My mom just finished reading IT. She mentioned that she didn't really like the scenes with Pennywise. She loved the character development, but to the battles with the monster. I said that people have said for a while that King's weakness is his need to use the supernatural. Some people think his books with be scarier minus the supernatural element.
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Not playing the supernatural card is almost impossible for King. He almost did it with Gerald's Game and Dolores Claiborne -- until he connected the two through a powerful vision. He played it straight in Misery, I think. Also Cujo doesn't have any supernatural spooks. Under The Dome was light on the spooks and heavy on the drama. It was human nature at its worst.
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But I'm not one who thinks the supernatural is a stumbling block for King. In fact, that's what I like! From aliens to spooks, he takes people we feel like we know and puts them in some pretty nasty situations.
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A few of my favorite supernatural moments in the S.K. universe:
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1. The hand of God coming down and setting off the nuke, The Stand.
2. The spider in Needful Things.
3. The chase scene in The Shining.
4. The mastern house, Salem's Lot
5. Crucifixion: Crucified cat, Desperation. And crucified people, The Stand. (The movie version of Carrie, she crucifies mama with the kitchen knives.)
6. Going down into the cellar in Graveyard Shift. Rats, yuck!
7. The world falling apart as cell phones ring. I liked the women fighting at the opening in Cell.
8. "Darling". . . Pet Sematary. That whole book was messed up -- in a wonderful way.
9. Tentacles on the dock in The Mist.
10. The surgery in The Dark Half.
11. The bathroom scene in Dreamcatcher. That was one very gory novel!
12. What about the two women cutting themselves up right on Main Street in Needful things?! Delicious. I think this was one of the first novels I read by King, and I remember thinking, "If this guy will have old women chop each other up in broad daylight on Main Street . . . and give us the details -- I've got to read everything he's written!"
13. The chase scene in Christine. (Mid novel), is edge of your seat stuff, too. Nice.
. . . there are many many many more that I'm just not thinking of. Tell me in the comments section.
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An Inch deeper.
.Stephen King once said, “...Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.”
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Monsters and terror in a Stephen King book are really a mirror of our world. The monsters almost lighten the mood. Child murders, child abuse is a terrible subject. Even if the children fight back against the abuse, no one really wants to read a book about it. Unless the abuser is turned into a real monster -- such as Pennywise.
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Pennywise reminds us all a little too much of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. He dressed up like a clown and buried his victims under his house. Interesting that Pennywise tends to like storm drains and places under the ground. (That's actually a pointless observation. You're welcome.)
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No one wants to read about a drunk father who tries to kill his whole family; unless a haunted hotel is really responsible. The scary thing is if King takes the scary out of his books! We are then left with nothing but raw sin to account for evil.
