Stephen King fans have had quite a lot to chew on this past week. With Holly arriving in stores earlier this month, Constant Readers everywhere are now digging into the new novel, but we’ve also seen stories about his approach to writing mysteries and learned his thoughts about the new movie Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. There’s been a good amount to read – but there’s still plenty of material out there to fill up this week’s edition of The King Beat.
In this column, we have a fun bit of trivia from the making of the aforementioned Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, Stephen King’s thoughts about the new Netflix drama series Painkiller, an anniversary for one of the author’s best books, and, as always, a new reading recommendation tied to the week. Let’s dive in!
Henry Thomas And Samantha Mathis Were Cast In Pet Sematary: Bloodlines Because Of Their Past Stephen King Adaptation Experience
The fact that so many Stephen King adaptations have been made means that a great number of Hollywood’s biggest names have starred in at least one (it’s a pretty good shortcut in the game “Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon”) – but there are some actors who made a niche for themselves in the King world. Stars like Kathy Bates, John Cusack, William Sadler and Thomas Jane have done some of their best work in films based on the author’s stories. It’s a fascinating pool of both A-listers and beloved character actors, and writer/director Lindsey Anderson Beer made a specific point of dipping into it when casting the upcoming Pet Sematary: Bloodlines.
I interviewed Beer this week in advance of her movie’s arrival on Paramount+ next month, and I made a point of asking about two key names in the film’s cast. Henry Thomas and Samantha Mathis play the parents of Jackson White’s Jud Crandall in the film, and fans will note that both performers have extensive King experience: Thomas is in Desperation, Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep; Mathis is in the 2004 remake of Salem’s Lot and the television show Under The Dome; and both appear in separate episodes of the anthology series Nightmares & Dreamscapes. I asked if their veteran status played a role in them being cast, and the filmmaker responded in the affirmative:
Yeah, it was. For me, this concept of the elders and their connection to the history of this town was so important. And there's only so much screen time that you can afford to any character, and so I felt like I really needed a shorthand and actors that represented, like, 'We just get it.' We see them, we know, 'Ok, that's the old guard. They've been around, they've been here, it's been weighing on them.' You just get it when you see them.
Similar to how this summer’s The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is an adaptation of a section of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is an adaptation of a chapter in Stephen King’s Pet Sematary – specifically the story that Jud Crandall shares about his past experience with Ludlow, Maine’s notorious Micmac burial ground. The setting from the book is updated to 1969, and the story follows Jud as he discovers the terrible truth about the dead coming back to life: sometimes dead is better. Jud’s parents are cursed with the knowledge of Ludlow’s dark secret, and Lindsey Anderson Beer wants the audience to subconsciously understand that weight thanks to Henry Thomas and Samantha Mathis’ prior King work.
The first trailer for Pet Sematary: Bloodlines arrived this week (along with a stamp of approval from Stephen King himself), and Paramount+ subscribers will be able to check out the film when it gets added to the streaming service’s library on October 6.
Stephen King Praises Netflix’s Painkiller, Relating To The Miniseries Due To His Own Substance Abuse Issue
Since coming to terms with his substance abuse issues in the late 1980s, Stephen King has been open about his struggles with sobriety, and one of the hardest challenges he’s had to face was in the early 2000s. The author was horribly injured when he was hit by an out-of-control van while out for a walk in June 1999, and while he survived the accident, the pain he suffered from his injuries was unbearable. Per his doctors, the solution for this was the prescription of a new, highly publicized opioid – and his memory of trying to kick the habit that those pills created was recently resurrected for King while watching the Netflix limited drama series Painkiller.
Created by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster and starring Matthew Broderick, Taylor Kitsch, and Uzo Aduba, Painkiller arrived on Netflix a little less than a month ago, and Stephen King shared this week that he has caught up the six-episode drama. Posting on his personal Twitter account, he expressed how he personally understood the experiences of some of the characters on the show, writing,
PAINKILLER (Netflix): After getting smashed up in 1999, the docs said, "We have this wonderful new drug for pain called OxyContin. You'll like it." Like it? I loved it. Almost to death. I could relate to everything in that series.
Before his accident, Stephen King had been sober for 11 years, but that took a backseat to the agony he was experiencing after his accident. According to Bev Vincent’s Stephen King: A Complete Exploration Of His Work, Life, And Influences, he suffered a collapsed lung, a cracked knee, a twice-fractured hip, a chipped spine, four broken ribs, a lacerated scalp, torn flesh at his collarbone, and a broken leg that was described as being akin to “marbles in a sock.” The problem, however, is that even when he recovered from those injuries, he was still feeling “pain.”
King previously recounted his struggles with OxyContin in a 2006 interview with Australia’s The Age, telling the reporter that it took him a sleepless, feet-twitching two weeks to recover from his addiction:
I took the pills until I didn't need them any more. I continued to take them because pain is subjective. But the addict part of my brain began inventing pain just to get these painkillers so I could have more of the drug. I had to kick it the way a junkie kicks heroin.
It was a dark and perilous time for Stephen King – and his story is far too relatable due to the dangerous practices of Purdue Pharma and the promotion of slow-release opioids. It’s sadly one of the defining developments of the modern era.
Audiences who are interested in watching Painkiller can do so with a Netflix subscription.
Cujo Turns 42: The Horrifying Tale Of The Rabid Saint Bernard Was First Released This Week In 1981
In last week’s King Beat, I lamented this column not existing in August and missing out on the opportunity to celebrate a special anniversary for Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me – and this week, I’m in a similar circumstance regarding Cujo: director Lewis Teague’s brilliant adaptation of the novel celebrated its 40th birthday this summer, first hitting theaters on August 12, 1983. I’m a month late to that particular party – but thankfully, I’m not too late to celebrate the original novel turning 42 (which officially happened this past Friday).
If one is aiming to understand how Stephen King became so quickly recognized as the “King of Horror” in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Cujo is a book that answers a lot of questions. It begins by doing what the author does best – letting us get to know the Trenton family amid a familial crisis involving an affair – but when the story hits full boil, it roars. The levels of heat and claustrophobia that emanate from the pages as Donna and her young son get trapped by the titular, rabid Saint Bernard are enough to make you start sweating while you read, and the anxiety it induces doesn’t disappear when you finish the tome and put it away on the shelf.
This lasting effect is primarily because Cujo ends with one of the darkest conclusions in the King canon – right alongside the spiraling madness of Pet Sematary and the devastation of Revival. I won’t spoil what happens here for those of you who have only ever seen the movie (which alters things considerably), and I will instead recommend simply purchasing a copy of the book and enjoying a scary treat this spooky season.
Recommendation Of The Week: “The Life Of Chuck”
If you’re a horror fan, the trailer for Pet Sematary: Bloodlines wasn’t the only debut footage to deliver a thrill this past week. At long last, Netflix finally released the first look at The Fall Of The House Of Usher – the most recent limited series created by writer/director Mike Flanagan. The source material for the show isn’t Stephen King (it’s based on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe), but it does inspire thought about the King projects that Flanagan currently has in the works, which brings us to “The Life Of Chuck.”
Obviously The Dark Tower is the most high-profile King adaptation that the filmmaker is currently developing, but it was revealed back in May that he is trying to make a movie based on the second story included in the 2021 omnibus If It Bleeds. It’s an odd tale that plays out in three separate acts that are in reverse chronological order, and it begins with a protagonist living in the titular Chuck’s internal world as the eponymous character dies at the age of 39 from a brain tumor. It’s a quick, trippy and emotional read that had a profound impact on Mike Flanagan, as the filmmaker recounts in a recent episode of The Kingcast.
While its ETA is presently unclear, Mike Flanagan’s The Life Of Chuck and it’s already set to star Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill (who has a supporting role in The Fall Of The House Of Usher), and you can start getting excited for it now by picking up a copy of If It Bleeds from your local bookstore/online retailer.
I’ll be back with the latest edition of The King Beat next Thursday, so be sure to come back here to CinemaBlend. In the meantime, you can learn about all of the big and small screen projects in the works with our Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV guide and learn about King’s full history with Hollywood via my Adapting Stephen King column.
