere-
moronic level only exceeded by the man who asked Pablo leading the writers to conclude that there was something about
Picasso why he couldn't paint anything that looked real. the story too close to home for King to let just anyone have
Picasso replied: " I can. But then it would not be Picasso. " it, regardless of the price.
King's natural form of expression is the macabre-as he Evans and Gideon were fans of the author and had no in-
remarks, "Sooner or later, my r-------------------------, tention of doing anything
mind always seems to turn other than treati ng the story
back in that direction, God with great respect, but they
knows why." Nonetheless, had two problems. One was
after Cujo, King's next book meeting McCauley's price
was a collection of novellas (around $100,000 for the
titled Different Seasons, rights), the second, convinc-
which were, in King's words, ing King to let them do it.
"just sort of ordinary stories." King may have been unwill-
Literary critics took cred it for ing to let another of his
the release and were ready to " children" out in the jungle
pounce on King's change of of filmmaking to have its
venue; nothing seems to little arms and legs chopped
delight them more than off.
chiding an author out of a Evans and Gideon were
chosen form into an area persistent. Eventually, with
where he may flounder. They the persuasive help of director
circle like buzzards, prodding Adrian Lyne, who wanted to
the doomed writer on a take the project to Embassy
course deeper into unfamiliar Pictures where he had a
territory-where they can development deal, the three
peck at hi s corpse in leisure. of them "beat Kirby into a
The novellas were works that King had written over a period corner for nine months" according to Evans, until a satisfac-
of 10 years, never submitting them for publication due to their tory arrangement was made.
ungainly length, until he suggested to his editor Alan Williams
that they be collected and published in lieu of the next novel. There was undoubtedly some hesitation on King's part, for
"Each one of these longish stories was written immediately "The Body" seems to be a glimpse at his past-not the past
after completing a novel, " King remarked in Different Seasons' of a fictional character, where the truth can be buried in the
afterword . "It's as if I've always finished the big job with just onion layers of a hundred other truths, to create the past of
enough gas left in the tank to blow off one good-sized novella." someone who never existed. The truth here seems to be just
No one knows if King was holding his breath in anticipation under the surface, a face floating up from underwater to rest
of critical backlash after Different Seasons ' release, but he just below the waves, only slightly obscured . Other than a
needn 't have worried. The word came back: " Yeah, the guy 1982 interview in Playboy magazine, in which King touched
can write stuff that's not scary. And, you know, he writes briefly on his upbringing and familial relationships, he has been
good!" particularly discreet about his family. In fact, he has been
The buzzards circle off for easier prey . .. downright close-mouthed . In "The Body", we get more than
Of the four stories in Different Seasons"Rita Hayworth and a glimpse, we get to scrutinize a life-in a story taking place
the Shawshank Redemption," "The Body," " Apt Pupil" and over two days.

Opposite page: The adult
Gordie: the man who would
be King? Above: The Body
boys (Will Wheaton, River
Phoenix, Jerry O'Connell and
Corey Feldman) go on their
fateful search. Meanwhile
(right), a trio of older punks
want to know where the
corpse came from.

he Body" is stories within stories, framed by the tale included, by Teddy, Chris and Gordie.
T of four boys, teetering on the edge of puberty, who go

off in search of the body of a boy their own age rumored
killed by a train a few miles out of town . One of the boys,
Gordie, is the narrator. The story begins in the now, a
Vern has overheard his (loathed and envied) older brother
telling a friend about the body they saw of a boy thought lost
from a neighboring town . The older brother has sworn the
friend to secrecy-but Vern makes a beeline for the club-house.
reminiscence of the adult Gordie's childhood adventure. In- "Let's us find it. We'll be in the papers."
ternal to the story, as the narrator weaves the past into the pre- In a 12-year-olds' search for glory, they set off, lying for one
sent and back again, are excerpts from Stud City, a novel the another to cover what will be an overnight adventure.
12-year-old Gordie will write and the adult Gordie recalls. The Four more disparate boys you never saw. Gordie-our
12-year-old Gordie tells stories to his companions in that past narrator-is reflective, with an adult sensibility and a gift for
time-some of which appear as dialogue, some of which al>' storytelling. You know that everything he sees and does is
pear transmorgified in the passages excerpted from Stud City- stored, smoothed and examined, and returned .
which is, of course, part of "The Body, " which is, in turn, part Chris, the oldest, shows some of the scars of a rough home
of Different Seasons . life. He is street savvy and suspicious, alienated-though more
At times, the story seems more like a hall of mirrors in which than any of them, he needs approval and acceptance.
King is re(Jec1eU 100-fold on 10 panes of glass-an elusive and Vern is ... well .. . Vern is average, predidable. Why are we
maddening reflection of the truth. But, as King remarks, "A so sure he'll grow up to sell insurance? He's anonymous.
lot of 'The Body ' is true-but most of it is lies. As a writer, And Teddy. Teddy is the boy (everybody knows one) whose
you tell things the way they should have turned out-not the shirts always come untucked, whose glasses are taped with
way they did." white adhesive at the nose bridge or the corner, whose careless
"The Body" is King's coming-of-age story; a path well worn belly hangs over too tight pants, and will do any1hing-
by generations of writers-and generations of filmmakers. anything-to prove he's fearless. These boys are archetypes
The story's sensibility and complexity make it particularly of every Chris, Vern and Teddy you ever knew, and you love
difficult to adapt to the screen. After a few personnel changes, them for it, achingly.
the job eventually fell into the hands of diredor Rob Reiner, The adventures of the four that day and the next are a Boy's
whose previous effort, The Sure Thing, was well received Own tale of in jokes, local myth-a narrow miss with the
critically, but failed to entice moviegoers away from competi- sinister caretaker at the local junkyard and the ominous
tion like Rambo. " Chopper," his bloodthirsty four-legged charge-a little danger
If Reiner was just getting his legs as a diredor during The and a lot of self-revelation and growing up. There is the dou-
Sure Thing (only his second film ; his first was the pseudo- ble dare that causes a narrow escape on the train tracks, an
" rockumentary" This is Spinal Tap), he hit his stride with The episode of night fears forcing close-mouthed Chris into a dif-
Body: it is a film best capturing what has eluded virtually every ficult confession, a swim in a pond that leaves the boys covered
other King adaptation . with leeches-a whole summer vacation's worth of incidents
Simply put, it is King, on screen, carefully choreographed crammed into a two-day jaunt.
and lovingly translated, containing all the rare, quirky wisdom There's a certain sense that the boys know this is it-the last
that informs King 's characterizations. This may seem like time, the last summer they will be as close to one another and
enough adjectives to make even a publicist blush, but after as close to life. The film story is a metaphor for the elusive
a long dry stretch of near misses and some definite clunkers, passage from untroubled innocence to an adult awareness of
The Body-retitled and released as Stand By Me-is an oasis. mortality. The boys do find the body, and discover a finality
As the film opens, a driver pulls to the side of the road and in death that is hinted at from the start-and as they cross over,
becomes nostalgic upon visiting his boyhood town. We travel the film crystallizes the moment.
back with him to the year 1960, at the height of a Bradbury
summer in Castle Rock, Maine, where we intrude inside a einer confesses that, prior to reading the script for The
treehouse. Three boys are playing cards, smoking, spitting and
swearing-generally behaving as boys do when left to them-
selves. One member is missing and soon appears-buffoonish,
R Body, he wasn 't a King fan: "I knew of him, and he's
obviously the most successful writer in America . I saw
Carrie and I thought that was a pretty interesting movie, but
overweight Vern, ridiculed by everyone but accepted, at least I've never been a horror fan. I thought that was all he did."

Reiner's partner and close friend Andy Schienman gave the
Gideon/Evans script to Reiner solely to solicit his opinion. (At
the time, Schienman was comm itted to Adrian Lyne, a hot
director after the success of Flashdance, and already signed
up for a MGM 's steamy 9 1/2 Weeks.) "Andy gave the script
to me as a friend," Reiner recalls, "and asked what I thought
of it. I read it and thought 'God, this is a Stephen King
story? 'Then, I went and read the short story it was based on
and I thou ght, 'Wow, what an incredibly talented, gifted writer
this is.' "
Reiner reportedly told Schienman that if Lyne was unable
to free himself from other commitments, Reiner wanted to take
over the reins.
Ultimately, Lyne did get hung up filming 9 1/2 Weeks and
Reiner stepped in. Because he had been initially consulted to
help with some " rough spots" in the SchienmaniGideoniEvans
script, the next step was a rewrite. " The four of us sat in a
room and worked for three
months developing the script Chris comforts Gordie (opposite page)
III WAS 12 GOiNG ON 1 J WItEN while the type who always make life
we actua ll y shot." Screen-
fiRST SAW A dEAd ItUMAN bEiNG. miserable for sensitive intellectuals s~
writer Bruce Evans recalls the (above).
rewritin g a little more sharp- IT ItAPPENEd iN 1960, A LONG
ly: " The rewrite sessions were
very stormy, as they should
TiME AGO. . . AhitouGIt SOME-
be. It's like somebody once TiMES iT dOESN'T SEEM TItAT
said, 'Polite story sessions LONG TO ME. ESpEciAlly ON TItE
make polite movies.' They
were not polite, they were NiGItTS I WAkE up FROM dREAMS
screaming sessions. But, then, wltERE TItE ItAiL FALls iNTO Itis
we made a hell of a movie
together."
OpEN EYES."
" I decided to make Gordie -IITItE Body"
the film's focus," Reiner
recalls, noting the difficulty of translating the multi-layered, in-
ternal story into pictures. "It's mostly Gordie's story, even
though it is the story of the adventures of four boys. What in-
trigued me about it when I read the short story was the literacy
of the piece, the intelligence-but I had no real idea of what
the film was going to be about. I took the job not knowing
what I was going to do with it.
" You know, I had migraines trying to figure it out. Then,
it hit me," Reiner conti nues. " I started questioning why Stephen
King wrote this piece-it's so obviously autobiographical. What
led him to write this particular piece? So that became the
focus- in essence, what led Stephen King to become a writer?
I hit on the idea of the father not understandi ng him, and how
hi s best fri end was able to corroborate him ... those thin gs
left: River Phoenix plays Chris. His adventures, like many King
stories, are set in Castle Rock , Maine. Director Rob Reiner
(below) says that author King was choked up after viewing his
version of " The Body." Reiner and his casting agents went
through scores of young actors before settling on this talented
foursome (opposite page).
sta rted coming out ... and I had the foc us."
Anoth er aspect w hich created some di ffic ulties fo r the film-
makers was the fo ur young leads. Stand By Me is an unusual
story in that the ad ults popul atin g the town, as well as the
parents governi ng the boys lives, are almost invisible. Their
presence is felt as the boys refer to them, but-as in Di sney's
L ________________ J
r---------------------------,
-====___ Lady and the Tramp w here you see little of " Jim Dear" and
" Darling" except thei r kneecaps-they are simply not palpable.
Reiner's adu lts are cameos, cari catures; the movie rests en-
tirely on the demanding ro les of the fo ur boys.
Reiner didn't have any parti cular young actors in mind w hen
he set about casting the roles of Gordie, Chris, Vern and Teddy.
" Basically, we were castin g four 12-year-old boys, and there's
not a lot of 12-year-olds w ho are famous. We saw them, the
actors, ind ivid ually in auditi ons, and th en we brought th em
in in pa irs, th en fours, then looked at them on videotape."
U ltimately, Reiner selected Will W heaton to play Gordi e,
Corey Feldman (Gremlins, Coonies) as Teddy. Jerry O'Connell
was cast as Vern and River Phoenix (Explorers) as Chri s.
" The onl y one we decided on ri ght away was River-that's
his given name. He comes fro m a very unusual family, a ter-
ri fic bunch of people w ho have named their five kids Ri ver,
Leaf, Rainbow, Li berty and Summer," Reiner says. " When
Ri ver read, we were all knocked out. He's an extraordinary
talent and I think he's going to be a star. Rea lly, all the kid s
are excepti onal talents."
After all casting decisions had been made, locations scouted
and two months of pre-production allotted to plan the schedule
of 60 days principal photography, the prod uction crew headed
L _______________ ===:..:...:. . . ____
-.J north from Los Angeles to locati on. Of the 120 minutes footage
of Stand By Me, almost 100 minutes is outdoors, an unusual
turnabout in contemporary
Ho llywood w here almost
US ANd TO TItE RiGItT, ANd anythin g can be made in-
doors-and is.
TEddy WAS bEltiNd ltiM, Itis Kin g's story is set in the
GLASSES FlASltiNG bAck ARCS of mythica l Castl e Rock, M aine,
a community akin to H.P.
SUNLiGItT, ANd TItEY WERE bOTIt Lovecraft 's Arkham and Ray
MOUTltiNG A SiNGLE WORd ANd Brad bury's G ree n Tow n
TItE WORd WAS jV/tlp! bUT TItE w hich appears or is referred
to many tim es in the body of
TRAiN ItAd suckEd All TItE hi s work. Castl e Rock is the
bLood OUT of TItE WORd, co mmunity w here th e
·
LEAVING L· It . It· Cambers' dog Cujo went
ON Y ITS S ApE IN T EIR rabid one summer, the next
MOUTItS. TItE TRESTlE bEGAN TO town over from Cumberl and
sltAkE AS TItE TRAiN cltARGEd and 'Salem's Lot, near Sheri ff
Bannerman's territory w here
ACROSS IT. WE JUMpEd." Johnny Smith helped solve a
-IITItE Body" couple of murders. In order to
'--_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _---' achi eve th e small town ,
Bradbu ryesque feel ing of Castle Rock in the Kin g story, Rei ner
chose locati ons outlyin g Eugene, O regon- town s like
Brownsville and Cottage Grove. The production company then
traveled south to Burn ie, Californi a, about an hour outside Red-
ding, fo r the trestle sequence that is one of the mo re eventful
scenes in the film . The boys have been following th e tracks
on th eir hike and have to hazard a dash over the trestle. If
a trai n should come w hile they are midway ... well .
82 STEPHEN KING AT THE M OVIES

Gideon adds, "I don 't see his reputation as a negative. You off to do the screenplay. I told him what my intentions were
have to take the approach of telling the public-'You think and he really didn 't want to talk to me all that much."
you know Stephen King? You think you know Rob Reiner? Reiner was a little uneasy when the film was finally screened
Well , you don 't know shit.' " for King on the East Coast in February 1986.
Evans agrees. " The trick is to convince the core group of "After meeting him, after he saw the film, I understood why
Stephen King lovers that this is good Stephen King." he had been so reluctant," Reiner says. " After the screening
Evidently all concerned were locked into the notion the he appeared very, very moved and really couldn't even talk
movie needed Stephen King 's name to get anywhere. And to us. He said, 'I have to go away.' And he went away for
rightly so. Stand By Me is what is known in Hollywood as about 15 minutes. Then, he came back and we sat around
a " soft" story-non-violent, non-sexual, no big name stars, no and talked about it and he told us how much of the story had
big buck effects and not much going on . It sounds almost like been his life-and how upsetting it was to him. He told me
a formula for disaster in the '80s film environment of that, in fact, all three of his buddies had died. His best friend
megadough extravaganzas. However, the producers banked Chris had been killed in a truck hijacking-he was in law
on the notion that King 's heart-tugging, bittersweet, coming- school at the time and was driving a truck to make ends meet
of-age story would strike a resonant chord with filmmgoers and the truck was hijacked and he was murdered. There was
of all ages-and that they would bring their friends to share a trestle-no train ever came on it, but there was a trestle that
what has become a rare experience in theaters-the universal they used to have to cross, and they used to dare each other
appeal of a good story well told . and all ... He said it was upsetting to sit there and see all these
At nearby Lake Britain, an old wooden trestle exists, look- kids he grew up with on screen, brought back to life when-
ing as if it were plucked directly from King's imagination and well, you can't ever get them back."
straddled conveniently over a river, spanning 150 yards of In fact, King loved the movie-but did point out the major
chasm with 90 feet of airspace below. difficulty the filmmakers face. " The reason people keep com-
Reiner found the whole experience a little hairy: "We had ing back to buy my books is because there is a particular flavor
the cameras and the crew up on these cliffs-strapped in. If to them-it's something they've come to crave. They don't say
the kids had to be out on the trestles, we used safety lines, to themselves, 'This Stephen King book looks particularly in-
though most of the wide shots feature doubles-particularly teresting: they go back and say, 'This is a Stephen King book
when the train starts rumbling down the trestle. and I will get that flavor'-the way that someone who likes
" It got very scary at times because, for the whole nine days coffee will go and say 'I want coffee, I want Maxwell House
we worked at that location, the wind would kick up about coffee.'
3:00 p.m . and you felt like you were going to get blown off " And it's the same reason they don't go to the movies; they
the cliff-thi s white dirt would start flying around your head . say, 'Aw, it's just another shitty adaptation of a Stephen King
It was reall y scary .. . 1 mean, I'm not good with heights . .. " book. ' "
fearless director Rei ner trails off with instant and terrifying Both Reiner and screenwriters Gideon and Evans admit Stand
recall. By Me's biggest problem is overcoming King's reputation as
The rest of the shooting schedule was fairly uneventful. The a horror writer and the common thinking that no one can make
film was completed on time, and within the $7.5 million a good movie out of his stories.
budget, fairly low by recent standards. " It won 't be a problem if the film is handled properly,"
Reiner's real apprehension didn 't concern the filming-he asserts Reiner. " The marketing people must make people aware
seemed more worried about doing justice to a story he loved. of the fact that thi s is very uncharacteri stic of what they have
" I only had one conversation with Stephen before we went come to know as a Stephen King story."

elevision movies, those awkward bastard children of Cohen, Bob Getschell and, though he had originally declined,
T theatrical features, are what they are most of the time

due to spread sheets. A good property can attract x
number of dollars in advertising, so x dollars may be spent
Stephen King were also asked to take a whirl. In the preliminary
development, several directors were considered, among them
George Romero, William Friedkin and Tobe Hooper, but the
on the production, a figure substantially less than the projected whole project stalled when no one came up with a satisfac-
advertising sales. If all the commercial time is sold at a favorable tory adaptation for a two-hour feature.
rate, they keep the doors to the executive washroom open a 'Salem 's Lot floundered for two years until Richard Kobritz,
little longer. then an executive in Warners' Television division, lobbied to
This isn't necessarily a bad thing-a weak property doesn't have the property turned over to his desk. He had the insight
attract big-budget advertisers. to understand that time was
There is an impetus to r-----------------------..., the enemy for the script
provide good-quality enter- writers-his first suggestion
tainment (or a reasonable was to develop 'Salem's Lot
facsimile) that potential adver- as a mini-series. When he got
tisers believe will attract more the go-ahead, Kobritz as-
viewers than whatever is on signed screenwriter Paul
the other channels. Monash (Carrie's producer) to
The bottom line, however, shoehorn the 427-page novel
the prime motivator behind into 21 0 pages of scri pt.
everything on television is to Monash's script convinced
discourage you, the viewer, CBS to pick up the project
from performing the physical and the producers promised
act of touching that dial to see to deliver 3Y2 hours of
what else is on. Once they 'Salem's Lot by November
lose you-that'S it. The 1979, for airdates on the 17th
cumulative power of millions and 24th, consecutive Satur-
of dollars, hundreds of hours days. Kobritz witnessed the
of labor, years of research and first shaky steps of his toddler
development is effectively the beginning of that year.
neutralized by your fingertips.
K
Does that give you an 'ng admits that 'Salem 's
awesome sense of power, or Lot owes a great deal to
what? This rationale under- Bram Stoker's horror
scores the unique pressures masterpiece Dracula. King
molding any production; and notes in Danse Macabre,
explains how rare are the " ... after a while, it began to
occurrences of good storytell- seem to me what I was doing
ing and good cinema. With was playing an interesting-
all the crippling exigencies, to me, at least-game of
it's a wonder the child can literary racquet ball: 'Salem's
walk at all. Lot itself was the ball and
Warner Bros . Studios L -_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _...I Dracula was the wall I kept
negotiated and bought the hitting it against, watching to
film rights for 'Salem's Lot in 1977, on the heels of Carrie's see how and where it would bounce, so I could hit it again."
surprising success. Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant (In the Heat When the ball finally came to rest, King had produced a
of the Night) was behind the purchase, and pushed Warners novel that left the reader feeling Bram Stoker had come back
into developing the property as soon as possible. Sever.al from the dead and rewritten Peyton Place. Though mostly
screenplays were commissioned; Silliphant wrote one, Larry about vampires, 'Salem 's Lot is, in part, a study of small-town

mentality, small-town SUspICIons, and the ways in which
geographical and economic isolation create social inbreeding.
King created a metaphor for the small-town phenomenon
when, instead of the townsfolk feeding on the neighborhood
dramas, they simply feed on the neighbors.
The show that aired in November 1979 took a few short-
cuts in King's storyline, but
retained the substance and "You'LL ENjoy MR.
made some noteworthy BARLow . .. ANd IIE'LL ENjOY
additions.
David Soul stars as Ben you."
Mears, a young writer return- -'SALEMS'S LOT
ing to his hometown to write
a book about 'Salem's Lot, although we quickly learn his con-
cern is the ominous Marsten House perched atop a hill
overlooking the town . The house has an evil history, and
because Mears believes it may both attract and create evil, he
is particularly curious about the new owners, Richard Throckett
Straker Oames Mason) and Kurt Barlow (Reggie Nalder). Straker,
an urban, impeccable European, has set up their antique
business in town . Mr. Barlow is absent, though Straker
promises his impending arrival.
Mears takes a room at the local boarding house and begins
his reacquaintance with 'Salem's Lot. He meets proprietor Eva
Miller and her ex-lover Weasel (re-teaming Marie Windsor and
Elisha Cook, Jr. as they were in Stanley Kubrick's The Killing
23 years earlier); Constable Parkins Gillespie (Kenneth
McMillan); and former English teacher Matt Burke (Lew Ayres).
He kindles a romance with Susan Norton (Bonnie Bedelia).
Mears is inexorably drawn to Marsten House where one
night he meets Straker and becomes upset by the European's
unsettling presence. Mears shakes it off and goes to meet
Susan's parents, Dr. and Mrs. Norton, for dinner-to enjoy
what will be the last peaceful night of his life.
Straker has given real estate agent Larry Crockett (Fred Willard)
instructions for a crate to be delivered to the house. Larry
instructs layabout Cully Sawyer to attend to the job, but he asks
two locals to take his place. Gravedigger Mike Ryerson and
plumber Ned Tebbits have an eerie experience with the crate
while, elsewhere, Larry is having an extra-marital experience
with Cully Sawyer's wife, Bonnie, while, elsewhere, two young
boys are having a fatal experience with the sinister Mr. Straker.
The crate is delivered, Cully catches Larry and Bonnie (terri-
fying him with a shotgun), and one of the boys, Ralphie Glick,
has disappeared. Larry escapes Cully's revenge, but turns up
dead.
Straker returns to Marsten House with a small bundle, which
he leaves in the basement near the demolished crate. It is the
body of Ralphie Glick.
In the next few days, Constable Gillespie suspects Straker
of the Glick boy's disappearance, but he has his hands full
with a dying town : Danny Glick dies in the hospital after a
chilling visit from his dead brother who has become a vam-
pire. Mike Ryerson becomes ill after burying Danny and dies Reggie Nalder plays the
a day later in the home of Matthew Burke. Burke calls Mears monstrous Mr. Barlow. Nalder
to look at the body, and it is Mears who begins to suspect was producer Richard
the unbelievable. Kobritz's "wish-list" actor for
By the next night, there are many more believers. Ryerson the role. He proved to be most
returns to visit Matt Burke, who fends him off with a crucifix menacing to Lance Kerwin, the
young actor portraying Mark
but succumbs to a heart attack. A local boy, Mark Petrie (Lance
Petrie.
Kerwin), is visited by the ghoul of Danny Glick but, because
Mark is an avid horror fan, he knows who and what Danny
has become.
Ben tries to convince Susan 's father that all those cases of
pernicious anemia are not what they seem. Dr. Norton (Ed
Flanders) is unconvinced until bodies start disappearing from
the morgue. He and Mears go to watch the corpse of Mrs.
Glick-when she rises and attacks, Dr. Norton becomes a
believer.
But it seems as if it is too late. 'Salem 's Lot is behind closed

Above: Ben Mears (David Soul)
suspects some nasty doings at
the Marsten House, a
mysterious local landmari< now
owned by newcomer Straker
(James Mason) and his strange,
unseen partner Barlow. The
Marsten House itself was
less-not more-than it
seemed. For filming purposes,
a full-front and side facade
was built over an existing
cottage which overlooks
Ferndale, California.

On the creepy Marsten House
interior set, three men who
haW! brought Stephen King to
the screen discuss the eerie
events: 'Salem's Lot director
lobe Hooper, mini-series
producer Richard Kobritz and
Christine helmer John
Carpenter. Bottom: James
Mason lends suitably evil
presence to the film. "I will
consider doing anything that's
well-written," the late actor
remarked, explaining his work
in 'Salem's Lot, "even
television. "
doors, the streets are empty, the sheriff has left town-and
Barlow is on a rampage: he kills Mark Petrie's parents, a priest,
Ned Tebbits and who knows who else. Giving Barlow a name
is like naming a disease-he is the blue-faced, fanged, grunt-
ing horror of a nightmare.
Mears and Dr. Norton are ~~ ~DEATII/ TilE boy MARk
determined to kill Barlow. But
so are Susan and Mark Petrie. PETRiE TlliNks AT ONE poiNT iN
Mark arrives at the Marsten 'SALEM'S LOT, ~is WilEN TilE
House first, followed by
MONSTERS GET you.' ANd if I
Susan . Straker surprises them
both and takes Susan to meet IIAd TO RESTRiCT EVERYTlliNG I
the Master, tying up Mark for IIAVE EVER SAid OR WRiTTEN
later. Ben and Dr. Norton
arrive-Mark has escaped and AboUT TilE IIORROR GENRE TO
the three begin their search. ONE STATEMENT ••• iT would bE
Straker is defending the
TIIAT ONE."
house, though, and kills
Norton. Ben is able to kill -DANSE MACAbRE
Straker, but the sun is lower-
ing toward the horizon-Mark and Ben have only moments
to try and save Susan and kill Barlow.
In the tense climax, they discover it's too late for Susan, but
they have discovered Barlow's coffin and stake him without
a moment to spare. He is surrounded by his minions, and Ben
must settle for setting fire to the house. The vampire's face is
superimposed over the full moon as the town goes up in flames.
An epilogue relating to the prologue shows Ben and Mark
in a small church in Central America. They gather a vial of
holy water and enter a stone hut. Susan, now undead, has
followed them . Ben Mears tearfully impales her with a stake
and warns the boy that there will be others. The notion that
this epilogue has left a swell opening for a weekly TV series
is just your imagination.
D
irector Tobe Hooper confesses his career was at a
standstill when producer Richard Kobritz called him
to talk about 'Sa/em's Lot. " Bill Friedkin, who had done
The Exorcist, was developing it at one time. He was going to
produce it and have me direct, but after eight months of try-
ing, it fell out. I was considering doing The Guyana Tragedy
in Rome, I was that desperate, before Richard called ."
Kobritz had been attracted by Hooper's work on The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, the $100,000 cult film that established
Hooper's reputation. Kobritz likes to use unknown directors
because veterans can have a tendency to worry as much about
studio politics as camera angles. Young directors, he feels, focus
on the film . He aided John Carpenter's career by bringing him

Left: Ken McMillan, as
Constable Gillespie, blows
town, despite David Soul's
protests. McMillan resurfaced
in another King film, Cat's
fye, six years later. Fred
Willard and McMillan were
two supporting cast members
who brought character to
'Salem's l.ot and along with
suave James Mason (opposite
page), gave director lobe
Hooper some winning
perfonnances.
in on a TV movie, Somebody's Watching Me, and wanted to

do the same thing on 'Sa lem 's Lot. "I was looking at several
young directors," Kobritz says. "I watched an awful lot of bad
movies before I watched Tobe's. He had a great style, he had
great talent. "
" Richard liked my film style-my film language-and told me
the most important thing was to make this look like a movie,
not like television. He and I both loved Alfred Hitchcock-
we had a lot in common. We sat around and talked film, we
liked the same kind of films-I think it's one of the best rela-
tionships I've had with a producer," says Hooper.
Kobritz's budget was $4 million, then a high for a TV mini-
series, mid-range for a theatrical feature, though the budget
had to stretch over a script that was essentially the length of
two features. Hooper had six weeks to prepare for the 37-day
shooting schedule-short by any standards. Warners had
planned an edited version of 'Salem's Lot as a theatrical release
in Europe, so Hooper was also required to shoot two versions
of some of the grislier effects, one to satisfy Network Standards
and Practices in New York, and a more graphic version of cer-
tain sequences for overseas audiences.
Kobritz and Hooper conferred on casting and production
design, and came up with many imaginative alternatives to
stretch the budget and condense the story. They had chosen
the Northem Califomia town of Femdale for two weeks of loca-
tion shooting, but could find no suitable, imposing edifice to
double for Marsten House, although they found a suitable hill.
Production designer Mort Rabinowitz supervised construction
of a superstructure built around an existing house to create
the facade of Marsten House, then took over two soundstages
at Warners to create the slimy, mouldering interiors. Kobritz
had cast James Mason as Straker, and wanted the house to
reflect the character's soul-decaying, putrid, and irretrievably
evil.
As nasty as Marsten House was, the kicker was the vam-
pire. King's original Mr. Barlow was the tall, handsome (in a
pale sort of way), articulate kind of neck-biter audiences have
come to associate with Bela Lugosi or Frank Langella; Kobritz
and Hooper dredged up an inspired update of the 1922 Max
Schreck vampire from F.W. Murnau 's Nosferatu . Kobritz
wanted a fiend.
" We wanted him to be monstrous," adds Hooper. "He's
not romantic. Barlow is coming to Peyton Place to kill everyone
that lives there ... there's nothing romantic about it. We didn't
want him to talk. He's the personification of death-what's
he going to say?"
Actor Reggie Nalder was
fitted with latex appliances
"WItAT WAS I MOST pRoud of? and a skull mask to augment
FiNisitiNG iT, I GUESS." his cadaverous features .
-diRECTOR T ObE HOOPER, ON Kobritz remembered the actor
from Hitchcock's The Man
TItE filMiNG of 'SALEM'S LOT Who Knew Too Much, and
knew he wanted Nalder if he
was available. Kobritz tried to be diplomatic when he ex-
plained that it was Nalder's features he wanted to see, not a
rubber mask.
Kobritz 's other wish-list actor was Mason, who traveled from
his home in Switzerland for the role after a long absence from
television . "I will take a job," commented the actor, " when
I read a script that I find interesting and especially well-written;
that's the key."
Hooper was particularly proud of his solutions to certain ef-
fects problems. Hooper had to make his vampires float, but
he hated the idea of having to use wires: "Wires show. They
always show ." Instead, he and effects supervisor Jack Torro
suspended the actors from a boom arm that led directly behind
the back, out of sight, so the actor could be moved up and
in and back without sway or the tell-tale overshooting of marks
that is typical of wires.
The other on-camera effect that was contrived for 'Salem's
Lot was the vampires ' glowing eyes. " I tried to figure out what
makes eye hypnotic," Hooper recalls. "Why do you look at
eyes? What could attract you to them on television? If I made
them glow, you would look, at least to wonder why they were
glowing .. . I came up with the idea to put front-projection
material into the contact lenses all the vampires wore. It's the
same material they use on the front-projection screens; it kicks
back 90 percent of the light-we would hold a 100-watt bulb
to reflect and you got this true luminesence on camera."
According to Hooper, his real challenge was trying to ac-
commodate the visual handcuffs of the Network Standards and
Practices Guidelines. "There was a whole list of things that
came from Standards and Practices," he says. "Things I could
show and things I couldn't, things that I had to figure out how
to get around. You can't show a dead body on television with
its eyes open . I have no explanation for that.
" And when Fred Willard (Larry Crockett) was supposed to
put the shotgun in his mouth-well, we could shoot that for
the European release, but Standards and Practices said no way
could I show that on television. I finally talked them into hav-
ing the gun barrel a foot away from Fred 's face. It couldn't
be six inches or eight inches, it had to be 12. I had to get up
there with a ruler and measure the distance.
Despite what Hooper regards as sometimes irrational restric-
tions, his main object was to apply his expertise in the genre
of horror filmmaking; to get that "language" on the small
screen. "Brian De Palma actually coined a phrase, 'film gram-
mar,' which refers to the way particular shots are put together
by particular directors in order to tell the story," Hooper says.
"It's not something you see evidenced very often on televi-
sion . You build sequences, such as a shot of someone com-
ing through a doorway who looks at a table across the room.
On the table, there is a dagger, and as the subject approaches
the dagger, the camera dollies back across the long room, with
the subject approaching the table. And then cutting to that per-
son's point-of-view, which would be a moving shot traveling
toward the table, getting closer and closer to the dag-
ger ... that's grammar. "
Hooper reveal s the kind of thoughtful approach that Kobritz
wanted. The result was an unexpectedly frightening, genuinely
imaginative 3 1/2 hours of made-for-TV movie. (A two-hour
version was released on videocassette and cable. Unfortunate-
ly, this it dispenses with the epilogue, the backstory, and most
of the character development, and is not representative of the
television event that so impressed viewers in 1979.)
~LES FROM THE
DARKSIDE
WORd PROCESSOR of TilE Gods
K ing's short story about an unusual computer was
first published in Pla yboy as " The Word Processor"
in 1983. (King has long worked on a Wang word pro-
cessor and may have conceived the story after inadvertently
deleting a night's work.) Recently reprinted with a name
Processor" to Romero for his first season, and pointed Romero
to novelist Michael McDowell as a possible adaptor.
McDowell made the brooding yarn a little lighter in tone,
reflected by the rather silly title change, "Word Processor of
the Gods." Hagstrom (Bruce Davison) is drawn as a wimpy,
change in the collection Skeleton Crew, the story concerns hen-pecked English teacher; his wife and son are overdrawn
a mediocre writer embittered as some kind of twisted hell
about the life he may have on earth . Under the direc-
missed with his brother's wife tion of Michael Gornick,
and son, recently killed in an Romero's director of pho-
auto accident. His own wife tography on four of his films,
and son are not people he the performances are broad-
would associate with if they no one's too serious about the
weren't already his family. implications-but overall, it's
His nephew Jon leaves a be- a nice treatment by both .
quest, a slightly altered Wang The only difficulty with the
word processor. half-hour adaptation was the
One night, a power surge budget. Darkside's first season
and a little abracadabra turns was a risky venture for Laurel.
his homemade computer in- The budgets were tight and
to a dimensional door. After most episodes were shot in
some soul-searching and a lit- two or three days w ith little
tle experimentation, Richard to spend on sets and nothing
DELETES hi s family and to spend on locations. It
ENTERS hi s dream family, showed, but every bit of the
back from wherever the good $1 .98 was on screen, and the
people go. story was executed with what
The year following publica- seemed to be genuine affec-
tion, King's friend George tion for the material.
Romero and several associ- Darkside struggled through
ates created a new division of its first two seasons to land a
hi s Laurel Entertainment 42~pisode renewal for syndi-
Company, called Laurel TV, cation. A quantum leap in the
Inc. Laurel began develop- budget and improved stories
ment of a syndicated series ··HE TYPEd: made Darkside one of the
featurin g Tales From The most successful made-for-syn-
Darkside. King offered " Word MY WIFE'S PHOTOCRAPH HANCS ON dication series to date.
THE WEST WALL OF MY STUDY.
HE LookEd AT TItE WORds ANd LikEd Tit EM NO
MORE TitAN ItE LikEd TItE piCTURE iTSELF. HE Bruce Davison programs
Stephen King's "Word
PUNCItEd TItE DELETE bUTTON. TItE WORds Processor of the Gods," a
vANisltEd • • . well-received Tales from the
Darlcside episode. H's one
HE LookEd Up AT TItE WAll ANd SAW TItAT Itis rourse in computers not
taught in any school.
wiFE'S piCTURE ItAd ALso vANisItEd/'
-··TltE WORd PROCESSOR"

GRAMMA
E
arly in 1984, CBS had under wraps their plans to
resurrect The Twilight Zone as a TV series, using the
name they had held since the Rod Serling program left
the air in 1964. The network hired Simon and Simon's Phil
DeGuere and partner James Crocker as executive producers.
The two men quickly assem-
bled a staff and began look-
ing for material , with the help
of story editor Rockne S.
O ' Bannon and executive
story consultant Alan
Brennert.
DeGuere learned of a
Stephen King story called
"G ramma," which first ap-
peared in Weirdbook
magazine, and urged CBS to
option the property. The story
was included in the series
bible circulated to potential
scriptwriters, but it was
difficult to adapt and was not
immediately assigned.
Enter writer Harlan Ellison
in November 1984. DeGL
and Crocker were impres~C\J
with Ellison's ideas for the
show during a meeting con-
cerning the rights to Ellison 's
story, "Shatterday." Soon
after, the writer was coaxed
into acting as the new Twi-
light Zone's Creative
Consultant.
" Gramma " remained un-
molested until midway in the
series' production . No one
knew how to adapt it. After
Ellison read it, he understood
the difficulties, but, as he told
reporter Tyson Blue, "I don't
like adapting other people's
work. I have done it in the
past, but it presents an
additional problem . If I'm
adapting my own work, I can be ruthless. I can chop and hack
and slash without affecting the basic thrust of the story, but
I'm hesitant to do that with someone else's work ... "
Ellison had some solutions for the troublesome story and
92 STEPHEN KING ATTHE MOVIES

"Gramma" beckons to little
George (Barrett Oliver). Author
Harlan Ellison adapted this
King short story for the revival
of The Twilight Zone.
wrote a memo outlining the details, though he began the
memo by suggesting, " ... of all the Stephen King stories you
could've bought, why buy one that can't be adapted?"
When Ellison handed in the memo at a story meeting, he
says the entire executive staff simply turned in their chairs and
pointed at him . " It sorta fell to me . .. 1was the only one that
had any coherent plan for adapting it."
" Gramma" was problematic because it tells the story of a
young boy left alone with his bedridden grandmother. The
boy is terrified by the evil he senses in her. An internal
monologue reveals Gramma's history and the boy's fears, but,
externally, nothing really happens-the most the kid has to
do is get her some tea, though he is convinced it will mean
his soul to take it to her room.
Ellison devised several ways to visualize and augment the
story's static, internal nature, the first of which was to have
George (Barrett Oliver) watch his shadow sucked into grand-
ma's room, signifying her intentions. " It was one of those rare
visuals that you come up with once in a million years, " com-
mented Ellison . Sound design and voice-over became integral
to the tale-the voices of Gramma's offspring punch in the
back-story as the boy walks down the hall; the music transforms
from a homey opening tune to the menacing, low-wave
thudding of a heartbeat by the climax; Gramma asks for tea
in " a sepulchral voice, as if from the Pit."
Ellison concluded his script with a chilling image. When
mother returns and hugs her son, whose spirit has been taken
during her absence, a small spider scuttles out of his mouth.
Brrrrr. Needless to say, that item didn 't make it past CBS Net-
work Standards and Practices; slitted pupils were the
compromise.
Cinematographer Bradford May was called upon to direct
after The Exorcist's William Friedkin, who was originally slated
for the job, had to bow out. Principal photography was
scheduled for five days on the CBS soundstages at Studio City
and it was a horse race to complete the editing and voice-
over for a December 1985 airdate. Some problems with the
lighting and Barrett Oliver's
voice-over almost forced a "COME ItERE, boy," CRAMMA
reshoot, but Ellison noted that CALLEd iN A dud buzziNG
much effort by the editors and
sound men overcame the VOicE. "COME iN ItERE-
perceived problems. Both CRAMMA WANTS TO ItUG yOU."
Piper Laurie and Ellison con- -"C "
tributed some voice-overs. RAMMA
When the show finally aired, Stephen King placed a con-
gratulatory phone ca ll to Ellison . King was later to remark in
an interview that " Gramma" was, "the scariest 19 minutes
on television. "

NiGIiT SlIifr CoLLECTioN
T here's an interesting
history behind this
Gary Gray relates, "We
suspected somethi ng funny.
recent videocassette ' - - - - - - - - -_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _-' We called McCauley and
release-in fact, having these
two short films available for
TilE WOMAN·IN TII E ROOM found out thi s guy had no
right to try and sell us
home viewing is somethiing anything. We contacted
of a miracle. Doubleday, and made ar-
In 1982, New York Film rangements with them to
University School student Jeff legally obtain the rights to
Schiro arranged with Stephen package and release the two
King to film the short story films."
" The Boogey Man " as a stu- In January 1985, Gray and
dent project. King's story- Lane formed Granite Enter-
about a distraught father tainment Group to develop
whose children are mysteri- and market the property.
ously dying-featured lead Since some of King's stories
performer Michael Ried, was have sold for a great deal,
shot for about $20,000, and financing became a question.
went on to win an award at They were in no position to
the NYU Film Festival. Be- pay large fees, but Granite
cause it wasn 't planned for had an alternate proposal:
commercial release, Schiro Granite arranged a guaran-
never adually bought the teed royalty with Doubleday
rights to the story. and King, and offered the two
Around the same time, two young filmmakers a royalty
graduate film students, Frank aga inst sales. Granite gave
Darabont and Greg Melton,
made a similar arrangement
TilE BOOGEY MAN Doubleday and King a good
faith fee as well.
with King, secured around Granite contaded artist
$35,000 in financing, and Mark Matusi to design the
made a short film of " The Woman in the Room," King's tender packaging. " We recognized that, without the name Stephen
story about a son's decision to end his mother's struggle with King, these films wou ldn 't have much of a chance out there.
cancer. The adaptation featured Michael Corneilson as the We hired Matusi and spent $5,000 on the artwork alone,
lawyer, Brian Libby (Silent Rage) as a death-row inmate who because we knew we had to have a package that people would
advises him, and Dee Broxton as the Woman . Darabont ob- look at. We wanted to relate a feeling of horror, but not a
tained some exceptional performances from his adors and bloody kind of thing-more a haunting horror. " The packag-
made a polished, well written short film that was on the Oscar ing was attractive, slightly oversized to stand out on the racks
ballots. and distributed by Granite. The sales quickly recouped the
King's name drew some interest in the films once word got investment.
around of their existence. Both filmmakers were approached Gray was happy enough with the success to encourage
by an entrepreneur named Gerald Ravel and his Native Son Darabont to try his hand at another King story, "The Monkey."
Internationa I who wanted to combine and release the two They have offered to finance him in part because King felt
films on one videocassette. Ravel began to adively market the Darabont's Woman in the Room was the best short film based
two films, sent out press releases and began production and on his work. Gray comments, " We're trying to keep King's
distribution of cassettes w ithout ever having secu red the right fans in mind-they want to see him on screen, and Frank was
to do so from either King or his publishers, Doubleday. able to do that. "
Doubleday eventually got wind of the deal, as did King's The Boogey Man is definitely the weaker of the two fi lms,
agent Kirby McCauley, at the same time Ravel approached pro- but a worthy effort for a student; The Woman in the Room
ducers Gary Gray and Steve Lane (The Howling) at Granite is a polished, well performed and exceptionally well handled
Produdions to distribute the film s. adaptation of the story. King may have found a good home.

The WOfIMIJ in the Room is an uncharacteristic Stephen King
story, but the video does feature a njptmare sequence. The
Boorer MM, though, stays in line with most of King's Night Shift
tales. Dee Brcmon plays the terminally ill mother in Frank
Darabont's WOfIMIJ in the Room (below). Author King praised
this short film. The Boorer MM, NYU film student Jeff Schiro's
King adaptaion, kept viewers guessing as to whether or not
Michael Reid (bottom) was killing his own children.

Wily TilE CllildREN DON'T
Look LikE TIlEiR PARENTS
- - - - - - - - - - 8 y HARLAN ELLISON
PART ONE
IN Wlticlt WE ScUfRE TItROUGIt TItE EMbERS
T
here may be some readers for whom the name Harlan producers to put under option his every published word .
Hasten the pace, more likely.
Ellison bears less familiarity than that of Stephen King.
You could look him up in Who's Who In America if If your cousin Roger from Los Angeles, who works for a food
you want. But if you can 't spare the time, here is something catering service that supplies meals to film compan ies work-
to start with. ing on location, called to pass along the latest hot bit of in-
Stephen King is a friend of Harlan Ellison. Harlan Ellison group showbiz gossip, and he confided, " You know Steve
is a friend of Stephen King. King wrote an entire chapter in King, that weirdo who writes the scary novels? Well , get this:
Danse Macabre on Harlan Ellison . You could look it up. he worked with Errol Flynn as a secret agent for the Nazis dur-
ing World War II! " it would not drop the latest King tome one
King is taller, but Ellison is cuter. King has a beard (half the
year), but Ellison has never had a beard. That and the height notch on the Publishers Weekly bestseller listings. Pop it to
helps to identify them when they're out together getting in the top of the chart, more likely.
trouble. Ellison thinks King is Stephen King is a phenom-
enon sui generis . I've been
a terrific writer and King r~~i~;;~;:~~~;;;jii~~~~~;;;;;~ told he is fast approaching (if
thinks Ellison is a terrific
writer. But King drinks and he hasn't already .reached it)
Ellison doesn't, so take that the point of being the bestsell-
into consideration . ing American author of all
When Stephen King was in- time. In a recent survey taken
terviewed as to his opinion of by some outfit or other-and
Harlan Ellison 's adaptation of I've looked long and hard for
King's story, " Gramma ", on the item but can't find it so
the new Twilight Zone TV you'll have to trust me on
series (for which series Ellison this-it was estimated that
was Creative Consultant for a two out of every five people
year till he quit in a fight with observed reading a paperback
the CBS censors), he said in in air terminals or bus stations
print, " It is the most terrifying or suchlike agorae were
19 minutes ever put on televi- snout-deep in a King foma.
sion ." You could look it up . There has never been any-
-HE thing like King in the genre of
the fantastic. Whether you
(Having had a couple of call what he writes "horror
beers with Stephen King, and stories" or "dark fantasy" or
never once seen Ellison touch "imaginative thrillers , "
the stuff, I can attest the truth Stephen King is the un-
of his words . . . ) disputed, hands-down, non-
-JH pareil, free-form champ, three
falls out of three.
This is a Good Thing.
I
f tomorrow 's early edition of The New York Times bore Not only because King is a better writer than the usual gag
the headline STEPHEN KING NAMED AS THE DE of bestseller epigones who gorge the highest reaches of the
LOREAN DRUG CONNECTION , it would not by one in- lists-the Judith Krantzes, Sidney Sheldons, Erich Segals, and
crement lessen the number of Stephen King books sold this v.c. Andrewses of this functionally illiterate world-or because
week. Goose the total, more likely. he is, within the parameters of his incurably puckish nature,
IfTom Brokaw's lead on the NBC news tonight is, "The King a " serious" writer, or because he is truly and in the face of
of Chiller Writers, Stephen King, was found late this afternoon a monumental success that would warp the rest of us, a good
in the show wi ndow of Saks Fifth Avenue, biting the heads guy. It is because he is as honest a popular writer as we've
off parochial school children and pouring hot lead down their been privileged to experience in many a year. He writes a good
necks," it would not for an instant slow the rush of film stick. He never cheats the buyer of a King book. You mayor

Opposite: Harlan Ellison,
author and critic. Ellison
terms Stephen King's
"Children of the Com"
short story "a minor fable
of frightfulness." However,
the movie version (right),
Ellison observes was
"utterly humorless," an
example of "bestial
tawdriness. "
may not feel he brought off a particular job when you get to has killed Charlie's mommy, for no particular clear reason, and
page last, but you never feel you 've been had. He does the one they want Charlie for their own nefarious purposes, none of
job no writer may ignore at peril of tar and feathers, he delivers. which are logically codified; but we can tell from how oily these
Sometimes what he delivers is as good as a writer can get in three-piece-suiters are, that Jack Armstrong would never ap-
his chosen milieu, as in Carrie and The Shining and The Dead prove of their program. Charlie and her daddy run, The Shop
Zone and The Dark Tower. Sometimes he's just okay, as in Cujo gnashes its teeth and finally sends George C. Scott as a comic-
or Christine. And once in a while, as in the Night Shift and Dif- book hit man after them; and they capture the pair; and they
ferent Seasons collections, he sings way above his range. (And run some special effects tests; and Charlie gets loose; and a lot
those of us who have been privileged to read the first couple of people go up in flames; and daddy and the hit man and the
of sections of " The Plant," King's work-in-progress privately head of The Shop all get smoked; and Charlie hitchhikes back
printed as annual holiday greeting card, perceive a talent of un- to the kindly rustic couple who thought it was cute when she
common dimensions.) looked at the butter and made it melt.
So why is it that films made from Stephen King's stories turn The screenplay by Stanley Mann, who did not disgrace
out, for the most part, to be movies that look as if they'd been himself with screen adaptations of The Collector and Eye of the
chiseled out of Silly Putty by escapees from the Home For the Needle, here practices a craft that can best be described as
Terminally Inept? creative typing. Or, more in keeping with technology, what he
This question, surely one of the burning topics of our troubl- has wrought now explains to me the previously nonsensical
ed cosmos, presents itself anew upon viewing Firestarter phrase "word processing. " As practiced by Mr. Mann, this is
(Universal), Dino DeLaurentiis's latest credential in his strug- the processing of words in the Cuisinart School of Homogeneity.
gle to prove to the world that he has all the artistic sensitivity The direction is lugubrious. As windy and psychotic as
of a piano bench. Based on Steve King's 1980 novel, and a good Mann's scenario may be, it is rendered even more tenebrous
solid novel it was, this motion picture is (forgive me) a burnt- by the ponderous, lumbering, pachydermal artlessness of one
out case. We're talking scorched earth. Smokey the Bear would Mark L. Lester (not the kid-grown-up of Oliver!). Mr. Lester's
need a sedative. Jesus wept. You get the idea. fame, the curriculum vita, that secured for him this directional
The plotline is a minor key-change on the basic fantasy con- sinecure, rests on a quagmire base of Truck Stop Women,
cept King used in Ca rrie . Young female with esper abilities as Bobbie}o and the Outlaw (starring Lynda Carter and Marjoe
a pyrotic. (Because the people who make these films think Gortner, the most fun couple to come along since Tracy and
human speech is not our natural tongue, they always gussie up Hepburn, Gable and Lombard, Cheech and Chong), Stunts
simple locutions so their prolixity will sound "scientific." Pyrotic and the awesome Roller Boogie. The breath do catch,
was not good enough for the beanbags who made this film, so don't it!
they keep referring to the firestarter as "a possessor of Like the worst of the television hacks, who tell you everything
pyrokinetic abilities." In the Kingdom of the Beanbags, a honey- three times-Look, she's going to open the coffin! / She's open-
dipper is a "Defecatory Residue Repository Removal Supervisor ing the coffin now! / Good lord, she opened the coffin!-Lester
for On-Site Effedation.") and Mann reflect their master's contempt for the intelligence
The conflict is created by the merciless hunt for the of filmgoers by endless sophomoric explanations of things we
firestarter--€ight-year-old Charlene "Charlie" McGee, played know, not the least being a tedious rundown on what esp is sur>-
by Drew Barrymore of E. T. fame-that is carried out by a wholly posed to be.
improbable government agency alternately known as the The acting is shameful. From the cynical use of "name stars"
Department of Scientific Intelligence and " The Shop." Charlie in cameo roles that they might as well have phoned in, to the
and her daddy, who also has esper abilties, though his seem weary posturing of the leads, this is a drama coach's nightmare.
to shift and alter as the plot demands, are on the run . The Shop Louise Fletcher sleepwalks through her scenes like something
Papa Doc might have resurrected from a Haitian graveyard;
Martin Sheen, whose thinnest performances in the past have
Harlan Ellison's Watching ("Why the Children Don 't Look Like Their
been marvels of intelligence and passion, has all the range of
Parents" ) originally appeared in two installments in The Magazine of
Fantasy & Science Fiction. Copyright © 1984 by The Kilimanjaro Cor- a Barry Manilow ballad; David Keith with his constantly
poration. These critical essays appear through permission of, and by bleeding nose is merely ridiculous; and Drew Barrymore, in just
arrangement with , the Author and the Author'S agent, Richard Curtis two years, has become a puffy, petulant, self-conscious "actor,"
Associates, Inc.; New York. All rights reserved . devoid of the ingenuousness that so endeared her in E. T.

Ellison notes that "nothing
much positive can be said"
about "Christine's cheap
tricks" or Creepshow's
"intentional comic book
shallowness." Carrie-the first
noveI-into-film-is
story.
And what in the world has happened to George C. Scott's

previously flawless intuition about which scripts to do? It was
IN Wlticlt WE DiSCOVER
bad enough that he consented to appear as the lead in Paul
Schrader's loathsome Hardcore; but for him willingly to essay
Wlty TItE CltildREN
the role of John Rainbird, the ponytailed Amerind government
assassin, and to perform the part of what must surely be the most
detestable character since Divine in Pink Flamingos
DON'T Look likE
or Jabba the Hutt with a verve that borders on teeth-gnashing,
is beyond comprehension . It has been a while since I read the
TItEiR PARENTS
novel , but it is not my recollection that the parallel role in the
text possessed the McMartin Pre-School child molester mien
Scott presents. It is a jangling, counter-productive, unsavory ele-
ment that is hideously difficult to sweep from memory. That it
is in some squeamish-making way memorable, is not to Scott's
P inter works, though he shouldn't; and I'll be damned
if I can discern why; he just does. Bradbury and Hem-
ingway don't; and I think I can figure out why they don't,
which is a clue to why Stephen King doesn't either. Xenogenesis
credit. It is the corruption of his talent. seems to be the question this time around, and if you'll go to
Dino De Laurentiis is the Irwin Allen of his generation- your Unabridged and look it up, I' ll wait right here for you and
coarse, lacking subtlety, making films of vulgar pretentiousness tell you all about it when you get back.
that personify the most venal attitudes of the industry. He Time passes. Leaves flying free from a calendar. The seasons
ballyhoos the fact that he had won two Oscars, but hardly change. The reader returns from the Unabridged.
anyone realizes they were for Fellini's La Strada and Nights of Now that we understand the meaning of the word
Cabiria in 1954 and 1957-and let's not fool ourselves, even Xenogenesis, let us consider why it is that King's books-as
if the publicity f1acks do: those are Fellini films, not De Lauren- seemingly hot for metamorphosis as any stuff ever written by
tiis films-long before he became the cottage industry respon- anyone-usually wind up as deranged as Idi Amin and as cruel
sible for Death Wish , the remakes of King Kong and The Hur- as January in Chicago and as unsatisfying as sex with the pan-
ricane, the travesty known as Flash Gordon, Amityville 1/ and tyhose still on: why it is that the children, hideous and crippled
Amityville 3-D, Conan the Barbarian and the embarrassing King offspring, do not resemble their parents.
of the Gypsies. First, I can just imagine your surprise when I point out that this
But Dino De Laurentiis is precisely the sort of intellect most thing King has been around in the literary consciousness a mere
strongly drawn to the works of Stephen King. He is not a lone 10 years. It was just exactly an eyeblink decade ago that the
blade of grass in the desert. He is merelY the most visible growth schoolteacher from Maine wrote:
on the King horizon. Stephen King has had nine films made from Nobody was really surprised when it happened, not really,
his words, and there is a formulaic reason why all but one or not at the subconscious level where savage things grow .. . .
two of those films have been dross. Showers turning off one by one, girls stepping out, removing
Let me try to codify that reason, thus enabling me to blight my pastel bathing caps, toweling spraying deodorant, checking the
friendship with Stephen King. clock over the door. Bras were hooked, underpants stepped in-
to . ... Calls and catcalls rebounded with all the snap and flicker
of billiard balls after a hard break . . .. Carrie turned off the
PART Two shower. It died in a drip and a gurgle . . . . It wasn't until she
stepped out that they all saw the blood running down her leg.

Second, I'll bet none of you realized what a fluke it was that Day" and the novel was included in The Whole Earth Catalog;
King took offso abruptly. Well, here's the odd and unpredic- just as Joseph Heller, Joseph Heller's agent, Joseph Heller's
table explanation, conveyed because I happened to be there publisher and the Eastern Literary Establishment that had
when it happened. (Who else would tell you this stuff, gang?) trashed Catch-22 when it was first published, began trumpeting
Doubleday had purchased Carrie for a small advance. It was, Heller's genius when another literary agent, not Heller's,
in the corporate cosmos, just another mid-list title, a spooky named Candida Donadio ran around New York jamming the
story to be marketed without much foofaraw among the first book under people's noses, telling them it was a new American
novels, the " learn to love your brown rice and get svelte thighs classic; in just that inexplicable, unpredictable, magic way,
in 30 minutes" offerings, the books one finds in the knockoff Doubleday's in-house interest spread . To Publishers Weekly,
catalogues nine months later at $1.49 plus a free shopping to the desk of Bennett Cerf, to the attention of first readers for
bag. But King's editor read that opening sequence in which the film studios on the Coast, to the sales force mandated to
the telekinetic, Carrie White, gets her first menstrual experience sell that season 's line, to the bookstore buyers, and into the
before the eyes of a covey of teenage shrikes, and more than cocktail-party chatter of the word-of-mouth crowd . The word
the lightbulb in the locker room exploded . Xeroxes of the spread: this Carrie novel is hot.
manuscript were run off; they were disseminated widely in- And ihe readers were rewarded. It was hot: because King
house; women editors passed them on to female secretaries, had tapped into the collective unconscious with Carrie White's
who took them home and gave them to their friends. That first ordeal. The basic premise was an easy one to swallow, and
scene bit hard. It was the essence of the secret of Stephen King's once down, all that followed was characterization.That is the
phenomenal success: the everyday experience raised to the secret of Stephen King's success in just 10 years, and it is the
mythic level by the application of fantasy to a potent cultural reason why, in my view, movies based on King novels never
trope. It was Jungian archetype goosed with 10 million volts resemble the perfectly decent novels that inspired them .
of emotional power. It was the commonly-shared horrible In films written by Harold Pinter as screenplay, or in films
memory of half the population, reinterpreted. It was the flash based on Pinter plays, it is not uncommon for two people to
of recognition, the miracle of that rare instant in which readers be sitting squarely in the center of a two-shot speaking as
dulled by years of reading artful lies felt their skin stretched follows:
tight by an encounter with artful truth. CORA: (Cockney accent) Would'ja like a nice piece of fried
Stephen King, in one apocryphal image, had taken control bread for breakfast, Bert?
of his destiny. BERT: (abstracted grunting) Yup. Fried bread'd be nice.
I'm not even sure Steve, for all his self-knowledge, has an CORA: Yes ... fried bread is nice, isn't it?
unvarnished perception of how close he came to remaining BERT: Yuh . I like fried bread.
a schoolteacher who writes paperback originals as a hobby CORA: Well, then, there 'tis. Nice fried bread .
and to supplement the family income in his spare time when BERT: It's nice fried bread .
he's not too fagged out from extracurricular duties at the high CORA: (pleased) Is it nice, then?
school. BERT: Yuh. Fried bread's nice.
But just as Ian Fleming became an "overnight success" when Unless you have heard me do my absolutely hilarious Pinter
John F. Kennedy idly mentioned that the James Bond books- parody, or have seen every Pinter play and film out of un-
which had been around for years-were his secret passion; constrained admiration for the man's work-as have I-then
just as Dune took off in paperback years after its many rejec- the foregoing copy cannot possibly read well; nor should it,
tions by publishers and its disappointing sales in hardcover, by all the laws of dramaturgy, play well on-screen . But it does.
when Frank Herbert came to be called " the father of Earth I cannot decipher the code; but the cadences work like a dray

horse, pulling the plot and character development, the ever- the point where their roles are reversed .
tightening tension and emotional conflict toward the goal of An ex-prizefighter is tracked down and killed by hired guns
mesmerizing involvement that is Pinter's hallmark. for an offense which is never codified .
We have in this use of revivified language a sort of superim- A " fireman, " whose job it is to burn books because they are
posed verbal continuum at once alien to our ear and hypnotical- seditious, becomes secretly enamored of the joys of reading.
ly inviting. To say more, is to say less. It does work. A young girl with the latent telekinetic ability to start fires
But if we use the special written language of Bradbury and comes to maturity and lets loose her power vengefully.
Hemingway as examples, we see that such " special speaking" .. . bare bones that have underlain a hundred different stories
does not travel well. It bruises to easily. that differ from these in the most minimally variant ways. The
Perhaps it is because of the reverence lavished on the material plots count for little. The stories are not wildly inventive. The
by the scenarists, who are made achingly aware of the fact that sequence of events is not skuli-cracking. It is the style in which
they are dealing with literature, that blinds them as they build they are written that gives them wing. They are memorable not
in the flaws we perceive when the film is thrown up on the because of the thin storylines, but because the manner in which
screen . Perhaps it is because real people in the real world don't they have been written is so compelling that we are drawn in-
usually speak in a kind of poetic scansion. Perhaps it is because to the fictional universe and once there we are bound subjects
we love the primary materials so much that no amount of of the master creator.
adherence to source can satisfy us. But I don't think any of those Each of these examples draws deeply from the well of myth
hypotheses, singly or as a group, pink the core reason why and archetype. The collective unconscious calls to us and we
neither Bradbury's nor Hemingway's arresting fictions ever go willingly where Hemingway and Bradbury and
became memorable films . When Rock Hudson or Rod Steig~r Pinter ... and King beckon us to follow .
or Oskar Werner mouth Bradburyisms such as: Stephen King's books work as well as they do, because he
" Cora. Wouldn't it be nice to take a Sunday walk the way is writing more of shadow than of substance. He drills into the
we used to do, with your silk parasol and your long dress flow of cerebro-spinal fluid with the dialectical function of a
whishing along, and sit on those wire-legged chairs at the soda modern American mythos, dealing with archetypal images from
parlor and smell the drugstore the way they used to smell? Why the preconscious or conscious that presage crises in our culture
don't drugstores smell that way any more? And order two sar- even as they become realities.
saparillas for us, Cora, and then ride out in our 1910 Ford to like George lucas, Stephen King has read Campbell's The
Hannahan's Pier for a box supper arid listen to the brass-band. Masks of God, and he knows the power of myth. He knows
How about it? ... If you could make a wish and take a ride on what makes us tremble. He knows about moonlight reflecting
those oak-lined country roads like they had before cars started off the fangs. It isn't his plots that press against our chest, it is
rushing, would you do it?" the impact of his allegory.
or Gregory Peck or Ava Gardner carry on this sort of conversa- But those who bought for film translation 'Salem 's Lot, Cu-
tion from Hemingway: jo, Christine, Children of the Corn and Firestarter cannot read .
" Where did we stay in Paris?" For them, the "special speaking" of King 's nighmares, the ele-
" At the Crillon. You know that." ment that set King's work so far above the general run of chiller
"Why do I know that?" fiction, is merely white noise. It is the first thing dropped when
"That's where we always stayed ." work begins on the script, when the scenarist "takes a meeting"
"No. Not always." to discuss what the producer or the studio wants delivered.
"There and at the Pavillion Henri-Quatre in St. Germain. You What is left is the bare bones plot, the least part of what King
said you loved it there." has to offer. (Apart from the name Stephen King, which is what
"love is a dunghill. And I'm the cock that gets on it to crow." draws us to the theater.)
"If you have to go away, is it absolutely necessary to kill off And when the script is in work, the scenarist discovers that
everything you leave behind? I mean do you have to take away there isn't enough at hand to make either a coherent or an art-
everything? Do you have to kill your horse, and your wife and ful motion picture. So blood is added. Knives are added . Fangs
burn your saddle and your armor?" are added. Special effects grotesqueries are added . But the
what we get is the auditory equivalent of spinach. The actors characters have been dumbed-up, the tone has been lost; the
invariably convey a sense of embarrassment, the dialogue mar- mythic undercurrents have been dammed and the dialectical
ches from their mouths like Pruss ian dragoons following function has been rendered inoperative. What is left for us is
Feldmarschall von Bucher's charge at ligny, and we as audience bare bones, blood and cliche.
either wince or giggle at the pomposity of what sounds like It is difficult to get Steve King to comment on such artsy-fartsy
posturing. considerations. like many another extraordinarily successful ar-
This "special speaking" is one of the richest elements in Brad- tist, he is consciously fearful of the spite and envy his
bury and Hemingway. It reads as inspired transliteration of the preeminence engenders in critics, other writers, a fickle au-
commonplace. But when spoken aloud, by performers whose dience that just sits knitting with Mme. Defarge, waiting for the
chief aim is to convey a sense of verisimilitude, it becomes artist to show the tiniest edge of hubris. Suggest, as I did, to Steve
parody. (And that Bradbury and Hemingway have been King that Cujo is a gawdawfullump of indigestible grue, and
parodied endlessly, by both high and low talents, only adds to he will respond, "I like it. It's just a movie that stands there and
their preeminence. They are sui generis for all the gibes.) keeps punching."
The links between King and Bradbury and Hemingway in this How is the critic, angry at the crippling of each new King
respect seem to me to be the explanation why their work does novel when it crutches onto the screen, to combat such remarks?
not for good films make. That which links them is this: By protecting himself in this way-and it is not for the critic to
Like Harold Pinter and Ernest Hemingway, Ray Bradbury and say whether King truly believes these things he says in defense
Stephen King are profoundly allegorical writers. of the butchers who serve up the bloody remnants that were
The four of them seem to be mimetic writers, but they aren't! once creditable novels-he unmans all rushes to his defense.
They seem to be writing simply, uncomplicatedly, but they Yet without such mounting of the barricades in his support, how
aren't! As with the dancing of Fred Astaire-which seems so can the situation be altered?
loose and effortless and easy that even the most lumpfooted of Take for instance Children of the Corn (New World Pictures).
us ought to be able to duplicate the moves-until we try it and Here is a minor fable of frightfulness, a mere 30 pages in King's
fall on our faces-what these writers do is to make the creation 1978 collection Night Shift; a one-punch short story whose
of High Art seem replicable. weight rests on that most difficult of all themes to handle, little
The bare bones of their plots .... kids in mortal jeopardy. Barely enough there for a short film,
A sinister manservant manipulates the life of his employer to much less a feature-length attempt.
Ellison
charges Cujo
with "mind-
Iessness." He
calls Fire-
5tilfer "a
bumt-()Ut
case."
How good is this adaptation of a King story? Los Angeles Children of the Corn is merely the latest validation of the
magazine began its review of Firestarter like so: "This latest in theory; or as Cinefantastique said : " King's mass-market fiction
a seemingly endless chain of film s made from Stephen King has inspired some momentous cinematic dreck, but Children
novels isn't the worst of the bunch , Children of the Corn win s of the Corn is a new low even by schlock standards."
that title hands down. I ' That how bad it is. Of the nine films that originated with Stephen King's writings,
Within the first 3 Y2 minutes (by stopwatch) we see four pe0- only three (in my view, of course, but now almost uniformly
ple agonizingly die from poison, one man get his throat cut with buttressed by audience and media attention) have any
a butcher knife, one man get his hand taken off with a meat resemblance in quality or content- not necessarily both in the
slicer, a death by pruning hook, a death by sickle, a death by same film-to the parent: Carrie, The Shining and The Dead
tanning knife . ... at least nine on-camera slaughters, maybe 11 Zone.
(the intercuts are fastfastfastl, and one woman murdered over The first, because De Palma had not yet run totally amuck
the telephone, which we don't see but hear. Stomach go and the allegorical undertones were somewhat preserved by
whooops. outstanding performances by Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie.
Utterly humorless, as ineptly directed as a film school The second, because it is the vision of Kubrick, always an in-
freshman's class project, acted with all the panache of a grope triguing way of seeing, even though it is no more King 's The
in the backseat of a VW, Children of the Corn features the same Shining than Orson Welles 's The Trial was Kafka's dream .
kind of "dream sequences" proffered as shtick by John Landis The third, because David Cronenberg as director is the only
in An America n Werewolf in London Brian De Palma in Car- one of the field hands in this genre who seems artistically
rie and Dressed to Kill, and by even less talented of the direc- motivated; and because Christopher Walken as the protagonist
torial coterie aptly labeled (by Alan Resnai s) " the wise guy smart is one of the quirkiest, most fascinating actors working today,
alecks." These and-then-I-woke-up-and-it-had-all-been-a-bad- and his portrayal of Johnny Smith is, simply put, mesmerizing.
dream inserts, which in no way advance the plot of the film, But of Cujo's mindlessness, Christine' s cheap tricks,
are a new dodge by which Fritz Kiersch, Corn 's director, and Firestarter's crudeness, 'Salem 's Lot's television ridiculousness,
his contemporaries-blood letters with viewfinders-slip in Children of the Corn's bestial tawdriness and even Steve's own
gratuitou s scenes of horror and explicit SFX-€nhanced carnage. Creepshow with its intentional comic book shallowness,
Thi s had become a trope when adapting King's novels to the nothing much positive can be said. It is the perversion of a solid
screen, a filmic device abhorrent in the extreme not only body of work that serious readers of King, as well as serious
because it is an abattoir substitute for the artful use of terror, movie lovers, must look upon with profound sadness.
but because it panders to the lowest, vilest tastes of an already We have had come among us in the person of Stephen King
debased audience. a writer of limitless gifts. Perhaps because Stephen himself has
It is a bit of cinematic shorthand developed by De Palma taken an attitude of permissiveness toward those who pay him
specifically for Carrie that now occurs w ith stultifying regulari- for the right to adopt his offspring, we are left with the choices
ty in virtuall y all of the later movies from King's books. of enjoying the written work for itself, and the necessity of ig-
I submit thi s bogus technique is futher evidence that, £lens- noring everything on film ... or of hoping that one day, in a bet-
ed of characterization and allegory, what the makers of these ter life, someone with more than a drooling lust of the exploita-
morbid exploitation films are left with does not suffice to create tion dollar attendant on Stephen King's name will perceive the
anything resembling the parent novel, however fudged for potential cinematic riches passim these special fantasies . There
vi sual translation. And so fangs are added, eviscerations are add- must be an honest man or woman out there who understands
ed, sprayed blood is added; subtlety is excised, respect for the that King's books are about more than fangs and blood .
audience is excised, all restraint vanishes in an hysterical rush All it takes is an awareness of allegory, subtext, the parameters
to make the empty and boring seem exciting. o(the human condition . . . and reasonable family resemblance.
FiLM CREdiTS
Ope rato r .. JOEL KING
First Ass istant Camerman DUSTY BLAUVELT
Second Assista nt Camerma n JOSEPH COSKO
MJkeup . · WE SLEY DAWN
Hdir Styli ",1 ADELE TAYLOR
CO~ lum e r ... AG NES LYON
Sc ript S u pervi~o r HANNA SCHEEL
Transportation · GARY LITTLEFIELD
Production Secrel drY PATRICIA HEADE
Auditor ROBERT SINCLAIR
Sec re tary to Mr. De Palm i! WENDY BARTEL
Assistant Specia l Effects · KENNETH PEPIOT
Set Decorator ROBERT GOULD
Prop Master · GARY SEYBERT
Sound Mi xer . .. BERTIL HALLBERG
Boom Man DAVID RUST
Assistant Editor . MICHAEL KIRCHBERGER
Apprentice Editor .. . MARIA IANO
Key G rip . · EUG ENE GRIFFITH
Best Boy Grip . · . JAMES DYER
Do lly Grip KENNETH MILLER
Gaffer JOE PENDER
Best Boy · JEROME POSNER
Sound Editor DAN SABLEIMAGNOFEX
erait Service . ANG ELO CORALLI S
l oca tion Scountin g · DOW GRIF FITH
Rerecording Supervi sor · . DICK VORISEKI
TRANS-AUDIO, INC.
Music Supervisor . · . MICHAEL ARGIAGA
ThE ShiNiNG
THE CAST
Jack Torrance JACK NICHOLSON
Wendy Torrance . · . SHELLEY DUVALL
Danny . · DANNY LLOYD
Hallora n · SCATMAN CRO THERS
Ullman · . BARRY NELSON
Grady · PHILIP STON E
lloyd . .. JOE TU RKEL
· . . ANNE JACKSON
CARRiE Doctor
Durkin · .. TONY BU RTON
Young Woman in Bathtub . ...... 1IA BELDAM
· ... BIlliE GIB SON
THE CAST Old Woman in Bathtub
· BARRY DENNEN
Watson
Ca m e . . . . . . . . . . . SISSY SPACEK Forest Ran ger' 1 . . DAVID BAXT
Margaret White . . PIPER LAURIE Forest Ranger #2 . MANNING REDWOOD
Sue Snell . ... . AMY IRVING The Grady Gi rl s . · ........ LISA BURNS
Tommy Ross .... WILLIAM KAn LOUISE BURN S
Billy Nolan · .JOHN TRAVOlTA Nurse . · . ROBIN PAPPAS
Chris Hargenson . . . . . . . . . NANCY ALLEN Secretary . . ... ALISON COLERIDG E
Miss Collins . · .. BETIY BUCKLE Y Policeman BURNELL TUCKER
N orma Watson ... P.J . SOLES Stewardess ... . JANA SHELDON
Mr. Fro mm · SYDNEY LASSICK Reception ist · ... KATE PHELPS
Mr. Morton · STEFAN GIERASH Axe Head (Injured Guest! . ..... NORMAN GAY
Mrs. Snell · . PRISCILLA POINTER
Freddy . · MICHAEL TALBOT PRODUCTION CREDITS
The Beak DOUG COX
George HARRY GOLD Produced and Directed By · STANLEY KUBRICK
Frieda . NOELLE NORTH Screenplay By · STANLEY KUBRICK
Cora .......... ClNDY DALY DIANE JOHNSON
Rhonda DIERDRE BERTHRONG Produced in Association wi th · .. THE PRODUCER
Ernest · ... ANSON DOWNES CIRCLE COMPANY
Kenny .. RORY STEVENS ROBERT FRYER
MARTIN RI CHARDS
Helen EDIE McCLURG
Boy on Bicycle . . ....... CAMERON De PALMA MARY LEA JOHN SON
Based upon the Novel By . ...... STEPHEN KING
PRODUCTION CREDITS Executive Produce r · .. JAN HARLAN
Photographed By . JOHN ALCOn
Produdion Designer . ROY WALKER
D irected By ..... BRIAN De PALMA Film Editor . RAY LOVEJOY
Produced By · .. PAUL MONASH Music · BELA BARTO K
Screenplay By . LAWRENCE D . COHEN Music For Strings, Percuss ion &
Based on the Novel By . ........... . STEPHEN KING Celesta Conduded By .......... . . ..... HERBERT VON KARAJAN
Edited By . PAUL HIRSCH Recorded By DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
Associate Producer ....... . .. . . LOUIS STROlLER WENDY CARLOS
D irector of Photography .......... MARIO TOSI RACHEL ELKIND
Music .. PINO DONAGGIO GYORGY lIGETI
Art Directors . ....... WILLIAM KENNY KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI
JACK FISK Production M anage r . DOUGLAS TWIDDY
Costume Designe r · . ROSANNA NORTON Assistant Director . .... BRIAN COOK
Stunt Coordinator . · . . RICHARD WEIKER Costumes By . MILENA CANONERO
Casti ng By . ... HARRIET B. HELBERG Steadicam Operator . ....... GARREn BROWN
Special Effects ......... . GREGORY M . AUER Helicopter Photogra phy By . M acG ILLIVRAY FREEMAN FILMS
Sets By · ....... . " GET SET" Assistant to the Prooucer . . ANDROS EPAMINONDAS
l ocations By · ClNEMOBILE SYSTEM S Art Director .. . LE S TOMKINS
First Ass istant Director · DONALD HEITlER Make-Up Artist .......... .. .... TOM SMITH
Second Assistant Di rector · . WILLIAM scon Personal Assistant to the Director . . LEON VITALI

Hairstyles LEONARD Billy .. JOE KING
Camera Opera tors KE LVIN PIKE Tabilha Raymond · . CH RISTINE FO RREST
JAM ES DEVIS Richard Raymond ... CHUCK ABER
Second Uni l PhOlograph y DOUG LAS MILSOME HOSI · . CLETUS ANDERSON
M acG ILLIVRAY FREEMAN FILM Maid · KATIE KARLOVITZ
Focus Assi stants DOUGLAS MILSOME Ya rbro · PETER MESSER
MAURICE ARNOLD Garbage Man # 1 ....... MARTY SCHIFF
Camera Ass istants PETER RO BINSON Garbage Man #2 . TOM SAVINI
MARTIN KENZIE
DANNY SHELMERDINE
G rip . DENNIS LEWIS TltE DEAd ZONE
Gaffers . LOU BOGUE
LARRY SMITH
Sound Edi tors .WYN RYDER THE CAST
DINO DI CAMPO
Johnny Smilh · . CHRISTOPHER WALKEN
JACK KNIGHT
Sarah Brack nell · .. BROOKE ADAMS
Sound Recordi sts . IVAN SHARROCK
Sheriff Ban nerman · TO M SKERRln
RICHARD DANIEL
Dr . Sam Weisak · HERBERT LOM
Dubbing Mixer ... BILL ROWE
Roger Sluart . · ANTHONY ZERBE
Assi stant Editors .GILL SMITH
Henrietta Dodd ..... COlLEEN DEWHURST
GORDON STAINFORTH
greg Slilison · . MARTIN SHEEN
20 's M usic Advisers BRIAN RUST
Frank Dodd NICHOLAS CAMPBELL
JOHN WADLEY
Herb Smith · SEAN SULLlV,oItN
Assistant Directors · TERRY NEEDHAM
Vera Smith . JACKIE BURROUGHS
MICHAEL STEVENSON
son ny Elliman . . .. GEZA KOVACS
Make-U p ArtiS! · BARBARA DALY
Alma Frechette . · ....... ROBERT WEISS
Conti nuity · . JUNE RANDALL
Chris Sluart · .... SIMON CRAIG
Producti on Accountant ..... JO GREGORY
D ardis . PETER DVORSKY
Construction Manager LEN FURY
Amy .. . JULIE-ANN HEATHWooD
Set Dresse r . TESSA DAVI ES
Wall . BARRY FLATMAN
Property Master · . PETER HANCOCK
Denni . 1 . · RAFFI TCHALIKIAN
D ecor Arti st . · ROBERT WALKER
Vice President . . KEN POGUE
Second Assistan t Editors . ADAM UNGER
Five Star General . .. ... GORDON JOCH YN
STEVE PICKARD
Secrelary of Slale TE . · .. BILL COPELAND
H otel Consultant .... . TAD MICHEL
TherapiS! . · . JACK MESSINGER
Casti ng .... JAMES LlGGAT
Nurse .... ........... . · .. CHAPELLE JAFFE
Locati on Resea rch ... JAN SCHLUBACH
Natalie . CINDY HINES
KATHARINA KUBRICK
Weisak's Mother . . HELENE UDY
MURRAY CLOSE
Teenage Boy With Camera · RAMON ESTEVEZ
Production Secretari es · . PAT PENNELEGION
Young Weisak . JOSEPH DOMENENCHINI
MARLENE BUTLAND
Rep<>ners ROGER DUNN
Produ cer's Sec retary . · . MARGARET ADAMS
WALLY BONDARENKO
Prod ucti on Assistant EMILIO D 'ALESSANDRO
ClAUDE RAE
Colour G radin g EDDIE GORDON
TV Anchorman · .. JOHN KOENSGEN
Engineering By NORANK OF ELSTREE
Bren ner · ... LES CARLSON
Wardrobe Supervisors . . .. KEN LAWTON
Deputy #1 · ........ JIM BEARDEN
RON BECK
Deputy .2 .. · ...... HARDEE LINEHAM
Draughtsmen .... JOHN FENNER
Ambulan ce Driver · .... WILLIAM DAVIS
M ICHAEL LAMONT
Denny #2 · .... SIERGE LeBLANC
MICHAEL BOONE
Polish Peasants · .. VERA WINIAUSKI
Property Bu yers . .. .... EDWARD RODRIGO
JOE KAPNAIKO
KAREN BROOKES
Truck Driver . DAVE RIGBY
Video Operator · ..... DAN GRIMMEL
Boom Operators . KEN WESTON
M ICHAEL CHARMAN
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Drapes BARRY WILSON Directed By DAVID CRONENBERG
Master Plasterer .. TOM TARRY Produced By .. DEBRA HILL
Head Ri gger . · ..... JlM KELLY Screenplay By · . JEFFREY BOAM
H ead Ca rpenter . FRED GUNNING Based on Ihe Nove l By . · ... STEPHEN KING
H ead Painter ..... DEL SMITH Director of Photography. . .. MARK IRWIN C.S.c.
Property M en BARRY ARNOLD Production Designer . · .... CAROL SPIER
PHILIP McDONALD Film Edilor RONALD SANDERS
PETER SPEN CER Associate Producer ............ JEFFREY CHERNOV
Costume Designer · . OLGA DIMITROV R.C.A.
CREEpsllOW Music Composed and Arranged By .
Casting By
· ..... MICHAEL KAMEN
· .. JANE JENKINS &
JANET HIRSHENSON A.S.C.D.&
THE CAST DEIRDRE BOWEN
Production Manager . · ..... JOHN M . ECKERT
Henry Northrup · HAL HO LBROOK First Assistant Director . . ........ JOHN BOARD
Wilma Northrup . . ... ADRIENNE BARBEAU Second Assistant Director .. . OnA HANUS
Dexter Slanley . · . FRITZ WEAVER Third Assistant Director . · ...... LYDIA WAZANA
Ri chard Vickers . ....... LESLIE NIELSEN l ocation Manager . . . . .... DAVID COATSWORTH
Sy lvia Grantham ...... CARRIE NYE Production Coordinator . . ........... . · ......... PHILIPPA KING
Upson Pratt . . . E. G . MARSHALL Script Supervi~r . . G ILLIAN RICHARDSON
Aunl Bedelia · VIVECA LINDFORS Assistant to M s. Hill . · .. RANDI CHERNOV
Hank Blaine . .................. ED HARRIS Assistant to Mr. Cronenberg . . CAROL McBRIDE
H arry Wentworth ...... . TED DANSON First Assistant Camera . . · . . . . ROBIN MILLER
Jordy Verrill . ............ STEPHEN KING Second Assistant Camera . · DONNA MOBBS
Richard G rantham · . WARNER SHOOK Special Effects Coordinator . ..... . .. . JON BELYEU
Charlie Gereson .... ROBERT HARPER Special Effects Foreman ........ . . . · ... CALVIN ACORD
Cass Bl ai ne · ELIZABETH REGAN An Director BARBARA DUNPHY
Becky Vickers ...... GAYLEN ROSS Assistant Art Director .... DAN DAVIS
Nathan Grantham . .. . .... JON LORMER Set Decorator .. . ............... . . .. TOM COULTER
Mike the Janitor . . DON KEEFER Wardrobe Master ... . . .. .. . . . . · . ARTHUR ROWSElL
Jordy's Dan & Cameos . . BINGO O 'MALLEY Wardrobe Mi stress. . ........ . . DENISE WOODLEY
Nathan's Corpse . · . JOHN AMPLAS Makeup ArtiS! . .... SHONAGH JABOUR
While DAVID EARLY Hair StyliS! . . ......... JENNY ARBOUR
Mrs. Danvers. . ..... NANN MOGG Production Accountant · HEATHER MciNTOSH
Bill y's Mother · . IVA JEAN SARACENI Assistant Accountants . LYN LUCIBELLO

SUSAN M cKIBBIN Sound Ed itoria l Coord inator · . DEVON HEFFLEY
Property Mastcr PETER LAUTERMAN Mu<; ic Performed By THE NATIONAL
Assistant Props . DON MILOYEVICH PHILHARMON IC ORCHESTRA
Sc t Dresse rs . GARETH W ILSON Recorded At EMIIABBEY STU DIOS,
GARY JACK LONDON , ENGLAND
TOM REID Recording Engineer ERI C TO MLIN SON
Sou nd Mi xer . BRYAN DAY Music Sound Effects Engineer · JAMES GUTHRIE
Boom Operator .... MICHAEL LAC RO IX Titl es Designed By RlGREENBERG ASSOCIATES, INC.
Re- Recorded At GOLDWYN SOUND FACILITY
RC'-R(>("ording Mixers BILL VARNEY
STEV E MASLOW
G REGG LANDAKER
Key Grip .. MARIS JAN SON S CkRiSTiNE
G rips · CHRISTOPHER DEAN
DAVID HYNES
MARK SILVER THE CAST
Gaffer · . JOCK BRANDIS
Best Boy .... . SCOTIY ALLEN Arni e · .. KE ITH GORDON
Generator Operator · .. GARY PHIPPS D ennis .JOHN STOCKWELL
Electrician s ... IRA COHEN Leigh · ALEXANDRA PAUL
JOHN HERZOG Darnell ROBERT PROSKY
Ex tra Casting .. PETER LAVENDER Junkin s . HARRY DEAN STANTON
Publi city . PRUDENCE EMERY Regina Cunningham · CHRISTINE BELFORD
Ass istant Editors ELAINE FOREMAN LeBay RO BERTS BLOSSOM
MICHAEL REA Buddy · W ILLIAM OSTRANDER
Trainee Editor . . . TIM DUNPHY Mr. Casey DAVID SPIELBERG
Trainee Art Director Moochi e · .. MALCOLM DANARE
· JO-ANN LADEN HElM
D raft sman Ri ch · STEVEN TASH
......... ALFRED
Storyboard Artist Vandenberg · STUART CHARNO
.. JlM CRAIG
Camera Trainee · .... DAVID WOODS Roseanne · . KELLY PRESTON
Underwater Came ra ..... JOHN STONEMAN Chuck · ... MARK POPPEL
Still Photographer ..... RICK PORTER Michael Cu nningh am · ... ROBERT DARNELL
Production Assistant ... ANDREAS BLACKWELL Pepper Boyd RI CH ARD COLLIER
Office Assistant s .. ANDREA POULIS Mr. Sm ith · BRUCE FRENCH
CAROLYN M cKENZIE Bemis · DOUGLAS WARHIT
Wa rdrobe Ass istant ...... MAUREEN GURNEY Ellie · . KER I MONTGOMERY
Special Effects . .. MARK MOLIN li braria n · JAN BURRELL
MICHAEL KAVANAGH
LAIRD M cMURRAY
CLARK JOHNSON
DEREK HOWARD
PRODUCTION CREDITS
DAVID ZIMMERMAN
GIANICO PRETTO
Di rected By JO HN CARPENTER
SONAN SOOKAD
Produced By · ....... RICHARD KOBRITZ
MICHAEL NEWMAN
Sc reenpl ay By · .... BILL PHI LLIPS
D . HARRY PERSAD
Based Upon the Novel By . · .. STEPHEN KIN G
Constru ction Manager .. JOE CU RTIN
Di rector of Photogra ph y . . DONALD M . MORGAN, A.S.C.
H ead Ca rpen ters ... JOHN BANKSO N
Production Des igner . · DANIEL LOMINO
KIRK CHENEY
Edi ted By · MARIO N RO THMAN
Ca rpenters .. MYLES RO TH
Execu ti ve Produ cers. KIRBY M cCAU LEY &
ROBERT WIENS
MARK TARLOV
Sceni c Painters · NICK KO SON IC
Co-Proo ucer · .. LARRY FRAN CO
HARRY PAVEL SON
Mu sic By · JOHN CARPENTER
JANET CORMACK
In Assoc iati on With . ALAN HOWARTH
STEVEN MEIL
Associa te Producer . . .. . . . BARRY BERNARDI
Stu nt Coord inators D ICK WARLOCK
Casting By . KAREN REA
CAREY LOFTIN
Production Manager · RO BERT DOUDELL
Stunt s . LOREN JAN ES
Fi rst Ass istant Director · .. LARRY FRAN CO
DAVID RIGBY
Second Assistant D irector · JACK PHILBRI CK
PETER COX
Specia l Effects Supervisor ROY ARBOGAST
GR EG WALKER
Transportation & "Christine" Coordinati on . · EDDIE LEE VOELKER
DWAYNE MclEAN
Set Des igner . . W ILLIAM JOSEPH DURRELL, JR.
LESLIE MUNRO
Set Decorator ... CLOUDIA
SHANE CARDWE LL
Production Illustrator . · GEORGE JENSON
DICK FORSAYETH
l ead man DARIL ALDER
JEROME TIBERGHIEN .J.o. SM ITH
Set Dresse rs
H orse Wranglers JO HN SCOTT
RICHARD CHIRCO
TOM G LA SS
Sou nd Mixer · THOMAS CAUSEY
RICHARD COSGROVE
Boom Operators · .. JOSEPH BRENNAN
Craft Serv ice . JESSE COHOON
HANK GARFIELD
Video Electronic Effects · MICHAEL LENNICK
Came ra Opera tor · CHRIS SCHWIEBERT
Transporta ti on Coordindlur · MICHAEL CURRAN
First Assistant Ca merama n . · ANTHONY J. RIVETTI
Driver Captain . AL KOSON IC
Second Ass istant Cameraman · MARC MARGULIES
Dri ve rs . DAVID CH UD
Panaglide Operator . JOSEPH VALENTINE
IZIDORE MUSALLAM
Still Photograph y . KIM G'OTTLlEB-WALKER
JEROME M cCANN
Publicity Coord inator · PETER J. SILBERMANN
CACTUS
Property Ma ster · . KENT H . JOHNSON
ALEX DAWES
Ass istant Property Ma ster . LOU IS S. FLEMING
DAVID BROWN
Still son Bi llboa rd Concept By STEWART SHERWOOD Script Supervisor KISUNA JACOBSEN
Still son Photographs By . STEVE SHAPIRO D .C. A. Trainee · .. CONN IE GARCIA-SINGER
Biomedi ca l Advi sor Costume Supervi sor · ...... DARRYL LEVINE
· . JEREMY F. KEABLE
Weapons By SPECIAL MISSIONS G ROUP Women 's Costume r · .... DAWN JACKSON
Supervi Sing Sound Editor Make- Up Superv isor ....... ... BOB DAWN
DAVID YEWDALL
So und Ed itors . H ai r Stylist . · . FRANKIE BERGMAN
KEN SWEET
Ass istant Film Editor · . ... .... .. VIRGINIA KATZ
DUANE HARTZELL
Casting Ass istant · ANNETTE BENSON
DAVID STONE
CARYL WICKMAN Ex tra Castin g · . EXTRACAST:
MICHAEL GU TIERREZ PETER & JAN ICE SPITZER
104 STEPHE N KING AT THE MOVIES

l ocation Manager KARLENE GALLEGL Y
Ass istant To Mr. Kobritz SHIRLEY BONNER
Assi stant To Mr. Carpenter ELLEN BENJAMIN
Producti on Coordinator BRIDG ET MURPHY
Production Sec reta ry · CAROL ROSENTHAL
Production Accountant . · LARRY HAND
Assistant Produ ction Accou ntant . BETHANY BROWN
Office Ass istant MARY McKERNAN
Spec ial Effects Foreman . . BILL LEE
Special Effects DAVID l. SIMMONS
E. HUI
KEVIN QUIBELL
TED ALLEN
RICHARD WOOD
MICHAEL REEDY
Moldmakers ... JEFF HOUSE
RICHARD RUIZ
Constru ction Coordinator · WALT HADFIELD
Paint Foreman · .. JOHN TYRRELL
Painter . ANTHONY J. LEONARDI, JR.
Gaffers .... GARY H . HOLT
LOU TOBIN
Electrica l Best Boys . THOMAS R. BARONE Set D ecorator · JOHN BERGMAN
ALEX SKVORZOV Set Dresser BOB ANDRE S
Stunt Coordinator .. · ... TERRY LEONARD BOB ZIEMBICKI
Stunts · . BUFF BRADY ELSIE ROWLAND
DAVID D . DARLING Set Painter . · MICHAEL BERDICK
TED DUNCAN Set D esigner . · JOSEPH GARRITY
TOM ELLIOTT Construction Coordinator . DEAN BROWN
DONNA EVANS Ca rpenter . RICHARD HOCHSCHILD
CLIFFORD HAPPY Visual Effects Ass istants . BOB CLARK
ROBERT LEE HARRIS KATHY CLARK
NORMAN HOWELL DAVID NELSON
MIKE H . McGAUGHEY Script Supervisor . JACQU ELINE SAUNDERS
JOHN MEIER First Assistant Ca meraman . ALEXAN DER WITT
CONRAD E. PALMISANO Second Assistant Ca meramen RICK OSBORN
KERRY ROSSALL VERN NOBLES
BEN R. SCOTT Steadicam Operator . · DAVID PRINGLE
JOHN-CLAY SCOTT Still Photographers . .. JOHN BUSH
DEAN SMITH GALE ADLER
DICK WARLOCK Sound Mixer . . MARK ULANO
JIM WILKEY Boom Operator PATRUSHKHA MIERZWA
WALTER WYATT Production Associate . . MARIO ISCOVICH
Production Coordinator · CHRISS STRAUSS
Gaffer . DENNIS PETERSEN
Best Boy · .... PAT REDDISH
Cujo lamp Operators IAN KINCAID
GARLAND WYLDE
JON TILTON
THE CAST JAY SCHUMANN
Key Grip BRUCE HAMME
Donna Trenton . ... DEE WALLACE
Best Boy . TODD SMITH
Tad Trenton . DANNY PINTAURO
Dolly G rip . · ARL Y THOMSEN
Vic trenton . DANIEL HUGH- KELLY
Grips · RICH MITCHELL
Steve Kemp . CHR ISTOPHER STONE
PO PCORN SIMMONS
loe Camber .... ED LAUTER
Property Master . ROGET CRANDALL
Cahrity Camber BILL Y JACOBY
Assistant Propman . . WAYNE IVERSEN
Brett Ca mber . BILL Y JACOBY
First Aid PHIL STRAUSS
Gary Perv ier ... MILLS WATSON
Assistant Film Editor STEVE POTTER
Bannerman . SANDY WARD
Re- Record in g . GLEN GLEN SOUND
Masen · JERRY HARDIN
Re-Recording Mixers . RAY WEST, C.A.S.
Professor . MERRITT OLSEN
DAVID J. HUDSON
Roger Brea kstone ..... ARTHUR ROSENBERG
RO BERT GLASS
Harry HARRY DONOVAN - SMITH
Supervi sin g Sound Ed itor . · MICHAEL HILKENE
M ea ra . . ROBERT ELRO SS
Sound Editing ECHO FILM SERVICES
Fournier · ROBERT BEHLING
BRIAN COURCIER
Lad y Reporter . CA LIRE NONO
DAVID ELLIOT
Dr. M erkatz DANIEL H . BLATT
FRED JUDKINS
PRODUCTION CREDITS JOHN GLiNE
RUSS TINSLEY
Directed By · LEWIS TEAGUE Mu sic Editin g . RICHARD STONE
Produ ced By . DANIEL H . BLATT FOR LA DA PRODUCTION S
ROBERT SINGER Music Supervised By DON PERRY
Screenplay By . DON CARLOS DUNAWAY Costume Designer . JACK BUEHLER
LAUREN CURRIER Assistant Costumer . NANCY FOX
Based On The Novel By ... STEPHEN KING M akeup Artist ROBIN NEAL
Associate Producer · . NEIL A. MACHLIS Ass istant Spec ial Makeup . MICHAEL LAVALLEY
Dirfftor Of Photography .JAN De BONT Hairstylist . JULIE PURCELL
Production D esig ner . GUY COMTOIS Wardrobe Ass istant LESLIE MORALES
Editor . . NEIL TRAVIS Special Effects RICK JOSEPH SEN
Casting By JUDITH HOLSTRA Assi stant Special Effects LYNN MAUGHN
MARCIA S. ROSS St unt Coordinator . CONRAD E. PALMISANO
Music By · CHARLES BERN STEIN Stunt Doubles ........ . JEANNIE COULTER
Unit Production Manager . · . NEIL A . MACHLIS ROXANA WHITFIELD
First Assistant Director .. JERRY GRAN DEY JACKIE MARTIN
Second Assistan t Director . ... . MICHAEL GREEN CHRIS HOWELL
Animal Action By · . KARL LEWIS MILLER BOB HERRON
SpeCial Visual Effects Makeup By PETER KNOWLTON WALTER WYATT

Rachel 's Gang-Kim Adam,. Deborah Bernstein, Bill Eckman, Jill Fisher, Kathleen
Hamm, Stacey Herbst, Jodie Kleinberg, Duffy Lehmberg, Melis.. Neimeier, Doug
Port. Jeff Rabbin, Russell Roach. Ann Schaffhausen, Robby Sievers. Richard Stabe and
Tim Mook.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Executive Producers ....... EARL GLICK
CHARLES J. WEBER
Producers · DONALD P. BORCHERS
TERRENCE KIRBY
Director . . . FRITZ KIERSCH
Screenplay . . . GEORGE GOLDSMITH
Based on a story by . . ....... STEPHEN KING
Senior Vice President ProductionlNew World Pictures ...... DONALD P. BORCHERS
Music . · ..... JONATHAN ElIAS
Casting . LINDA FRANCIS
Di rector of Photography . .. RAOUL LOMAS
Special Visual Effects . · .. MAX W . ANDERSON
Associate Producer .. . ..... . . MARK LIPSON
Production Executive . · JEFFREY CHERNOW
Production Supervisor . · MICHAEL WINTER
Editor . . ....... HARRY KERMIIDAS
Art Director . . . CRAIG STEARNS
Production Manager . ......... JOSEPH MADALENA
GARY MORGAN Set Decorator . CRICKET ROWLAND
Animal Handl ers .... GLEN GARNER Property Master · ... ROBIN MILLER
JACKIE MARTIN Wardrobe . · . BARBARA scon
Craft Service · .... . PERRY HUSMAN Script Supervisors . · . PATIENCE THORESON
Welfare Worker · AILEEN ROHLOFF FRANKIE NIXON
l ocation Auditor · .. PAUL KOVALCHUK Makeup .. ERICA UELAND
Assistant Accountant . ...... CELIA CADENA Hair Stylist ROSEMARY WEIBELHAU S
Accounting Secretary . PAT BORRI Sound Mixer · JON " EARL " STEIN
l ocation Manager ....... DEBORAH LAWSON First Assistant Director . .. SUSAN GELB
Generator Operator . . . . . . . . CHESTER SOHN Second Assistant Director . . ROBERT DEVRIES
Transportati on Coordinator · .. EDDIE LEE VOELKER Producton Coordinator . ... VIGORIA " PINKY" PEARMAN
Assista nt Coordinator . · ... DAN PHILLIPS Stunt Coordinator . BRUCE PAUL BARBOUR
Drivers . . . . BLACKIE BISSONNETII Dialogue Coach/Extra Casting . JEFFREY GREENBERG
JIM CAMPBELL Camera Operator . S. PHILLIP SPARKS
PAM DANielS Second Unit Director of Photography . DOUG O 'NEONS
JIM HUFFEY Key Grip . JOHN SAVKA
.MARTY HUFFEY Best Boy . . .JOHN VOURNAS
JIM MASON Associate Editor . .. CHRISTOPHER COOKE
JIM O 'KEEFE Assistant Editor · .... DEBRA C NEIL
laborers .... ROBER GRAHAM Proouction Auditor · ....... JlLL BASEY
JAMES McelROY Unit Publicist . JOE SANTLEY
Producti on Assistant s . TDM ZAPATA Sti ll Photographer . . .. . M.J. ELLIOT
CHRIS MEDAK Special Effects .. SPFX, INC
PIXIE LAMPPU ERIC RUMSEY
Extra Casting By ...... . ... . ...... PANDA TALENT AGENCY Visual Effects Coordinator . . PAULA LUMBARD
Catering By . . . MR. SCHULTZ ENTERPRISES INC Optical Camera . . . VITO " JACK" CODINI
Assi stant Cooks . . . . DESMOND GIFFEN Assistant Optical Camera . . · . ZOE ALEXIS BUDA
MARK MOElTER Additional Optical Effects . . V.CE. INC
Unit Publici st . · .... BOOTS LEBARON Assistants to the Producers ....... JAN LEWIS
Title & Opti cal s By ...... MODERN Film EFFEGS DAVID SIMKIN S
Main Titl e Graphic By .... CIMARRON PRODUGIONS, INC Production Secretary . ... . . .. DEBRA MAGIT
Special Consultant . . MAMIE GODSTEIN Sound . . RYDER SOUND SERVICES, INC
Executive Production Manager . . . . . . . . . . . GEORGE GOODMAN Re-Recording Mixer . . . ... GARY BOURGEOIS
Product ion Supervi sor · ELLIOT FRIEOGEN NEIL BRODY
JOSEPH ClTARELLA
Sound Design · GREGG BARBANELL
CltildREN of mE CORN Titles and O pti ca ls .
Color .
. IMAGE 3
. ... CFI
THE CAST CAT'S EYE

Dr. Burt Stanton . PETER HORTON THE CAST
Vicky Baxter ... LINDA HAMILTON
Diehl ... R.G . ARMSTRONG Our Girl . . . . . . . . • .. . . . ... DREW BARRYMORE
Isaac .JOHN FRANKLIN Morrison . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . .. . ....... JAMES WOODS
Malachai ....... COURTNEY GAINS Dr. Donani .... . ..... . ALAN KING
Job .......... . ROBBY KIGER Cressner . . . •.•.. . .. .. . •. . . . KENNETH McMILLAN
Sarah . · . ANNEMARIE MceVOY Norris . . . . .. ROBERT HAYS
Rachel . . JULIE MADDALENA Sally Ann . . CANDY CLARK
Joseph ......... JONAS MARLOWE Hugh .. JAMES NAUGHTON
Amos .... JOHN PHILBIN Junk . . ... TONY MUNAFO
Boy ... DAN SNOOK Mr. M cCann .. . COURT MILLER
Dad ......... . DAVID COWAN Mr. Milquetoast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . .... RUSSELL HORTON
Mom · . SUZY SOUTHAM Mrs. Milquetoast .. PATRICIA BENSON
Mr. Hansen . · ...... . D.G. JOHNSON Cindy . . MARY D 'ARCY
H ansen Customer . · .... . PATRICK BOYlAN Drunk Businessman .. . ... JAMES REBHORN
Hansen C ustomer . ......... . . · .. ELMER SODERSTROM Janitor . . JACK DILLON
H ansen Customer .. .. TERESA TOIGO Mrs. M cCann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. SUSAN HAWES
AND Jerrilyn . . . . . . . . • . •. . .. SHELLY BURCH
The Young people from Sioux City. Iowa who portray the Children of the Corn: WestJake .•. •.•.•. .. . •. . . SAL RICHARDS
AJbert . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . JESSE DORAN
Malachai 's Gang- Mike Altman , Ron Altman , Peggy Cole. Mark Cord, Jennifer Marcia . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . . . . .. •. •.•. . . . .. PATRICIA KALEMBER
Jackson , Angie Neimeier, Dennis Poppenga, Michele Ryan , M ike Ryan , Robin Ducky . . . . . . . . . .. . . .......... MIKE STARR
Southam, Knox Thompson, Dan Win and T.i m Roberts. Dom . . . . . . . . . . . . CHARLES DUnON

PRODUCTION CREDITS KENNY LLOYD
BEN MOTTESHEAD
Directed by LEWIS TEAGUE Production Assistants · CHIP HACKLER
Produced by . . .. MARTHA J. SCHUMACHER CHRISSIE DAVIS
Screenplay by · STEPHEN KING GARRET HOGAN
Director of Photography ............... JACK CARDIFF Crafts.ervice · .. CARRIE DUROSE
Film Editor · SCOTT CONRAD, A.CE. Construction Manager ... JEFFREY P. SCHLATTER
Production Designer ... . . . ... .. ...... GIORGIO POSTIGLIONE lead Carpenter · .JAMES A. BRINSON
Costume Designer . . ... . . ......... CLIFFORD CAPONE Paint Foreman · . H . WARD WELTON
Creatures Created by · CARLO RAMBALDI Scenic Artist ROBERT TESTERMAN
Music by . ALAN SILVESTRI Model Makers . . . JACINTO SORIA MUNOZ
Production Executive JOHN M . ECKERT ANGEL ARRIOLA DE LA CRUZ
Casting by HOWARD FEUER & Tran slator KAREN RICHARDSON
JEREMY RITZER Additional Casting FINCANNON & ASSOCIATES
Second Unit Director . · GLEN RANDALL JR. Animal Adion · KARL LEWIS MILLER
U nit Production Manager/ Animal Trai ners . · TERESA MILLER
First Assistant Director . . . . . KUKI LOPEZ RODERO ALVIN MEARS
Second Assistant Director BRUCE MORIARTY JOHN JENNINGS
Foreground Models . .... EMILIO RUIZ NOEL TOMLINSON
Proouction Accountant . HEATHER MciNTOSH SuperviSing Sound Editor . · ROBERT R. RUTLEDGE
Production Coordinator . · . SUZANNE LORE Supervising Mu sic Editor . ....... JOAN BIEL
location Manager · .. MICHAEL STROUD Special Vocal Effects FRANK WELKER
Script Supervisor · . SHARRON REYNOLDS Re-recorded at · WARNER HOLLYWOOD
Camera Operator . · ..... NEIL BINNEY Re-recording Mi xer . ROBERT lITT
Focus Puller · ROGER M cDONALD RICK KLINE
Second Assistant Came ra .. JOHN SHEEREN ELLIOT TYSON
Camera Apprenti ce . · . CHRISTOPHER OTT Music Recorded at . .. GROUP IV RECORDING INC
Sound Mixer · .... DONALD SUMMER Music Consultant . · . GILBERT MAROUANI
Boom Operator . · MARY JO DEVENNEY Music Scoring Mi xer . · . DENNIS SANDS
Sound Cableman . · ROD SCHUMACHER Titles Created by . MEDIAWORKS, INC , N .Y.
Art Director . · . JEFFREY GINN Color by · TECHNICOLOR
Set Des igner · .... E.C CHEN Lighting Equipment. . .... LEE LIGHTING AMERICA
lunior Draftsperson · ..... JERRY HALL Optical Effects by . . . ... VAN DER VEER PHOTO EFFECTS
Art Department P.A. . CATHERINE DAVIS Catering by . . ... . D.D.l. FooDSHOW IN .C)
Storyboard Artists . · . KIRK THATCHER Stunt Coordinator . . ..... GLEN RANDALL JR.
MENTOR HUEBNER Stunt Performers . · .JIMMY BRISCOE
Set Buyer · YVONNE HEGNEY CINDY FOLKERSON
Assistant Set Dressers ... DON CARTWRIGHT LARRY HOLT
VITTORIO FERRERO JULIUS LeFLORE
HAROlD SHELTON FRED LERNER
SHAW BURNEY BOBBY PORTER
Property Master · .. EDWARD LEVISEUR JEFF RAMSEY
Property Assistant . CARLO POSTIGIONE DANNY RODGERS
Make-Up . · . SANDI DUNCAN ROD SCH UMACHER
Make-Up Assistant . · ... JEFF GOODWIN VICTORIA VANDERKLooT
Hai r Stylist BARBARA PAGE Co-Produced by ... MILTON SUBOTSKY,
Wardrobe Mistress . · .JENNIFER BUTLER INTERN ATIONAL FILM CORPORATION
Wardrobe Assistant . JAYME BEDNARCZYK
Wardrobe Seamstress .GLORIA LAUGHRIDGE
Special Visual Effects . BARRY NOLAN SiLVER BullET
Special Effects Coordinator ..... ...... . ..... JEFF JARVIS
Special Effects Assistants · .. MIKE EDMONSON THE CAST
ROBERT STOKER
Uncle Red .GARY BU SEY
LAWRENCE NICOLA YSEN
Reverend l owe . · EVERETT McGILL
Creature Operators · PAOLO SCIPIONE
Marty Cos law ....... . COREY HAIM
FRANK SCHEPLER
Jane Coslaw . · MEGAN FOlLOWS
STEVEN WILLIS
Nan Coslaw .......... . · ROBIN GROVES
Key Grip DAVID ZIMMERMAN
Bob Coslaw . LEON RU SSOM
Best Boy . BOB HUBNER
Sheriff Joe Haller · . TERRY O'QUINN
Dolly Grip ... JEFF HOWERY
Andy Fairton . · BILL SMITROVICH
Gaffer · ... .. FRANK HEENEY
Brady Kincaid ..... JOE WRIGHT
Best Boy/Generator JOCK BRANDIS
Herb Kincaid · . KENT BROADHURST
Best Boy . .. .... FRITZ GOFORTH
Tammy Sturmfuller . .. HEATHER SIMMONS
Produdion Secretary . · .. MINNIE HILL
Milt Sturmfuller . . .... . JAMES A. BAFFICO
Assistant to Ms . Schumacher . · .. MARY GAIL DARDEN
Mrs. Sturmfuller REBECCA FLEMING
Assistant to Mr. Teague . SUSAN BROWN
Owen Knopfler . . LAWRENCE TIERNEY
Assistant Accountant · . LYN LUCIBELLO
Virgil Cuts · WILLIAM NEWMAN
Accounting Assistants · . MARIANNE SCANLON
Mayor O'Banion · ... SAM STONEBU RNER
LISA BOLAND
Billy Mclaren · .. LONNIE MOORE
Unit Publicist . ...... . STEVEN ZELLER
Aspinall . · ....... RICK PASOTTO
Still Photographer . · JURGEN VOlLMER
Girl . · . CASSIDY ECKERT
Second Unit Additional Photography . . . ... . PAUL RYAN
Stella Randolph · . WENDY WALKER
First Assi stant Director . · . SCOTT MAITLAND
Stella 's Boyfri end · .... MICHAEL LAGUE
First Assistant Camera .... . RALPH WATSON
Stella's Mother . · . MYRA MAILLOUX
Second Assistant Camera .. . JOHN HOlDEN
Bobby Robertson · WILLIAM BROWN
Gaffer . .. JOHN FERGUSON
Elmer Zinneman HERB HARTON
Grip BOB FISHER
Pete Sylvester . DAVID HART
Dri ver Captai n .. . . KIRK GREER
Porter Zinneman . GRAHAM SMITH
Script HARRIET NEAS
Edgar Round s . · .... PAUL BUTLER
First Assistant Editor ..... . ANNE COUK
Maggie Andrews . · .. CRYSTAL FIELD
Second Assistant Editor · .. LORI BLOUSTINE
Smokey · .. JU LIUS LEFLORE
Editori al Apprentices · RUTH LEE FONVIELLE
Uncle Red 's Girl ROXANNE MLAM
DAVID MANN
Mrs. Thayer . · .... PEARL JONES
DGA Trainee .. . IAN WOOLF
Mr. Thayer ISH JONES, JR.
Transportati on Captain · . . W ILLIAM LEE SILER
Outfielder · . STEVEN WHITE
Transportation C<rCaptain · FRANK WILLIAMS JR.
Mac. · . CONRAD M cLAREN
Dri ve rs DONALD CAMBELL
Vo ice of Older Jane . · TOVAH FELDSHUH
ELIZABETH DUNN
Werewolf · EVERETT M cG ILL
JOHN GRIFFIN
and JAMES GAMMON as Arnie Westrum
WELCH LAMBETH

First Assistant Ed ito r . · . VANESSA PROCOPIO
PRODUCTION CREDITS Assislant Editors . ADAM FREDERICKS
LEE FONVIEllE
Directed by DANIEL ATIIAS
Apprentice Editor · TOMMY DORSETT
Produced by MARTHA SCHUMACHER
Supervising Sou nd Editor . · .... . DAN lIEBERSTEIN
Screenplay by · ... STEPHEN KIN G
Sound Editors . STUART LIEBERMAN
Based on the novelette "eycle of the Werewolf " by STEPHEN KING
PAUL TREJO
Associa te Producer · JOHN M . ECKERT
FRED ROSENBERG
Film Editor ....... DANIEL LOEWE NTHAL
MARTY LEVENSTEIN
Mu sic by . JAY CHATIAWAY
l ooping Editor . ANN STEIN
Director of Photography .ARMANDO NANNUZZI
Ass istant Sound Editors ELIZABETH ACKERMAN
Costume DeS igner · . CLIFFORD CAPONE
CYNTHIA ROGERS
Production Designer .... GIORGIO POSTIGLIONE
GERALDINE PERONI
Creatu res Created by · CARLO RAM BALDI
JILL SEARCH INGER
Casting by · ........ . JEREMY RITZER
VALERIE SCHWARTZ
FEUER & RITZER INC
Apprentice Sou nd Editors .. BOBBI BANKS
Unit Pr<Xiuclion Mana~er · .. .. JOHN A. ECKERT
LISA DELGROSSO
First Assistant Director . . .... JOHN KRETCHMER
Re-Recorded at . . SOUND ONE
Second Assistant Director · .... BRUCE MORIARTY
Re-Recording Mixer . LEE DICHTER
Producti on Accountant HEATHER MciNTOSH
Music Editor . . . JACK TILLAR
Production Coordinator · SUZANNE LORE
Music Recorded at THE CARR IAGE HOUSE
location Manager · .. MICHAEL STROUD
Music Scoring Engineer . ALEC HEAD
Script Supervisor . .... SHARRON REYNOlDS
Electronic Music Performed by PETER LEVIN
Camera Operator .. DANIELE NAN NUZZI
DAVID FRANK
Focus Puller · ... CLAUDIO NAN NUZZI
Digital Mu sic Sampling by . . SHELTON LEIGH PALMER
Second Assistan t Came ra ....... ....... JEFF MOORE
Orchestrations by . BARB LUBY
Sound Mixer · ... RICHARD GOODMAN
Boom Opera tor · . GARY THEARD
Assistant Production Design er ........ HILTON ROSEMARIN
Set Decorator . GIORGIO DESIDERI MAXiMUM OVERdRiVE
Storyboa rd Arti st . MENTOR HEUBNER
Art Depa rtment Assistant · ..... ROD SCHUMACHER THE CAST
Draftsman ............ JERRY HALL
Set Swing G ang · . CHESTER SPIER Bill Robi nson . · EMILIO ESTEVEZ
YVONNE HEGNEY H endershot . .. PAT HINGLE
HAROLD SHELTON Brett . LAURA HARRINGTON
Properti es · .... KAREN RICHARDSON Conn ie · YEARDLEY SMITH
SHAW BURNEY Curt . JOHN SHORT
CARLO POSTIGLIONE W anda June . ELLEN McELDUFF
Makeup . BARBARA PAGE Duncan .. J.C QUINN
H air Sty li st .... .. ... DE 'ANN POWER Camp lom an .... CHRISTOPHER MURNEY
W ardrobe Mistress · JA YME BEDNARCZYK Oeke HOLTER GRAHAM
Specia l FX Makeup Supervi sor . . .... . MICHAEL McCRACKEN SR. Handy . · . FRANKIE FAISON
Special FX Makeup Crew . MICHAEL M cC RACKEN JR. Joe . . .. PAT MILLER
CHUCK STUART Max JACK CANON
MICHAEL STEIN Steve BARRY BELL
JILL ROCKOW Frank . JOHN BRASINGTON
MATHEW MUNG LE Andy . . J. DON FERGUSON
Specia l FX Coordina tor · . JOSEPH P. MERCURIO Brad LEON RIPPY
Special FX Crew ... .... . JOHN ELLIOT Barry BOB GOODEN
TOM LANTZ Rolf . R. PICKETI BUGG
JOE PORTER Videoplayer . · G IANCARLO ESPOSITO
CURTIS DICKSON Second Man . . ... MARTIN TUCKER
LAWRENCE NICOLAYSON Second Woman .. MARLA MAPLES
NOEL TO MLIN SON Bridgemaster .... NED AUSTIN
Creature D epartment PAOLO SCIPIONE HeJper . RICHARD CHAPMAN, JR.
STEVE TOWN SEND Coach BOB GUNTER
RALPH COBOS Umpire . . · . BILL HUGGINS
SIMON FREDERICKS
WIlliAM COBB PRODUCTION CREDITS
Key G rip SAN DRO BOLLI
Dolly Grip . GENE POOLE Executive Producrs ....... MEL PEARL
Gaffer · . GABRIELLE MARCE LLO DON LEVIN
Best Boy/G enerator Operator . · . JOCK BRANDIS Prod uced by . . MARTHA SCHUMACHER
Production Secretary · .... MINNIE HILL Written for the Sc reen and Directed by . STEPHEN KING
location Assi stan t ...... ..... LARRY JONES Director of Photography · ARMANDO NAN NUZZI
Assistant to M s. Sch umache r · MARY GAIL DARDEN Music by . ............. Ac/DC
Accountin g Assistants . .. . SUZANNE VAUCHER Production Designer · GIORGIO POSTIGLIONE
JANE RAYLEIGH Film Editor · EVAN LOTIMAN, A.CE.
LISA BOLAND Costume Designer .. CLIFFORD CAPONE
Unit Publi cist . · . STEVEN ZE LLER Unit Prod uction Manager . · MARILYN STONEHOUSE
Still Photograph er · ..... HO LL Y BOWER First Assistant Director ........... TONY LUCIBELLO
Transporta tion Captain · WILLIAM LEE SILER Second Assi stant Director ... ELIZABETH SCHERBERGER
Production Ao;o; io;tan lo; ... GARRETI HOGAN Production Auditor . HEATHER MciNTOSH
STEPHANIE FOWLER Production Coordinator . · . ANGELA HEALD
MARY NAUHERIMER Sc ript Supervi sor .......... ... . . . . . . VALERIE NORMAN-W ILLI AMS
Craft Serv ice ... . LINDA AMMONS Camera Operators DAN IELE NAN NUZZI
Con structi on Manager · . JEFFERY P. SCHLA TIER CLAUDIO NANNUUI
lead Carpenter . · JAMES A. BRINSO N Camera Assistant . · . JEFFREY MOORE
Head Painter · .. ROBERT TE STERMAN Supervisi ng Sou nd Editor · . GREG SHELDON
Stunt Coordinator · . JULIUS LeFLORE Sou nd Mixer . ED WHITE
Stunt Performers . PHIL ADAMS Boom Man . . LARRY PORCHE
SANDRA LONG Set Designer · . H ILTON ROSEMARIN
CRYSTAL ASHLEY Ass istant Art Director ..... ROD SCHUMACHER
PATRICK RO MANO Storyboa rd Artist . · .... .. TOM CRANHAM
CHRISTINE BAUR Wardrobe Mistress · .JAYME BEDNARCZYK
MARVIN SM ITH Special Effects Makeup . DEAN GATES
ERIC CORD Makeup ......... MARLANA MAY
DIANE WILSON Hair Sty li st ......... TAMMY KUSIAN
Casting Assi stant . . LUCY SILVER Property .. KAREN RI CHARDSON
Additional Casti ng . . FINCANNON & ASSOCIATES lead man . · ESTY DAVIS, JR.

Greensman ... TOM WATTERS
Special Effects Coord inator STEVEN GALICH
Specia l Effects Technician s . · JEFFREY FRINK
JOE RAM SEY
DAVID SANDLIN
JOE PORTER
DAVID R. WOOD
MELISSA EDMOND S
Key G rip .. SANDRO BOLLI
G rips · . GENE POOLE
JOSEPH D 'ALESSANDRO
Ga ffer · . MARCELLO GABRIELE
Bestboy ... JOCK BRANDIS
Assistant to Produce r · JORDAN HAWLEY
Ass istant to Director . · .. STEPHANIE FOWLER
Translation by ROBERTO CROCI/MARA TROVATO
Accounting Assist.1nt!:t · ... SUE McKIBBIN
LISA BOLAND
U nit Publicist · . MICHAEL KLASTORIN
Slill Pholographer . · JU RGEN VOLLMER
Supe rvisor, Specia l Visual Effects · .. BARRY NOLAN
Mu sic Supervi sor .. TODD KASOW
Mike Ryerson · GEOFFREY LEWI S
First Ass istant Editor · YVETTE NABEL
Ned TebbelS . BARNEY M cFA DDEN
Assistant Editor · .. LEE FONVIElLE
. CHRIS HYAMS-HART Barl ow REGGIE NALDER
Digital Sound Composer
larry Crocken . FRED WILLARD
ADR Supervisor · ... DARRELL HANZALIK
Parkin s Gillespie . . . KENNETH M cMILLAN
Foley Edilor .. RONALD BOCHAR
Eva . · MARIE WIND SOR
Sound Editors · .. NEIL KAUFMAN
Danny GJick . BRAD SAVAGE
SKIP LlEVSAY
Ralphie Glick .. RONN IE SCR IBN ER
MICHAEL STEINFElD
June Pe trie BARBARA BABCOCK
Ass istant Sound Editors · ..... STEVEN VISSCHER
Falher Ca llahan JAMES GALLE RY
ROBERT NICHOLS
Ted Petrie · JOSH UA BRYANT
MICHAEL GOODMAN
Ann Norton ... BONNIE BARTLETT
JAMES KWEI
Nally . · ROBERT LUSSIER
SARA BOLDER
Henry Glick . NED W ILSON
MICHAEl BERENBAUM
STUART STANLEY Roya l Snow . · ... ERNIE PHILLIPS
ELIZA PALEY G uard ..... JOE BR OOKS
Pi cture Vehicle Coordina tor . RICHARD WILSON
locati on Manager LEE SILER
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Tran sportati on Coordina tor · . RICK BAREFOOT RICHARD KO BRITZ
Produced By
'roduction Assistant . · ... NOEL TOMLIN SON · .. STIRLING SILLIPHANT
Executive Producer
:onst ruction Manager . ..... JEFF SCHLATTER
Teleplay By . · . PAUL MONASH
Lead Ca rpenter · .. JAMES BRINSON
Based on Ihe Novel By . STEPHEN KING
Scenic Arti st . ROBERT TESTERMAN
Direcled By . · . .. TOBE HOOPER
Assi stant Scenic Arti st . TANYA LOWE HARRY SU KMAN
Music Composed By
AddilionaJ Casting . FINCANNON & ASSOCIATES · .. JULES BRENNER
Director of Pho tography
Post Production Services by .... SOUND ONE CORPORATION
Associate Producer . . ANNE COTTLE
Rereco rding Mi xe rs . . LEE DICHTER
MEL ZELNIKER
.... RICH MACAR
Sy ncl avie r Programmers
LEX MACAR ThE TwiliGtn ZONE
N ega tive Cutter . · DONAH BASSETT ~'CRAMMA"
Till es Crea led by . . ..... TITLE HOUSE
Special O plica l EffeelS by . . VAN DER VEER
PHOTO EFFECTS THE CAST
D olby Stereo Consultant · ... MICHAEL DiCOSIMO
Catering by ...... DEG FILM STUDIOS George BARRET OLIVER
Insurance by ... GREAT NORTHERN BROKERAGE M o ther .. DARLANNE FLUEG EL
Music Courtesy of . ATLANTIC RECORDS G ramma · FREDERICK LONG
Stunt Coord inator . . ........... G LENN RANDALL. JR.
Stunt Performers . PHIL ADAMS PRODUCTION CREDITS
CHRISTINE BAUER
ROBIN GRATHWOL Executive Producer PHILIP DEGUERE
G ENE HARTLINE Adapled by . · HARLAN ELLI SON
KENT HAYS Direeled by · . BRADFORD MAY
JULIUS LeFLORE Supervising Producer . · . JAMES CROCKER
DENVER MATTSON Producer · HARVEY FRAN D
BERNIE POCK Creative Consultant HARLAN ELLISON
BRUCE MORIARTY Director of Photography ... BRADFORD MAY
G ARY MclARTY Executive Story Consultant . . .. ALAN BRENNERT
EDGAR MOURINO Slory Edilor . · ROCKNE S. O ' BANNON
DICK LANGDON Art Director . JOHN MANSBRIDGE
Foregrou nd Model s . EMILIO RU IZ Editor . G REG WONG
Music by . MICKEY HART (OF GREATFUL DEAD)
Set Decorator ROBERT ZILLIOX
Prod ucti on Sound Mixer · LOWELL HARRIS
Specia l FX Coordinator · M . KAM COONEY
THE CAST Chief Lighling Tee hs. . . .. . .. . . . . ... . , .. . . ..... jOSEPH CAPSHAW
JACK TODD
Ben M ea rs . DAVID SOUL Costume Design er . · ROBERT MOORE
Straker · JAMES MASON M ake-up Artist . CHARLENE ROBERSON
Mark Petrie LANCE KERWIN H ai r Styli st ..... CHARLOTTE HARVEY
Susa n Norton ... BON NIE BEDELIA V is ual FX Coordinators ..... BRUNO GEORGE
Jason Burke LEW AYRES DAVID SOSALLA
Bonni e Sawye r . JULIE COBB Sound Design by ..... ....... . · .. . MICKEY HART
W ease l ELISHA COOK Acousti c Consultant · .. BETSY COHEN
Cully Sawyer . GEORGE DZUNDZA New Main Titl e Theme by ..... G RATEFUL DEAD &
Dr. Bill Nonon · ... ED FLANDER S MERL SAUNDERS
Marjorie Glick . · .. CLARISSA KAYE Main Titl e D esigned and Produced by .. · .. COLOSSAL PICTURES

Gaffers PETER MASCUCH
JIM SOFRANKO
Location Sound . JOHN VITTOLO
DAVE SMITH
KURT HATHAWAY
Assistant Camera DAVE CORsEN
LYNN HARTER
LORI LOEB
BILL MOORE
Production Assistants · MICHAEL BERKMAN
MARK FITZMARTIN
KURT HATHAWAY
SUSAN SCHIRO
JOE sHULDER
JOHN WALSH
TALES fROM TilE DARksidE

AT
~~THE WORD PROCESSOR
OF THE CODS"
ThE WOMAN IN ThE ROOM THE CAST
Richard Hagstrom BRUCE DAVISON
THE CAST lina Hagstrom . KAREN sHALLO
Seth Hagstrom . . . . PATRICK PICCININ I
John ... MICHAEl CORNELISON
Mr. Nordhoff · .. WILLIAM CAIN
Mother ......... DEE CROXTON
. JON MATTHEWS
Prisoner ....... BRIAN LIBBY Jonathan
Belinda .... MIRANDA BEESON
Guard #1 · .. BOB BRUNSON
Narrator PAUL SPARER
Guard #2 · GEORGE RUSSELL
PRODUCTION CREDITS PRODUCTION CREDITS

Produced by · WILLIAM TEITLER
Teleplay by .. MICHAEL MCDOWELL
Production Mgr/ locations ......... MICHAEL SLOANE
Based on a story by STEPHEN KING
First Assistant Director . · MONTY McMILLAN
Directed by . MICHAEL GORNICK
Second Assistant Director DIDACUS RAMOS
Director of Photography . ERNEST DICKERSON
First Assistant Camera .. LOUIS ZWEIER
Edited by · ... sCOTI VICKREY
Second Assistant Camera ... GARY KENNY
Casting by . LEONARD FINGER
MARTY ELCAN
Production Manager . JEFFREY SILVER
Art Director .. GREGORY MELTON
Production Controller . . TINA CARBONELL
Script Supervisor · .. SUZAN LOWITZ
Story Consu ltant . .. TOM ALLEN
Editors FRANK DARABONT
Assistant Director . . . DAVID KRAKOWER
KEVIN ROCK
Second Assistant Director . . KATARINA WITIICH
location Mixer · DARRYL LlNKOW
Assistant Camera . FRANK PRINZI
Boom Operator LIBBY NORDSTROM
Gaffer .. JEFF LEVY
Makeup · . TOM SCHWARTZ
Best Boy · WILLIAM KLAYER
Gaffer .. JIM DeVITO
Key Grip · .. JOHN TlNTORI
Grip Electri cian · . GEORGE RUSSELL
Second Grip · MICHAEL PRESTON
GENEO
Still Photographer .... HARVEY WANG
Grip · DAVID DECOTEAU
Sound Mixer . · ... ROLF PARDUlA
Doll y Grip Still s RICK NORDSTRAM
Costume Designer Boom . STUART DEUTSCH
.GIOVANNA MELTON
Ass isl.ml Costume FRIEDA SOTO Script Supervisor · NANCY MUSSER
Property Maste r Production Office Coordinator . LAURA J. MEDINA
. JOHN GRANT
Assistant P.O.c. . ANNE NEVIN
Assistant Props · ANTHONY WEBER
Extras Coordinator Unit Manager DOON ALLEN
. DEB I MYERS
Produ ction Secretary Studio Manager . . COSMO OHMS
. ZINA BLECK
Production Auditor ....... JONATHAN D . WOLF
Unit Publicist . . · .. MAUREEN ANDERSEN
Post·Production Coordinator ... OREN RUDAVsKY
Art Director . . .. MISCHA PETROW
Costume Design .... JEANETIE OLEKsA
THE CAST Wardrobe SuperviSor HEIDI SHU LMAN
Makeup and Hair · .. SHARON ILsON REED
Lester Billings . MICHAEL REID Set DreSser ... NELL STIFEl
Dr. Harper BERT LINDER Assistant Set Dresser · ....... SUSAN VITUCCI
sgt. Gurland · . TERENCE BRADY Property Master · ANDY LASSMAN
Rita Billings .. MINDY SILVERMAN Assistant Props ..... EVA MACHAUF
Coroner · . JEROME BYNDER Scenics ...... PHILIP GOETZ
Denny BOBBY PERSICHETH BARBARA ROBINS
Andy . MICHAEL DAGOSTINO Assistant to the Art Director · JEFFREY GRANDELL
Neighbor NANCY LlNDEBERG Assistant Film Editor . MEG FOSS
Husband . JAMES HOLMES Sound Editor ..... FRED ROSENBERG
Cop # 1 JOHN MACDONALD Apprentice Editors .. . . LlENNA SILVER
Cop #2 DAVE BETH TAMAR BIHARI
Attendant # 1 ..... RICH WEST Administ rative Assistant .. LOUIS HABER
Attendant #2 JOHN COTE Original Mu sic by . . TOM PILE & BILL GORDON
Di spatch Voice BROOKE TRIVAs Mu sic Library . CAPITOL PRODUCTION MUslG
OLE GEORG
PRODUCTION CREDITS Title Music . DONALD RUBINSTEIN & ERICA LINDSAY
Computer Effects . ROB KOBRIN
Executive in Charge of Production · DAVID E. VOGEL
Sound Design .. JEFF SCHIRO Executive Producers · RICHARD P. RUBINSTEIN
JOHN COTE GEORGE ROMERO
Set Design . SUSAN SCHIRO JERRY GOLOD

FiLMS ON
VidEO
he collected works of Stephen King-as adapted by
T various filmmakers-are also available on videocassette.

Videocassettes of Maximum Overdrive and Stand By Me
(formerly The Body) have not yet been released. Both are ex-
pected in 1987. At this time, there are no plans to release either
"Gramma" from (CBS lV's Twilight Zone) or "Word Processor
of the Gods" (from Tales of the Darkside) on video.
All of the other King terrors should be on hand at the local
video store, allowing every horror buff to take Stephen King
to the movies-but at home.
Carrie, Magnetic Video (20th Century), 98 minutes, $69.98.
(retail).
The Shining, Warner Home Video, 143 minutes, $69 .95.
Creepshow, Warner Home Video, 120 minutes, $69 .95.
The Dead Zone, Paramount Home Video, 104 minutes,
$79.98.
Christine, RCNColumbia Home Video, 104 minutes,
$79.95 .
Cujo, Warner Home Video, 94 minutes, $69.95.
Firestarter, MCA Home Video, 113 minutes, $79 .95 .
Children of the Corn, Embassy Home Video, 93 minutes,
$69.95.
Cat's Eye, Key Video (CBS/Fox Home Video), 94 minutes,
$79.98.
Silver Bullet, Paramount Home Video, 93 minutes, $79.95.
'Salem's Lot, Warner Home Video, 112 minutes (edited from
mini-series length), $89.98.
Night Shih Collection (includes "The Woman in the Room"
and "The Boogey Man"), Granite Entertainment, 46 minutes,
$59.95 .
Maximum Overdrive (not yet available) .
Stand By Me (The Body) (not yet available).

T
he author is a reformed cum laude graduate living in
Sherman Oaks, California, the heart of what she ca lls
" M all Country." A former Chicagoan, she spent several
years as a freelance writer, a part-time graphic artist, and a full-
time auto mechanic. Her background contributed to what she
describes as " an immense irreverence for everything. "
After four yea rs as Associate Editor for Fantastic Films
magazine, one year as West Coast Editor, she became a full-
time writer, columni st and critic for magazines such as
American Cinematograph er, Cinefa ntastique, Fangoria, Pro-
files and Movieland, and has contributed to O mni and McGill's
Cinema Annual, a college textbook of film criticism .
She is currently acting as a consultant for MGM Studios while
fini shing a novel with writer Steven Boyett (A riel; The Architect
of Sleep). She loves good books and good movies-and still
works on ca rs. Her favorite color is wood, her favorite car is
the 1967427 Corvette, her favorite speed is fast, and she likes
to eat cottage cheese with Cheetos, insistin g the combination
keeps her from being arrested .
Everyone helps . Sometimes it's a piece of information,
someti mes it's an idea, but mostl y it's knowing they
would be th ere to help if you need them .
M y spec ial thanks to: PhOTO CREdiTS
STEPHEN KING , HARLAN ELLISON, the long-suffering
DAVE MCDONNELL, and the invaluable SARAH WOOD . CARRIE: COPYRIGHT 1976 UNITED ARTISTS CORPORA-
TION; THE SHINING : COPYRIGHT 1980 WARNER BROS.;
and equaliy specia l thanks to the fo llow ing folks, in no CREEPSHOW: COPYRIGHT 1982 LAUREL ENTERTAIN-
pa rti cular ord er: MENTIWARNER BROS.; THE DEAD lONE: COPYRIGHT
Steve Boyett, Tyler Sperry, Amy Horsting, Stephanie 1983 PARAMOUNT PICTURES; CHRISTINE: COPYRIGHT
Leonard , J.R. Horstin g, Terry Erdmann, Jim Van Hise, Paul 1983 COLUMBIA PICTURES INC.; CUJO: COPYRIGHT 1983
Sammon, Scot Holton, Mike Kla storin, Mike Stein, Mike WARNER BROS.; FIRESTARTER: COPYRIGHT 1983 UNIVER-
Mayo, Milburn Sm ith, Ra y Garton, Ri chard Curti s, Dave SA L CITY STUDIOS, INC.; CHILDREN OF THE CORN :
Stevens, Patrick Culliton, Norm Jacobs, Kerry O 'Quinn, COPYRIGHT 1983 NEW WORLD PICTURES; CAT'S EYE:
Anthony Timpone, Denni s Etchison, Tobe Hooper, John COPYRIGHT 1984 MGMlUA ENTERTAINMENT; SILVER
Carpenter, John Alcott, Peter Silberman, Ed Bryant, David BULLET: COPYRIGHT 1985 PARAMOUNT PICTURES; MAX-
Cronenberg, George Romero, Lewis Teague, Rob Reiner, IMUM OVERDRIVE: COPYRIGHT 1986 DEG; STAND BY ME:
Bruce Evans, Ray Gideon, Gary Gray, Craig Goden, Carr COPYRIGHT 1986 COLUMBIA PICTURES INC.; SALEM'S
D 'An gelo, Barbara Jackson, Eddie Berganza, Asterisk LOT: COPYRIGHT 1979 LORIMAR TV/CBS-TV; WORD PRO-
Typographers, the gang at Hour 25, the gang at Elli son CESSOR OF THE GODS: COPYRIGHT 1986 LAUREL ENTER-
Wonderl and, the gang at MGM, and anyone I may have TAINMENT; GRAMMA: COPYRIGHT 1986 CBS-TV; NIGHT
been rude to w hile worki ng on thi s book. SHIFT: GRANITE ENTERTAINMENT.

Stephen King at The Movies

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,

A GuidE TO YOUR .NiGItTMARES

FOR ThE LAST dECAdE, FiLMMAkERS hAVE TURNEd TO ThE bONE-chilliNG

DESiGNEd by NORMAN JACOBS

A STARLoG PRESS PubLicATioN

INTROduCTioN 4 CAT'S EYE ~8

~~you GOT YOUR Good GUYS,

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 3

4 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

STEPHEN KIN G AT THE M OVIES 5

(, STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

Do you ha ve a favorite King film?

Why did som e of those scripts get turned down ?

What's the m otivation to keep selling stories to the movies?

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 7

How would you describe your brand of horror?

A common theme in your stories seems to be the nature of

8 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

Did directing your own movie sa tisfy your curios it y?

STEPH EN KING AT THE MOVIES 11

12 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

14 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

16 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 17

18 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 21

Wlto Is Tltis Cuy KubRick, ANd Wlty DOES

22 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 23

I and macabre sense of humor, the nod has to go

24 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 25

26 STEPH EN KING AT THE MOVIES

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 27

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 29

30 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 31

hen you consider that David Cronenberg was the

W visionary behind Scanners, Videodrome and The

32 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 33

northward to discover a quiet burg outside Toronto that fit the

34 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

in keeping with the town's historical nature, and lobbied to

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 35

M a 760-page manuscript from author Stephen King.

uring postwar, pre-inflation 1957, the Detroit assembly

36 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

arpenter and Kobritz agreed early that the young

C actors to be cast in the pivotal roles shouldn't be too

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 37

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 39

Carpenter is an accomplished musician and has scored many

40 STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 41

f all the adaptations, King insists Cujo is his favorite: " It

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 43

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 4S

STEPHEN KING AT THE MOVIES 47