No author has been adapted for the screen more times than the undisputed master of horror, Stephen King. From Carrie (1976) to Cell (scheduled for 2009), Stephen King's tales have been treated by some of the most talented directors over the past 30 years: From Brian De Palma (Carrie) to David Cronenberg (The Dead Zone) to Rob Reiner (Stand by Me, Misery) to Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist) to Lawrence Kasdan (Dreamcatcher).
We all have our favouite, but for me, the best adaptation, the scariest, creepiest Stephen King movie ever made, The Shining (1980) by one of the best directors the world has ever seen, Stanley Kubrick. Before creating this masterpiece of modern horror, Kubrick had already established himself as a supremely gifted director at th of his powers with The Killing (1956), Paths of Glory (1957), Spartacus (1960), Lolita (1962), Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Barry Lyndon (1975) - all fantastic movies and after The Shining there would be only two more films added to his amazing oeuvre Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999).
King and Kubrick: for horror film aficionados, this was the ultimate collaboration, and despite deviations from the source novel (which upset King), Kubrick's The Shining is not just the best King adaptation, but one of the best horror films ever made. Running at lengths of 119 to 146 minutes (depending on the version), and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers, The Shining is about a recovering alcoholic writer-Nicholson's character-moving into an isolated hotel with his wife and son, as the winter caretaker, with the intention of completing a novel.
The title refers to the ability the son possesses: to see events of the past and the future, and to communicate telepathically. In The Shining, Kubrick manages to create and sustain an atmosphere of creepiness and genuine terror that runs from start to finish - a rarity in horror films - as the father succumbs to the evil that dwells in the hotel.
There are too many shocking moments to relate them all, but once seen one can never erase from memory the typewriter scene, or the elevator, or the twin girls, or the icy maze (which seems to symbolise the entire film). Highly recommended this Halloween season, and deserving of multiple viewings to fully appreciate what between them the two masters have achieved.
Arachnophobia
'Thriller with dose of humour'
Directed by Frank Marshall (mostly known for his producing work: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist, The Colour Purple, Empire of the Sun, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Sixth Sense, Signs, Seabiscuit, The Bourne Supremacy, and many others), Arachnophobia (1990), his debut directing effort, is not recommended for anyone with a fear of spiders. But if you like your thrills with a dose of humour, do watch this film. A modern (and far superior) take on those deadly-bug-alien-invasion flicks of the past, Arachnophobia is about a killer spider discovered in the jungles of Venezuela that gets accidentally transported to small town Canaima, California, in the coffin of one of its victims. [Trivia: Venezuela's Canaima National Park is one of the largest parks in the world.]
The deadly illegal immigrant mates with a harmless willing native and out pops hundreds of eight-legged offspring with homicidal tendencies; chills and hilarity ensue. Starring Jeff Daniels as the city doctor who has just moved to the country and is afflicted with paralysing arachnophobia, and John Goodman, who steals the movie as the local pest assassin who takes his job very, very seriously, Arachnophobia is a wonderful hybrid of horror and comedy (and, in today's triple feature, a neat bridge between Kubrickian horror and Kubrickian comedy).
Dr. Strangelove
'It's really funny'
'For more than a year, ominous rumours had been privately circulating among high-level western leaders that the Soviet Union had been at work on what was darkly hinted to be the ultimate weapon: a doomsday device.' So begins Kubrick's seminal 1964 black comedy Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
The film, a brilliant deconstruction of the Cold War and nuclear politics, remains just as relevant today; despite its specificity of time and place, it refers to timeless themes and types - and it's really funny. The late, great Peter Sellers delivers a comic tour de force, playing three characters, including the eponymous ex-Nazi 'mad scientist' who serves as an advisor to the U.S. president.
In fact, the film is characterised by generally great comic performances, notably by George C. Scott as General Buck Turgidson, an enthu-siastic warmonger; Sterling Hayden as General Jack D. Ripper who sets the plot in motion by launching a nuclear attack against the Soviets in defence of his country's 'precious bodily fluids', which he perceives to be under communist attack (by fluoridation, of course); and Slim Pickens as Major T.J. King Kong, the bomber pilot who stars in one of the most memorable shots in cinema history. Based on a thriller novel called Red Alert, Dr. Strangelove was originally supposed to be a serious and cautionary film; it only became a comedy when Kubrick started writing the script and realised the absurdity of the situation he was describing.
This original tension and contrast between deadly seriousness and high comedy remains in the film: it's shot in black and white, and there is an ominous tone throughout. Meanwhile ,the characters deliver lines such as 'Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room', and 'Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed, but I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops ... depending on the breaks.' One of the films main themes is the relationship between war and sexuality, and it's no mistake that there's only one woman in the whole movie.
War is presented in an almost Freudian way: as institutionalised sexual repression, the domain of boastful (though terrified) little boys. In fact, many of the characters seem to have lost contact with the rest of (and their own) humanity, and the film's use of place and time reinforces this impression. Additionally, myopic nationalism and the 'groupthink', which it always engenders is parodied mercilessly, not least in the famous last scene of the movie (I won't spoil it for you). Other movies to check out if you liked Dr. Strangelove are Catch-22 (1970), directed by Mike Nichols and based on Joseph Heller's famous novel, and Fail Safe (1964), a thriller directed by Sidney Lumet.
- Bruce Alexander & Omar Francis
