Tag Archives: Stephen King

Gerald’s Game (2017)

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Gerald’s Game
Director: Mike Flanagan
Writer: Mike Flanagan, Jeff Howard
Based on: Stephen King‘s novel
Cast: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Chiara Aurelia, Carel Struycken, Henry Thomas
Seen on: 21.4.2020

Content Note: ableism

Plot:
Jessie (Carla Gugino) and her husband Gerald have an exciting weekend planned. In their remote vacation home during the off-season, they want to take the weekend to focus on themselves and their relationship – by spicing up their sex life. Gerald brought handcuffs and is eager to get going. Jessie is willing to give it a try but as the tying up quickly turns into a rape fantasy for Gerald, she doesn’t want to go along anymore. As he tries to convince her, Gerald has a heart attack though and suddenly Jessie finds herself all alone, chained to a bed. Or maybe she isn’t quite as alone as she thought.

Gerald’s Game is a tense, very well-made film with a fantastic Gugino. If you want to be creeped out, I can definitely recommend it.

The film poster showing Jessie (Carla Gugino) with her hands chained to the bed, her husband Gerald (Bruce Greenwood) lying on top of her.
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Doctor Sleep (2019)

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Doctor Sleep
Director: Mike Flanagan
Writer: Mike Flanagan
Based on: Stephen King‘s novel
Sequel to: The Shining
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Kyliegh Curran, Rebecca Ferguson, Cliff Curtis, Zahn McClarnon, Emily Alyn Lind, Selena Anduze, Robert Longstreet, Carel Struycken, Zackary Momoh, Jocelin Donahue, Bruce Greenwood, Sallye Hooks, Alex Essoe, Jacob Tremblay
Seen on: 27.11.2019

Content Note: antiziganism

Plot:
Dan (Ewan McGregor) has had a rough go of it. The only way he knew how to deal with his supernatural abilities was to drown it in alcohol. But he is trying to change and to get a fresh start in a small town in New Hampshire. Once he is settled there, he realizes that another person with the same abilities, but stronger, is reaching out to him – a young girl called Abra (Kyliegh Curran). Abra knows that something bad is happening to kids like her – and she needs Dan’s help to figure it all out.

Doctor Sleep has the difficutl tasl of being a sequel to a book and a film which deviate from one another, and it does manage to make something interesting from those diverging predecessors. But the film’s blatant antiziganism is a huge problem.

The film poster showing a red hallway with Dan (Ewan McGregor) wallking towards a boy on a tricycle.
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It Chapter Two (2019)

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It Chapter Two
Director: Andy Muschietti
Writer: Gary Dauberman
Sequel to: It
Based on: Stephen King’s novel It
Cast: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Xavier Dolan, Stephen King
Seen on: 9.9.2019

Content Note: fat hate, homomisia

Plot:
It has been 27 years since the Losers Club – Bill (Jaden Lieberher/James McAvoy), Richie (Finn Wolfhard/Bill Hader), Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer/James Ransone), Stanley (Wyatt Oleff/Andy Bean), Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor/Jay Ryan), Beverly (Sophia Lillis/Jessica Chastain) and Mike (Chosen Jacobs/Isaiah Mustafa) defeated Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård). It’s an episode they have all relegated to the realm of childish fantasy. Now all of them but Mike have left town, living their adult lives elswhere. Until they all receive a call from Mike, asking them to come back – because so has Pennywise.

It Chapter 2 is alright. The horror parts were a little disappointing, and the film was about an hour too long, but I did enjoy the character dynamics, albeit more in theory than in practice.

The film poster showing Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) from the eyes up, with most of the image just white from his giant forehead.
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Pet Sematary (2019)

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Pet Sematary
Director: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer
Writer: Matt Greenberg, Jeff Buhler
Based on: Stephen King‘s novel
Cast: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow, Jeté Laurence, Obssa Ahmed, Alyssa Brooke Levine, Maria Herrera
Seen on: 16.4.2019
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Content Note: racism, ableism

Plot:
Louis (Jason Clarke), Rachel (Amy Seimetz) and their two children Gage (Hugo Lavoie, Lucas Lavoie) and Ellie (Jeté Laurence) move to the countryside, hoping to find a calmer life there. What Louis finds instead is an old pet cemetery in the woods behind their house. A cemetery he has soon use for when the family cat Church is hit by a truck. His neighbor Jud (John Lithgow) advises him to bury the cat there, introducing Louis to the power that is buried there.

Pet Sematary is an okay film that profits from the fact that I saw it right after Hellboy and compared to that film, it was fanfuckingtastic. But it definitely would have profited even more if they had updated the story in certain (racist, ableist) regards.

The film poster showing a drawing of a cat. In the cat shape we can see the faces of the main characters. Below them are several cemetery crosses and children.
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The Dark Tower (Stephen King)

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The Dark Tower is the seventh and final novel in The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.
Finished on: 18.1.2018
[Here are my reviews of the other novels in the series.]

Plot:
After Mia and Susannah separate and Mia gives birth, the ka-tet is finally reunited. The Tower is getting closer, or they are getting closer to the Tower, but it has been under attack so long that it is severely weakened. Roland is convinced that Stephen King is the key to the end of his quest, so they make their way to Maine again.

The Dark Tower isn’t perfect, but it did manage the thing that seemed almost impossible: it delivers a satisfactory ending that ties this sprawling narrative up.

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Song of Susannah (Stephen King)

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Song of Susannah is the sixth novel in The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.
Finished on: 27.10.2017
[Here are my reviews of the other novels in the series.]

Plot:
The ka-tet make their way to our world, but they are split up. Susannah, sharing her body with Mia and her baby, heads for New York, and Jake, Father Callahan and Oy follow them, hoping to catch up before the birth. Meanwhile, Eddie and Roland go to Maine to make sure that they get ownership of the lot where the rose grows to keep it safe. But things don’t quite work out the way as planned.

I am not a huge fan of mystical pregnancies, so Song of Susannah was a bit of a drag in that department, but there was also a lot of pretty awesome meta stuff that I absolutely loved.

[SPOILERS]

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It (2017)

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It
Director: Andy Muschietti
Writer: Chase Palmer, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Gary Dauberman
Based on: Stephen King‘s novel
Cast: Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Bill Skarsgård
Part of: /slash Filmfestival
Seen on: 21.9.2017
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Plot:
Bill’s (Jaden Lieberher) little brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) went missing, and he’s not the first in town to disappear. On their bike rides across town, Bill and his friends Richie (Finn Wolfhard), Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer) and Stanley (Wyatt Oleff) start to encounter strange phenomena. They are not the only ones and as their group – called The Losers Club – is joined by Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Beverly (Sophia Lillis and Mike (Chosen Jacobs), they realize that it’s actually one creature that terrorizes town – and that it might be up to them to stop It.

It is a strong, effective but not perfect film that I enjoyed watching a lot, despite some things that could have been better.

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Creepshow (1982)

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Creepshow
Director: George A. Romero
Writer: Stephen King
Based on: his own short stories (partly)
Cast: Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, E.G. Marshall, Viveca Lindfors, Ed Harris, Ted Danson, Stephen King, Robert Harper, Gaylen Ross, Jon Lormer, Don Keefer, Bingo O’Malley, Joe Hill
Part of: /slash Filmfestival (extra screening)
Seen on: 8.9.2017
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Plot:
Billy (Joe Hill) reads a Creepshow comic, against the wishes of his father (Tom Atkins). The comic tells different stories – of an awkward family dinner where the murderous past comes back to haunt them; of a farmer finding a strange meteorite; of a vengeful husband doling out punishment to his unfaithful wife and her lover; of a dangerous creature in a crate; of a mysophobic man whose safeguards fail him – that the father doesn’t approve of. But Billy doesn’t want to give up the comic. 

As with many anthology movies, Creepshow’s different segments differ widely and the overall impression I have of the film isn’t particularly great, even though there were many bits that I did enjoy.

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Wolves of the Calla (Stephen King)

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Wolves of the Calla is the fifth novel in The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.
Finished on: 8.9.2017
[Here are my reviews of the other novels in the series.]

Plot:
The ka-tet – Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake and Oy – are still on their quest which leads them through Calla Bryn Sturgis when they realize that they are being followed at a distance. It doesn’t take long for their suitors to catch up with them. It turns out that they are locals, joined by Father Callahan who crossed over from New York a long time ago, and they have come to ask the gunslingers for help. But that isn’t everything that they have going on: Additionally, Eddie and Jake travel to New York in their dreams, going to to-dash, which leads them back to the bookstore Jake visited and that seems intimately connected with The Dark Tower.

There were many things about Wolves of the Calla that annoyed me, making this installment of the series one of my least favorite, even if it still managed to pull me in.

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The Dark Tower (2017)

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The Dark Tower
Director: Nikolaj Arcel
Writer: Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner, Anders Thomas Jensen, Nikolaj Arcel
Based on: Stephen King’s series of novels
Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Dennis Haysbert, Jackie Earle Haley, Fran Kranz, Abbey Lee, Katheryn Winnick
Seen on: 16.8.2017
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Plot:
Jake (Tom Taylor) has been having visions. Visions of Roland (Idris Elba) who has been on a quest since about forever, trying to keep the Dark Tower that keeps the universe together from falling. But the Tower is under attack from Walter (Matthew McConaughey) and his henchmen. Jake finally connects with Roland for real, realizing that he has a bigger part to play in Roland’s quest than anyone knew.

The Dark Tower is a catastrophe, but as an adaption of the novels (that I haven’t yet all read) and as a film in its own right. Since I heard nothing good about the film beforehand, my expectations were already low, but the film still limbo danced under them with ease.

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