The best Smart DNS for watching movies abroad.
As far as genre traditions go, gore has never been a focal point in the works of Stephen King. The terror he conjures in his stories tend to have empathetic origins. Instead of overly dwelling on carnage, the fear comes from caring about the well-drawn characters who find themselves in circumstances of heightened peril (be they grounded or supernatural). All that being said, he has also never made any kind of effort to hide his appreciation for splatter – and it’s that part of King’s expansive legacy that is at the heart of this week’s main King Beat story.
Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey is arriving in theaters in a little over a month, and with a special little teaser dropping this week teasing the movie’s extreme content, I figured this would be a fun opportunity to look back at some of the goriest movies and moments in the history of King in film. Along with news of an amazing screening opportunity coming up later this year, there’s a lot to discuss, so let’s dig in!
The Monkey Has Me Reflecting On The Goriest Stephen King Movie Moments
“Bowling ball smashing child’s face.” “Bloody entrails.” “Excessive blood spraying onto man.” “Blood streaming out of woman’s eyes and blood on her head.” These are just some of the descriptions used by the Motion Picture Association in their rating review for the latest trailer for The Monkey (which was supposed to arrive online yesterday but didn’t for an unknown reason). Taking all of this in while also reflecting on King’s history in cinema, I came to an interesting thought: while I’ve been considering for months that the upcoming Stephen King movie could ultimately be considered the funniest King adaptation, there’s a chance it will also earn the title of “goriest.”
Everything that we have seen from The Monkey suggests that it will be delightfully gross (for those who aren’t aware of the high concept plot, the titular simian is a wind-up toy that instigates violent death every time its key is given a full turn), and if it can consistently provide that wildness for a fair percentage of its runtime, that superlative will be won. That in mind, I figured I’d use this week’s column to look back at some of the most insane, blood-and-guts moments in Stephen King movie history.
Creepshow 2 (1987)
There is serious gnarliness to be found in both “Old Chief Wood’nhead” and “The Hitch-hiker,” but it’s the middle section of the 1987 anthology Creepshow 2 that I wish to highlight. In “The Raft,” a group of college students head out to a desolate lake and find themselves fighting for their lives when they get onto a wooden raft and are set upon by an aggressive creature that looks like a living oil slick. If it even touches skin or hair, it begins to suck and digest, and the results of its attacks are nightmare worthy.
Tales From The Darkside: The Movie (1990)
To immediately highlight another anthology film, Tales From The Darkside: The Movie only features one Stephen King-crafted segment, but it has a bonkers conclusion that makes it an easy inclusion for this bit of fun reflection. “The Cat From Hell” centers on a hitman who is hired by a decrepit pharmaceutical executive to assassinate a cat that is believed to be responsible for a series of revenge murders. In a jaw-dropping sequence, the feline gets the upper hand on the professional killer by leaping up and invading his body via his mouth – and he later ends up killing the pharma exec by violently emerging from the hired gun’s maw and inducing a heart attack.
Graveyard Shift (1990)
In terms of horror sources, Graveyard Shift is more about taking advantage of movie-goers suffering from musophobia, as the film features hundreds upon hundreds of rats and other vermin crawling around a dilapidated mill (the main setting of the feature). The movie does unleash plenty of bloody mayhem as well, however. The main culprit of this messy violence is a giant mutant bat – but the film’s signature gore moment comes when said giant mutant bat is killed by getting stuck in a cotton picker. It creates quite a disgusting mess that elevates what is otherwise a pretty bad movie.
The Dark Half (1993)
Stephen King famously provided an outlet for the darker, more cynical part of his creative mind writing books under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, but when that surreptitious practice was exposed in the mid-1980s, he channeled that special duality into the writing of The Dark Half, and it inspired the creation of one of his most vicious characters. In George A. Romero’s 1993 adaptation of the novel, manifested alter ego George Stark performs some horrible acts with his trusty razor blade (slicing faces and throats) and his pointed leather cowboy boots (which he uses to put a guy’s head across a hallway).
The Mangler (1995)
Is The Mangler a good movie? No, no it isn’t. But does it feature some ridiculous carnage and over-the-top special effects? You’re damn right it does. What else would you expect from a film called The Mangler? Based on the short story of the same name, a lot is changed from the story in the adaptation process, but what remains is the nasty business that unfolds when a human gets pulled into an industrial laundry mangle (pun entirely intended).
The Night Flier (1997)
I’ve previously stated in this column that I will take any and every opportunity to highlight the great and underrated The Night Flier, and this is a perfect one. This noir mystery about a tabloid journalist hunting down a serial killer with vampire-like tendencies has plenty of blood-letting throughout the film, but it primarily deserves attention on this list because of its bold finale. After making a series of stops at dinky airports to feed, the titular antagonist lands at Wilmington International Airport and slaughters a terminal full of people. Adding a gory cherry on top, the monster hypnotizes the journalist into thinking that the victims are all coming back to life, leading him to take to the bodies with an axe.
Gerald’s Game (2017)
For the vast majority of its runtime, Gerald’s Game is a totally bloodless terror, its heroine protagonist Jessie Burlingame trying to figure out how to survive when she is handcuffed to a bed and her husband drops dead of a heart-attack… but when the blood does start flowing, it is shocking enough to make you feel lightheaded. At her most desperate, Jessie figures out how to give herself a degloving injury that will allow her to slip her wrist free of the cuffs, and between the incredibly realistic special effects and Mike Flanagan’s brilliant direction, it’s a cinematic horror that is forever tattooed on your brain.
Will The Monkey be able to top all of that gory goodness? Fans will be able to find out when the film arrives in theaters on February 21.
Fans Of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining Will Be Able To Celebrate The Film’s 45th Anniversary At One Of The Key Inspirations For The Overlook Hotel
The Timberline Lodge is a location that should be familiar to anyone well-versed in the history of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and the iconic fictional Overlook Hotel. While it was The Stanley in Estes Park, Colorado that inspired Stephen King to write the book on which the film is based, and The Ahwahnee in Yosemite National Park, California that was heavily referenced by the movie’s production designers, it was footage of the Timberline Lodge that was used to represent the exterior of the Overlook in the beloved film. Last spring, the place experienced a bit of a scare when a fire damaged an attic and the roof, but the business has since fully recovered, and now it is set to host a very special screening later this year.
The Shining will be celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2025, and the birthday is being celebrated by the screening series On Set Cinema (via Fangoria) with a showing of the film at the Timberline Lodge. The event will be held on Sunday October 5, and tickets cost $75. In addition to seeing the movie, guests will have access to the hotel and a private event space, and there will be “photo ops, [and] horror swag giveaways.” You will also get a discount code to stay overnight at the hotel.
I’ve long had a goal of traveling up to visit the Timberline Lodge, and perhaps this could be the event that ultimately motivates me to go. Tickets are on sale now.
That wraps up this week’s edition of The King Beat, but as always, I’ll be back here on CinemaBlend next Thursday with another new feature analyzing all of the biggest developments going on in the world of Stephen King. And if you’re looking for something to read in the meantime, you can learn about the history of King’s work in film and television with my series Adapting Stephen King.