King on the set of Under the Dome.

Under The Dome posted the photo above with this note: "The “dome” has landed in Wilmington, N.C! Production starts today on CBS summer series! Are you excited?"

Movies That Represent The Book Well

One of the things the producers of the upcoming Carrie movie have emphasized is that they are not so much remaking the original Carrie as they are doing a new interpretation of the book itself. Some movies don't do much more than offer a title similar to the book, while others hold tight to the characters, tone and themes we've came to love as readers.

A really good movie will make you want to read the book. (With the exception, for me at least, of Les Miserables.)

Here are some King movies that represented the book well:

The Mist
Cujo
Pet Sematary
Shawshank Redemption
The Stand
The Green Mile
Stand By Me
Secret Window
Salem's Lot
Dolores Claiborne
The Dark Half
Misery
The Dead Zone

A couple of these on the list might need a defense. I thought Salem's Lot (the original mini-series) was scary and pretty true to the tone of the book. I thought the screen adaptation of Secret Window actually made great improvements on the plot and structure of the story itself. It was better on film than was my reading experience.

I think The Stand gave the movie a good representation. The plot was largely intact, and the characters similar to what I imagined. With the strong exception of Franny! I would love to see a theater version of The Stand, but that in no way detracts from the excellent mini-series directed by Mick Garris.

Neither version of The Shining captured the sense of the novel, either in intensity or sheer spookiness. I think King was right to say that the Kubrick version wasn't "His (King's)" story; however, the King version also failed to quite capture the magic the book possessed.

Some movies actually detract from the book, making you think, "I have no desire to spend another moment in this creation!" Thinner comes to mind. Often King's longer works do not translate well to film. IT was a wonderful try, but it fizzled when we actually came to the crucial scenes. I loved the scenes with the kids -- but the adults were unconvincing. I think the scene with Bev and Pennywise is brilliant.

I really wanted to like Firestarter. Many of the scenes from the book are in the movie. However, it just doesn't feel like it's the same story. Same is true of Christine -- which I really want to like. I think I have a love hate relationship with the film. It should be awesome, but it's just okay. Sometimes okay is just fine. Still, the book was great, and the film isn't.

Some movies involve such deep changes that they have little in common with the book itself. Such is the case with Needful Things, Children of the Corn, Lawnmower Man, Dream-catcher

Erik Lundegaard at MSN writes, "Any time Stephen King's name is above the title, like "Stephen King's Silver Bullet"? Well, that's not a movie you're going to hear about at Oscar time." (movies.msn.com)

And some projects aren't based on a book. Aren't you glad there's no Sleepwalkers to feel guilty about not reading?

I know there's a lot I left out, so tell me what movies made you want to read the book -- and which ones would cause you to keep those books crisp, clean and unread.

Official Synopsis For MERCY

Universal has released an official synopsis of MERCY:

Based on a short story by Stephen King, Mercy tells the tale of two young boys (The Walking Dead’s Chandler Riggs and Super 8’s Joel Courtney) who move with their mother to take care of their dying grandmother at her decrepit farmhouse. When they suspect that the elderly woman they love has encountered a dark spirit, they fear she might not be the only one who won’t make it through the summer alive.

Once George (Riggs) and Buddy McCoy (Courtney) arrive at their Gramma Mercy’s (Shirley Knight), what they find inside her 150-year-old home is nothing short of terrifying. As the brothers experience deeply disturbing phenomena they believe to be the work of an ancient witch, they must fight for their lives and overcome the evil forces threatening their family. Directed by Peter Cornwell (The Haunting in Connecticut), Mercy is produced by Jason Blum of Blumhouse (Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Sinister), McG (Terminator Salvation, Charlie’s Angels) and Mary Viola (Brooklyn’s Finest, We Are Marshall) of Wonderland Sound and Vision.

Moretz Likes Playing Characters That Are Messed Up

contactmusic.com has an interesting article about Chloe Grace Moretz who plays Carrie. The young actress is quoted as telling Teen Vogue that she likes being challenged and playing characters that are "a little messed up." I guess she got her fill of that with Carrie!

She says that she doesn't need to play happy characters with good lives, since she already is a pretty happy person with a good life. Actually, a pretty profound attitude for a young woman.

She told Teen Vogue, ''When I was auditioning for Carrie, I was told, 'Well, look, you're too young, you're too pretty, you're too accomplished.' ''

Kathy Bates Heads To AMERICAN HORROR STORY

Broadway World posted news that Kathy Bates will be joining the season three cast of the horror anthology series AMERICAN HORROR STORY.

The site notes: "This is especially exciting casting since Bates previously won an Oscar for another horror role, her memorable turn as the ultimate psychotic fan in Rob Reiner's 1990 hit film adaptation of Stephen King's novel MISERY." (Full articcle is at broadwayworld.com)

I love Bates on The Office ! In fact, I'm totally addicted to The Office right now. Thanks netflix.

MISERY mistakes

Bella Online (it's a women's site, okay) has an interesting short post about mistakes in the Stephen King movie adaptation of Misery. All minor, all interesting!

Isla Grey notes:

Marcia Sendell calls Buster to talk to him about Paul being missing. Buster writes Paul’s name on a yellow Post-It note and in a close-up of the board behind him, he sticks the note on a white piece of paper that is on the corkboard, right above a yellow form. It cuts to a farther view of Buster when he tells Marcia that if anything turns up, he’ll call her back. In this view, the Post-It is stuck on the yellow form. But when he asks Virginia “When was that blizzard?”, the Post-It can be seen stuck to the white page once again.

and, "Paul pokes Annie in the eyes with his thumbs and there is blood under her eyes. But when he pushes her away and she lands on the floor, the blood under eyes is gone."

and several more. Check it out at bellaonline.com

Another Carrie Poster Drips Blood

There's a lot of blood here. Think the people behind Carrie want to communicate something? Sure. I think it goes like this: "Carrie is not a hashed out tame version of Carrie for a politically correct generation. This is Stephen King's Carrie! This is a horror movie."

I would be glad to see a poster with rocks shooting from the sky. . .

FANGORIA Is Ready To Send You To The Stanley Film Festival

THIS IS FROM FANGORIA:
(www.fangoria.com)

Who's ready to get creepy? Our friends at the Stanley Film Festival just sent over two passes to their inaugural celebration of classic and contemporary horror film. One lucky winner and a guest will receive VIP access to a weekend full of films, screenings and special events.

The Stanley Film Festival will take place on May 2-5, 2013 in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado. As a unique destination festival, all events will take place throughout the historic and haunted Stanley Hotel, that which provided Stephen King with inspiration for both THE SHINING and PET CEMETERY. The four-day event will showcase filmmakers latest works, Q&A discussions, industry panels, the "Stanley Dean's Cup" student film competition and special events for cinema insiders, enthusiasts and fellow artists.

Want to join the experience? Send an email to fangoria.prizes@yahoo.com with "STANLEY FILM FESTIVAL" in the subject line, and please include the following information: name, mailing address, email address, phone number and age.

Best of luck! Be sure to keep up to date with the Stanley Film Festival, visit the official site; Like SFF on Facebook; Follow SFF on Twitter and Instagram (@StanleyFilmFest) and join the conversation using the hashtag #YeahItsCreepy

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The guidelines are posted at www.fangoria.com

Do These 5 King Stories Deserve TV Shows?

Daniel Dockery at hecklerSPRAY has an article titled, "5 Amazing Stephen King Stories That Should Be Adapted For TV."

I like this line, "And as much as the master of horror literature is everywhere, he deserves to be everywhere-er."

Unfortunately -- I don't agree with any of these. Of course, we all want Dark Tower to get off the ground, but not as an ongoing series.

Dockery's list:

The Dark Tower
The Running Man
1922
Salem's Lot
Danse Macabre

Now 1922, which Dockery suggests as a mini-series, would be one depressing night after another! I mean, it is not the kind of story that needs to be slowed down. I found it delightful -- but dark. Really dark!

And The Running Man ? We haven't gotten enough yet? We want to watch this play out week after week? No thank you!

The one I found most interesting was Danse Macabre.

Dockery writes:

I wasn’t very interested in horror until I read “Danse Macabre.” It wasn’t become my favorite genre until I borrowed King’s treatise on horror on film, literature, TV and radio from a friend, and after that, there was no going back. Before Danse Macabre, I considered it cool that I knew what a Halloween IV was. Now, if one of my friends doesn’t know who Richard Matheson is, I begin my research into how to kill the pod people impersonating my loved ones.

“Danse Macabre” is non-fiction, but it would be so cool to have a show that explored a different facet of horror in every episode. Stephen King could be involved as sort of the “Crypt Keeper” of it all, introducing episodes, and the rest of the running time could be spent seriously discussing and researching the mythology of such a great genre. You could interview other notable people who work in the genre, and the number of possible guests to include is endless.

That would be cool! But it would be hard to draw it together out of a book that is so old.

So what King stories would make a good series? Mostly the longer stuff, because there is more material already strewn. So writers don't have to stretch the story, it's already big. For a series to be really good, it has to have characters we want to come back and visit over and over again. That's true of The Stand and IT for sure. I actually found Under The Dome a little void of likeable characters. Barbie was okay --but just okay. I am hoping for good things fromthe series.

Under The Dome
The Stand
IT
The Talisman

Books that would make a good mini-series -- I think Needful Things would be great. The novel was creepy, had great characters and came together quite nicely. I liked it a lot.

Pictures From The MERCY Set

These are pictures from the set of MERCY, posted at www.facebook.com/Blumhouse.

Mercy is the adaptation of King's short story Gramma. The story follows two young boys who go with their single mother to take care of their elderly, senile grandmother named Mercy, only to discover she's a witch who made a pact with a dark force many years before. Fear not, this is no Hanel and Gretel Witch hunter stuff.

Director Peter Cornwell on the set of MERCY.

Jason Blum and Joel Courtney lean on a car together between takes on the set of MERCY.

Jason Blum with Mercy actors Joel Courtney and Chandler Riggs.
On Day 2 of the shoot.

The Stand Journal 5: Judas, Peter and an Old Man

A lot of things I’ve forgotten about the Stand. It is interesting that almost everyone is free from any form of relational burden. That is, there are not many married people who have lost a spouse, not many parents who have lost children. So most of the main characters step into the new world without really deep attachments to the world before the super-flu. Glen has his dog, Kojak – but the dog wasn’t his before the plague.

One of the surprises is how much I like characters I’m supposed to dislike and just can’t stand some characters the author appears to want me to like.

GLEN:

Okay, first the character I’m not too fond of. Glen Bateman. I’m sorry, I try to like him in every incarnation of The Stand that I go through, but I just don’t like the old guy very much. His portions of the book are filled with a lot of rambling. Sociologist or opinionated old man – not much difference. Glen seems to pride himself in knowing human behavior. But really, a lot of his speeches are really King thinking things out for himself as he writes. At one point, Glen completely lays out the plot of the book! Why? Because King is thinking this issue through himself.

I think Glen is a character who plays out better on screen.

HAROLD:

Now for a character I’m not supposed to like so much – Young Harold Lauder. King does an excellent job developing this character. What’s scary is how often I can identify with things Harold says or thinks. Scary – very scary! He’s awkward, a loner by nature, and says things that are really quite insightful. His ideas are often quite good, such as his plan to go to the disease center. He also leaves clues and signs as he travels so others can follow. It’s his idea to use bikes to travel, and he’s the one who knows how to get the gas pumps flowing. (Though, this seems a little complex for someone his age).

I identify with Harold’s insecurities. I also find myself nodding as King takes us through his internal dialogue. I think Mr. King knows Harold very well. He’s the kid many of us know – were – and want to forget. He’s what many of us experienced in Junior High or as a freshman in High School. But Harold never really grows up. He’s stuck, because his behavior and social skills have kept him from personal growth.

Harold feels overshadowed by his sister and struggles with a sense of personal self worth. Thus he glories in the plague, getting almost a Carrie White kind of pleasure from the death all around him. He’s quite glad for the world to get erased and have a new start. And, all the better, Frannie is also one of the lucky ones. There is now no one else on earth for her to pay attention to but him! This results in brilliant story telling, character development and plot movement. Franny will show Harold favor so long as he really is the last man/boy on earth – but when a real man comes along, she’ll be unable to stick with awkward Harold.

LARRY:

I find Larry to be a fascinating character because he accomplishes so much personal growth in the novel. He begins as a total user. He uses his mother, he uses drugs, he uses friends, he uses money and he uses girls. He ain’t no nice guy! He has the self awareness to realize he’s not a nice guy, but not he power to overcome his own personality. He tries hard to do better with Rita than he has with previous relationships, but blows up at her and is ultimately unable to show her the needed patience to really help her.

Yet, as the novel progresses, Larry begins to change. I’m not sure where all of this happens – I just know it’s going to. The Larry who begins the journey toward Vegas is not the Larry we met in New York. I’m looking forward to seeing his character change.

Larry is a person who starts out self obsessed. He is unable to change or escape himself. He is trapped. But at the end of the novel, Larry is ready to give his life – to take his Stand against evil. This is a far cry from the man who’s own mother said something was missing inside him. He finds redemption after the super-flu. This ability to grow and mature is what Harold is incapable of. While Larry becomes more selfless, Harold becomes bitter. One is redeemed, one is lost.

Judas and Peter

I’m sure King is not purposely doing this – but in Harold and Larry there is a Biblical picture. (Sorry, I can’t unsee this!) Harold is just like Judas, who was incapable of escaping his own wickedness. Miserable, he dies at his own hand.

Larry is a type of Peter. We find in Peter a man deeply flawed, but able to grow and develop. The second half of Peter’s life is nothing like the first. In fact, the man who ran in the garden and denied Christ would later give his life for the cause. He would take his Stand. Larry follows this pattern nicely.

YOU Under The Dome!

photo credit HERE

Do you want to go Under The Dome? Star News Online posted news today that Wilmington agent, Vanessa Neimeyer is at work hiring background actors for Under The Dome. (Set to premiere 10pm, Monday, June 24)

The article notes:

Its producers have applied to film in Southport, its film liaison, Cindy Brochure, said Wednesday.

Producers are interested in casting people 30 and older with diverse backgrounds. Some extras are likely to appear frequently, according to the Facebook post.

(For more on extras casting, visit facebook.com/VanessaNcasting.)

Extras will appear alongside actors Dean Norris (“Breaking Bad”), who will play the lead role Big Jim, a town councilman and owner of a used car dealership. “Twilight’s” Rachelle Lefevre was recently cast to play Julia, an investigative reporter who just moved to town with her husband, a doctor.

Full article is HERE.

Casting extra's is good news, since it means they are looking for a big picture feel. Small TV shows use the same actors in tight, indoor scenes. Hopefully this project will have a BIG feel to it, representing an entire community, not just a few locals.

Stephen King's Influence On Video Games

Check out 1up.com's article, "Stephen King's Influence on Video Games: How The Mist inspired and shaped Half-Life and Silent Hill." 1up.com

The article notes that even though King is not a gamer, "even though King doesn't play, his works have been referenced and celebrated in many titles." These include games such as Alan Wake, and the multi player game The Secret World, which "directly references one of King's most popular recurring characters, the demon Flagg, through a street name." (Cool, I didn't know that)

The references go on and on, but are highlighted by Silent Hill

Silent Hill is packed with references to Stephen King's work (one biggie is "Bachman Road," which refers to the author's old pen name), but the fog that shrouds the haunted little town practically has King's signature all over it. The snowy mist is home to twisted creatures that The Mist's Mrs. Carmody might be familiar with. Moreover, the fanatical Dahlia Gillespie might find a friend in Margaret White, the equally fanatic antagonist of King's Carrie.

Harry Mason's tour of Silent Hill begins with a particularly inspired scene: he battles with a pterodactyl-like creature that comes crashing through the window of the diner he's sheltering in, a tribute to an iconic moment from The Mist wherein a leathery bird-monster breaks through the window of the supermarket.

But Silent Hill also utilizes the quieter horror themes woven through The Mist. Like David Drayton, Mason is an everyman who needs to do his best in a strange place that wants him dead. His ammunition is limited, his skill with firearms average at best, and he can't sustain too many hits. His survival depends on speed, wits, and pure luck, as does Drayton's. When you have two rounds in your gun and you're up against a mantis-lobster that's five times your size, there isn't room for error.

The full article by Nadia Oxford is HERE.
Check out my article Stephen King Video Games.

King On Colbert (2009)

This is great! From colbertnation.com (December 16, 2009)

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

the real CHRISTINE is a lot of trouble

Christine is making a comeback these days! I loved Carrie Underwood's video homage, where a black
Cadillac rebuilds itself after killing a man.

Now weartv.com has an interesting story about one of the cars use in the Christine movie. Just 2 of the 22 Plymouth Fury's used in Christine still exist. Bill Gibson owns one of those. He rescued it from an LA junk yard.

The article suggest that maybe this Christine really is possessed. The car has cost him quite a few steady relationships (sound familiar?) From a neighbors house burning down to strange events, Gibson says he's had friends who told him to get it blessed by a priest and that "paranormal reached out about exorcisms."

A shady restoration company held Christine captive. Bill took a month off, getting the feds involved in her rescue. Christine was a wreck. Finally, Bill took her to a South Florida pro.

The article also notes that "Christine has her own agent who handles the car publicity and appearances. The car is shown at car shows and movie events all over the country."

Strange, all the shots of the car are in Gibson's garage. Like he's afraid to take it out.

The Face Of BIG JIM

Crucial to the Under the Dome series is a believable bad guy. One you really love to hate. Dean Norris has landed that role and will play Big Jim.

ew.com notes:

Norris will play politician and car dealership owner James “Big Jim” Rennie, who seizes an opportunity to take control of his small town Chester’s Mill when it’s sealed off from the rest of the world by a mysterious transparent force field. The casting comes on the heels of CBS signing Pan Am actor Mike Vogel to play the show’s main character, former Army officer Dale “Barbie” Barbara. Other cast members include Britt Robertson, who plays a local waitress, and Natalie Martinez, who will play an ambitious sheriff’s deputy.

Haunted Stuff

Is a haunted hotel scarier than a haunted house?   I think it is. King has used the idea of a hotel, or a hotel room being haunted, but he does not seem to be so much of a fan of the haunted house idea. Bag of Bones had a haunted cabin -- kinda. But the old spooky house where someone moves in and then bad things start happening does not seem to be part of King's tool kit.

Are haunted houses scary?   Maybe -- but a hotel is scarier. Here's why: If you live in a house, you now that house! But a hotel gets creepy when you don't know every turn.

Some haunted things in King stories:
1. Haunted House (Marsten House, Salem's Lot)
2. Haunted cars. (Christine)
3. Haunted hotel. (The Shining, 1408)
4. Haunted graveyard.   (Pet Sematary)
5. Haunted writer. (Dark Half)
6. Haunted cabin. (Bag of Bones)
7. Haunted town. (Derry, IT)
. . . Cell ?
. . . I have not yet seen Rose Red.

Does the house in Salem's Lot classify as haunted? I think so. Ben did see some pretty scary stuff in there. But at its core, the haunted house is just a prop for the vampires to live in -- the story is really about the vampires, not the house.

Most often, what king gives us is haunted people. Evil is not so much found in a location, as it is in a person. King is big on the personification of evil, either directly from a man in black or from Mr. Gaunt.

I like the haunted house story quite a lot. My favorite is Poltergeist. And, Amityville Horror -- the novel -- can be scary. It can also be pretty funny. (Really, it was a ghost pig!) The Old Dark House was good stuff. There is a campy, but fun, movie called The House Of Long Shadows. I can't make it through HOUSE. I've tried many times, but it's so boring and ridiculous that I get depressed.

Disney's move Haunted Mansion was fun. I also like The House On Haunted Hill. I did not like The Haunting, mostly because nothing happens! They run from the noise, they run toward the noise. . .

My favorite haunted house movie: The Others. It was dark and creepy, had real ghosts and I was honestly surprised by the turns the movie made.

The closest I've been to a real haunted house is the Winchester House -- which is a lot of fun. That lady was nuts!

Is there a traditional haunted house story in the king canon?
What's your favorite Haunted House story?

Under The Dome Cast

I think this is a pretty accurate cast line up. Are you excited about the show? I am!

Sources:
scifimafia.com
imdb.com
liljas-library.com

Vogel Cast As Dale Barbara

Deadline reports that Mike Vogel has been selected to play former Army lieutenant Dale Barbara (Barbie).

simonandschuster.com offers this character bio:

Barbie, a drifter, ex-army, walks with a burden of guilt from the time he spent in Iraq. Working as a short-order cook at Sweerbriar Rose is the closest thing he’s had to a family life. When his old commander, Colonel Cox, calls from outside, Barbie’s burden becomes the town itself.

The PENNYWISE Spider Found!

In Stephen King's novel IT, Pennywise the clown is actually a shape-shifting spider. Leon Watson at Mail Online has a very interesting article titled, "Now THIS is a creepy crawlie! Meet the bright green spider that looks just like the clown in Stephen King's horror film 'It'

Engineer Igor Rayabov has taken macro photo's of spiders nears his house. He discovered a bright green spider (belonging to the thomisidae family) that bears a startling resemblance to none other than Pennywise!

The article itself draws the conclusion for us, stating,

"Terrifying: The spider (left), which belongs to the thomisidae family, bears a startling resemblance to the clown in Stephen King's hit 1990 horror film It

The full article is at www.dailymail.co.uk

BEGGS: Room 237 Trailer "Amazing"

Film School Rejects has an interesting article about Room 237. Scott Beggs calls the trailer "nothing short of amazing." However, he points out that the teaser really contains no scenes from the movie itself. It seems this is because the movie is "comprised solely of shots from The Shining..."

Room 237 will arrives in theaters March 29th, with Beggs hoping that

"by then they’ll have turned it into an actual movie. The cut that played at several festivals last year was the film version of a research paper where a kid slapped all his source material loosely into a three-ring binder and turned it in without trying to organize anything. It’s an engaging idea, but it hasn’t really been turned into a movie yet — just a string of headache-inducing images and cluttered voice over. So even though this is monumentally geek-tastic, it’s not really surprising that copying the original is all they had up their sleeves."

The full article is at filmschoolrejects.com

COMPARE:

Stanley Hotel Ghost Investigation

This article is from UFONUT. They graciously allowed me to repost it here. Lots of cool -- spooky -- stuff about the Stanley Hotel!

Stanley Hotel Ghost Investigation (02/08/10)

The Stanley Hotel is 7,500 feet above Estes Park and an hour from Denver. It’s over 16,000 square feet and has 138 guest rooms. It’s also listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a member of Historic Hotels of America. Originally built by Freelan O. Stanley of the Stanley Steamer fame it opened on July 4th, 1909.

The hotel was made popular by novelist Stephen King. While he and his wife were staying at the hotel, King conceived the idea for his book, “The Shining”. Later the 1997 television miniseries version of “The Shining” was actually filmed at the hotel. Unlike the movie, Stephen had more artistic control with the mini series than he did with the film. I’m actually standing next to a prop from the mini series.

Throughout the history of the Stanley, ghostly encounters have been experience not only by the employees but the guests as well. Some of the apparitions seen at the Hotel include F.O. Stanley himself, his wife Flora, Lord Dunraven who the Stanley’s bought the land from, and a few others. Some of them include a maid who was seriously hurt and survived a gas lantern blast, a maintenance man named Paul who just recently died a few years ago, and a female transient named Lucy who used to live there before it’s renovation.

Ghost tours are performed daily for hotel guests and visitors, and on the weekends they’ve included ghost investigations in which I was a part of. The investigation’s price is $50.00 and usually includes about a dozen people who stay in the bachelor’s building from 8:00pm till 1:00am. I happened to be there on Saturday for the 5:00pm tour and was able to purchase a spot for the late night paranormal investigation. The late night investigation is run by one of the hotel’s local ghost hunters who hosts interested individuals and guides them through different aspects of a standard ghost investigation. Other paranormal investigators use these types of investigations to get into places they normally couldn’t get to. Well I broke off from the group a little after it started and ran my own personal investigation taking one or two individuals with me who were interested to see what I was doing. No dis-respect to the Stanley’s ghost hunter specialist, I just had my own agenda which utilized the tools I had on hand and was graciously allowed to venture on my own. Thank you Stanley Hotel.

My tools included a 3D camera which I was experimenting with, and my normal kit I put in my vehicle when I go out. The kit includes a Sony Hi8 night vision camera, voice recorder, Tri-Field Natural EMF meter, night scope, and some other assorted gadgets for standard UFO investigations.

This is a Nishika35mm 3-D camera N8000 with a quadra lens system. Basically this camera is comprised of four 30mm two element lenses positioned to an accuracy measured in thousands of an inch. You can find this on sale throughout the Internet, this particular one was given to me by my good friend Joe Fex. Some ghost hunters use this type of camera to help with their investigations. Using 35mm film, they can get multiple images per print. Most of the time you will get 2 of the same images per print being able to achieve a stereoscopic image. Staring at the middle of the two frames and slightly crossing your eyes, you’ll be able to see a 3 dimensional image.

You can do this with any two identical images but the difference between using two identical images and using a camera which uses multiple lenses, is that the left and right images are taken by different lenses. You could pick up an anomaly on one lens, the left picture and not on the other lens, the right picture. I’m still experimenting with this camera using different types of asa film. The following images were taken using asa 200 and shot indoors, some in complete darkness. When looking at them, concentrate on the center black vertical bar while crossing your eyes slightly until you achieve three separate images. Then concentrate on the center image until you’re able to focus clearly and get a 3D image. Then you can slightly scan the 3D center image looking for any type of anomalies. It takes some practice.

The following pictures were taken during the 5:00-6:00pm ghost tour.

Picture taken during the Stanley Ghost Tour

The following pictures are of the Fourth Floor and has a history of supernatural activity. This floor is where the children were kept with the nanny’s while their parents enjoyed all the outside activities of the hotel. Guests who stay on this floor have complained of hearing children playing late a night and also reports of impressions on the bed and noises in the rooms.

This is part of a tunnel in which present day employees use to get around. This is the last stop on the guided ghost tour.

The next few pictures were taken in a building where the bachelors stayed. It wasn’t proper for single men to stay in the main building where the married couples were, so they got their own pad. The spirits who frequent this building are Flora Stanely who maintains a watchful eye over any events occurring there, Paul who was a Stanley employee and had recently passed, and Lucy who was a transcient that lived in the tunnels before the building was renovated and later died due to exposure.

The following pictures were taken during the 8:00pm to 1:00am on-site investigation.

Apparitions are known to pass through this area and sometimes catch visitor and employees attention. In this picture (it’s a little difficult to see) the left image has an orb or dust particle just to the upper left of the top of the stainless steel containers, but the right image does not. Looking at them together achieving the 3D effect, the little orb appears to be floating.

This room is where I was getting responses from my EMF meter when I was asking questions about Lucy. All this was caught on my Sony Hi8 video camera including a nice little orb which passed right in front of me just after I asked one of my questions. The door in the background is the entrance to the tunnels where Lucy lived, so we know she passed through this room allot.

This is one of the tunnels in which Lucy travels during her spiritual life.

I did experience some interesting things during this investigation and am currently going over my audio and video tapes. I picked up an unusual floating orb on video and need to verify if it’s actually an unknown or just a dust particle. Also while I was video taping in the hallway late at night, I’m pretty sure I saw a shadow cross in front of me. The hallway was near a room in which Paul has been known to visit and I was calling out his name when I saw the shadow. I had my video camera rolling at the time but was not able to see the shadow through the small screen. I’m going to experiment with that segment of video and see if I can enhance the image.

I’ve been wanting to do an investigation at the Stanley for some time now, so this was a real treat for me. I do plan on going back for another try, and this time I’ll bring more gear. There’s some experiments I want to try and a little more research on the visitors who frequent there so I’ll be better prepared too. I’ll go through my video and audio and will post any results I get which seem interesting. I need to compare the orb light to a known dust particle video to make sure It’s not a particle floating near my lens being illuminated by the IR light. I do have some interesting video of me asking Lucy questions and getting pretty good responses on my EMF meter. I’ll review that segment and post the video on this sight a little later. So at this time I need to stop typing and start reviewing my tapes to see if I picked up any EVPs too!

MSN: Carrie Tops The List Of "Worst dates in film history"

Check out the MSN article, "Bad Dates."

"Carrie" (1976)
"Sunset Blvd." (1950)
"Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986)
"Pulp Fiction" (1994)
"Taxi Driver" (1976)
"The Birds" (1963)
"After Hours" (1985)
"When Harry Met Sally" (1989)
"The Graduate" (1967)
"Diner" (1982)
movies.msn.com

Can you think of some bad dates in film history?
. . . CHRISTINE!

Listen to Guns and Amazon Prime goes Under The Dome

A couple of items of interest in the world of Stephen King today.

First, Amazon has announced it has made a deal to stream Under The Dome to Amazon Prime members.

CBS chief corporate content licensing officer, Scott Koondel said: "With this innovative agreement, we're giving fans more options to watch and stay current with this serialized series, and doing so in a way that protects the Television Network's C3 advertising window."

Second, audible will be carrying Stephen King's essay "Guns." It will cost 99cents. The press release says that the audio edition is narrated by "two-time Earphones Award winner Christian Rummel."

Shawshank and Greenmile make list of great films with no Best Picture Oscar

The Independent has an article titled, "Shawshank Redemption voted 'best Oscars also ran," in which they note, "The Shawshank Redemption has been hailed by movie buffs as the greatest film to miss out on a best picture Oscar." and, "Shawshank was followed in the list by The Green Mile, which was made by the same director, Frank Darabont. Both films were based on stories by novelist Stephen King."

The website offers this interesting list:

Here's the top ten films, with what actually won in parenthesis.
1. The Shawshank Redemption (lost out to Forrest Gump in 1995)
2. The Green Mile (lost out to American Beauty in 2000)
3. Avatar (lost out to The Hurt Locker in 2010)
4. Saving Private Ryan (lost out to Shakespeare In Love in 1999)
5. E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (lost out to Gandhi in 1983)
6. Star Wars (lost out to Annie Hall in 1978)
7. Mary Poppins (lost out to My Fair Lady in 1965)
8. Doctor Zhivago (lost out to The Sound of Music in 1966)
9. Pulp Fiction (lost out to Forrest Gump in 1995)
10. To Kill a Mockingbird (lost out to Lawrence of Arabia in 1963)

The full article is HERE.

Before The Play: Some Of The Shining's Scariest Scenes

10,000 Magazines, #9,997
TV Guide, April 26-May 2 1997

I just read my April 26-May 2 copy of TV Guide. (Well, I read the articles!) That was the edition that had a cover feature of The Shining, with a great illustration of a snowbound Overlook and an angry Jack Torrance bearing a mallet by Wrightson.

I really was about to toss this aside, wondering why I bought an old TV Guide, when my friend Tim Heintzman told me, "If you were to take a closer look at your 1997 TV Guide, you should find an excerpt from Before The Play that was the original begining of "The Shining" but was cut. This is a part of the unpublished & uncollected works of the Stephen King canon." (HERE)

Wow! Thanks Tim. What an awesome read. And, it gave the entire novel/story more depth.

Here are some scanned images from movie junk archive. Actually, that website has scanned the entire King portions of the magazine!

My favorite portion was titled, "Before The Play," by Stephen King. King offered this note of explanation:

A novel for television is actually a play with its two, three, or four acts presented on different nights. This was enormous help in adapting The Shining for TV, becuase in its first draft, the story was actually constructed as a play. It was still a novel, and written in prose rather than dialogue, but instead of five separate parts (which was how the book was set up when it first came out), it was divided into five acts, as are the plays of Shakespeare (and there was a fellow who would probably have appreciated a big creepy miniseries."

When I finished the book proper, I wrote a prologue called "Before the Play" and an epilogue called "After the Play." A strenuously edited version of the epilogue stayed in (it's the books final chapter, and entirely different from the miniseries' final scene), but "Before the Play," which contained a number of strange events from the Overlook Hotel's earlier history, was cut out to keep the book from growing too long.

In any case, there was some pretty spooky stuff behind the opening curtain, and I'm glad to see the best of it restored to print here. Whether or not you know the novel, it makes a nice appetizer to the ABC miniseries. Enjoy it now. . . but maybe a little less later on.

You know. After the lights are out. --Stephen King.

What follows three two wonderful, spooky, dark sections. The first deals with a young woman named Lottie, and the second section is about Jack Torrance as a child and the abuse he endured from an alcoholic father and the third section is about a murder in the hotel.

I think King gives us the very best stuff first. Lottie is a selfish, domineering young woman who enjoys lording emotional power over her wealthy young husband. She forces him to go to the Overlook hotel, instead of on the overseas honeymoon he wanted. He is fun loving and energetic, while Lottie is a manipulative person filled with anger. What she experiences at the overlook is both dreadful and serves her right!

Lottie endures a series of nightmares that are terrifying. Normally I am not interested at all in dream sequences in books -- but these are quite well done. He dreams seem to revolve around fire and the Overlook. My favorite is a dream in which Lottie gets on the elevator and . . .

Her unease heightened as the elevator descended and continued to descend . . . for far too long a time. Surely they must have reached the lobby or even the basement by now, and still the operator did not open the doors, and still the sensation of downward motion continued. She tapped him on the shoulder with mixed feelings of indignation and panic, aware too late of how spongy he felt, how strange like a scarecrow stuffed with rotten straw. And as he turned his head and grinned at her she saw that the elevator was being piloted by a dead man, his face a greenish-white corpse - like hue, hie eyes sunken, his hair under his cap lifeless and sere. The fingers rapped around the switch were fallen away to bones.

Even as she filled her lungs to shriek, the corpse threw the switch over and uttered, "Your floor, madam," in a husky, empty voice. The door drew open to reveal flames and basalt plateaus and the stench of brimstone. The elevator operator had taken her to hell.

There's lots more of that kind of stuff. I wish they had included this in the printing of The Shining. King says that they were concerned about the novel becoming too long (gasp!) I think it opens the story up. The Shining is a very closed, tight book. It revolves around a few central characters. But this introduction makes it clear as day: It is the hotel that is haunted -- not just Jack Torrance.

Thanks, Chris C. for the links to find scanned photos.

The Shining HAT

This is kind of. . . crazyish. The website says:

It's this years most talked about and coolest hat! The Weir Overlook. If we hadn't designed it ourselves we'd say it was genius, maybe."

Genius? Tell me.

I like it! I'm sure I would wear it with all my 70's orange cloths. I'm not sure my wife would stand beside me, though. My daughters might deny I'm their dad. But, I'd know -- deep down inside -- just how cool I really am, because of that hat.

I think all the fans should wear these to the Doctor Sleep signings.

THE SHINING screening poster

This is from www.theoverlookhotel.com/

Poster created for a screening of The Shining at the Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds, UK. Artist: Abbas Mushtaq

Room 237 Coming In March

The trailer for the documentary Room 237 is now online and we can expect it will hit theaters in a limited release on March 29.

Room 237 is officially described as follows:

After the box office failure of Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick decided to embark on a project that might have more commercial appeal. The Shining, Stephen King's biggest critical and commercial success yet, seemed like a perfect vehicle. After an arduous production, Kubrick's film received a wide release in the summer of 1980; the reviews were mixed, but the box office, after a slow start, eventually picked up. End of story? Hardly. In the 30 years since the film's release, a considerable cult of Shining devotees has emerged, fans who claim to have decoded the film's secret messages addressing everything from the genocide of Native Americans to a range of government conspiracies. Rodney Ascher's wry and provocative Room 237 fuses fact and fiction through interviews with cultists and scholars, creating a kaleidoscopic deconstruction of Kubrick's still-controversial classic.

SOURCE: comingsoon.net

check out:

CELL production to begin in May

www.screendaily.com has posted news that Cargo Entertainment has selected Tod “Kip” Williams to direct the Stephen King adaptation Cell. The movie will star John Cusack and production will start in May.

This is actually one project I imagine translating better to film than it did print.

Pet Sematary Poster

You can buy these at london1888 for $30.

Stephen King Errors

Does Stephen King ever get it wrong? Sure. And there is an entire website devoted to chronicling those mistakes! Gee, how comforting.

check it out at www.horrorking.com. The site is old, so some of the newer books are not listed. However, it's a lot of fun.

I have to admit, I don't usually catch many mistakes. It really bothered me reading Brian Keene's Darkness On The Edge Of Town, just how much detail everyone seemed to be able to see in the dark! Especially in homes that were lit by candles -- and the characters were seeing mustard stains on shirts.

I also notice reading The Stand that Nick's ability to understand people seems to go way beyond lip reading. He never misses a line.

Some examples, Did you know. . .

In The Gunslinger (The Gunslinger, Chapter V) Roland sees, when he goes through Tull, three women wearing slacks. But in The Drawing of the Three (Prisoner Chapter 1, subchapter 6) he is shocked when he, through Eddie's eyes, sees a stewardess wearing trousers.
In Cujo it says that Evelyn Chalmers died on the 30th of June 1980. But in Needful Things Part 1, Chapter 2, subchapter 1, it says that she died in 1981.
In Chapter 9 of The Stand Complete, Nick broke one of his attackers nose, judging from the sound it made. A bit hard to judge this if you are deaf.
In The Stand Complete,
Fran breaks her ankle and injures her back, when a sofa lands on top of her after the explosion. But later in the book, the broken ankle seems to have been forgotten. When Fran and the others visits Mother Abagail in Larry's home, Stu helps her inside and up the stairs, allegedly only because she has an injured back. And later, when Mother Abagail heals her, it is only the injured back that is mentioned as being healed.

And it goes on and on like this. I might be gone a while reading all these -- because the nerd in me just can't get enough.

Stephen King Mash Up!

I like the comicbookresources.com September 20, 2012 post titled, "Comic Book Characters Mashed Up With Stephen King Stories!"

Brian Cronin writes: "it’s Stephen King Week! Team-up/mash-up comic book characters with Stephen King novels or stories. Like, as an example, Squirrel Girl as Carrie. Now that I’ve given that example, no one else has to actually suggest it."

I would suggest Under The Dome and The Simpsons. . . but that might be rubbing salt in a wound. But it would be cool!

My favorites: