Stephen King: Beep Beep, Jealous Cow

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Stephen King: Beep Beep, Jealous Cow

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

ConfusedUs posted:

Dreamcatcher. It's so horrible on every possible level.

Most of the other books here at least had some redeeming feature. Tommyknockers had the awesome gadget montage near the climax, and it ended well. Cell was decent for the first two thirds before poo poo went off the deep end. Cujo is scary in the sense that such a thing could happen to anyone. Rabies is a scary disease.

But Dreamcatcher has nothing for it. It is awful.

Close the thread, we've found the answer.

Also, Cujo's a good book. It just isn't actually a horror novel at all, despite the fact that the publishers (or somebody) stupidly decide to market it as one. If you read it as the story of a failing marriage, it works just fine.

# ¿ May 5, 2009 04:14

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 23:34

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

Adar posted:

The movie got ruined by Darabont's ending but was otherwise exactly the way I've always envisioned the short story in my head.

You know, without saying that it necessarily matters one way or another, King loved the ending and was quoted somewhere saying that he wished he'd thought of it himself.

# ¿ May 8, 2009 02:03

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

Death Hamster posted:

So the worst Stephen King novel is that one where the group of people get attacked by a supernatural force and then the (magical) mentally challenged kid saves them?

That would make The Stand the worst Stephen King novel, which is clearly wrong. So let's just say it's the worst plot element.

# ¿ May 12, 2009 19:52

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

Metonymy posted:

My least favorite part about Stephen King is his faux-folksy act. His vision of working-class culture is locked somewhere in between 1950 and 1970. So when he tries to write "folksy", it comes off as fake and anachronistic. He's like the Lynn Johnston of thrillers.

And in Gunslinger, he basically takes his pretensions to folksiness, and turns them into the basis for an entire world. Howken? Thankee, sai? Would foller him into the sea if he asked; so I would? Really?

This might have something to do with The Gunslinger being written in the seventies. :ssh:

# ¿ May 14, 2009 17:31

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

ShawnWilkesBooth posted:

Dreamcatcher would be alright without the magical retard and the alien in the guy's head poo poo.

Which leaves, what, a slightly bittersweet story about ~~five~~ four guys who used to be friends as children, but then they grew up - the end?

EDIT: I fail at reading comprehension, "alien in the guy's head poo poo" != "alien in the guy's poo poo."

# ¿ Jun 5, 2009 19:06

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 23:34

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

Foppish posted:

But it wasn't...it was just a lazy shock ending and it cheapened the whole "Mist" scenario. Opened the gates of Hell/a portal to another dimension? No worries, the local militia will come by with flame throwers and take care of that demon infestation.

You assume that just because the military is doing all right in whatever little patch of land their car gets stranded on, humanity is actually going to fully regain control of the world. There's nothing to guarantee this.

Also I seem to recall there being an implied (though not confirmed) suggestion that the world as it ends up in The Mist is the same "moved on" world that The Gunslinger begins in.

EDIT: Also nothing in the film even remotely suggests a demonic nature for what are essentially giant bugs or aliens. Don't know for certain about the short story. And the nihilistic part of the ending is perfectly in tune with the theme of the rest of the plot, regardless of what you think of nihilistic or "shock" endings in general.

Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Jun 18, 2009

# ¿ Jun 18, 2009 19:24

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Stephen King: Beep Beep, Jealous Cow