The horror overlord is everywhere in 2019, and with good reason. But we may be getting close to saturation point
Stephen King rules modern horror – but how much of his reign can we take? In 2019, his stories seem to be everywhere. On
Halloween comes Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining. It is the fourth King-derived movie this year, following Pet Sematary, In the Tall Grass (Netflix’s third King adaptation in three years) and, still on release, It: Chapter Two. Meanwhile, coming to the small screen we have HBO’s The Outsider, Amazon’s The Dark Tower, a Julianne Moore-led Lisey’s Story, The Stand, season three of Mr Mercedes and season two of Castle Rock. His 61st novel, The Institute, was also released last month. A TV adaptation is already in the works.
You do not have to look far for explanations for King’s ubiquity. For one thing, It: Chapters One and Two are two of the highest-grossing horror movies ever. For another, King movies have an illustrious pedigree: Carrie, The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption, Misery, The Dead Zone, etc. In a content-hungry but risk-averse age, he is a recognisable seal of quality. And where so many current titles are built on elaborate mythologies, political allegory or genre-savvy trickery, King is a master at inserting supernatural elements into familiar settings: a hotel, a car, high school, suburbia. He makes horror for people who wouldn’t say they liked horror.