NOVEL REVIEW: Needful Things By Stephen King

So it looks like I'll be reviewing another work by (or related to) Stephen King. Needful Things was written in 1991 and takes place in Castle Rock, Maine, a recurring location for many of King's works. This was the first novel King wrote after his rehabilitation from drug and alcohol addiction. While it is not one of King's most well-known works (by my knowledge), it was adapted into a generally poorly-received film in 1993 and actually was parodied in a Rick and Morty episode, "Something Ricked This Way Comes". The general premise of the novel is this: In the town of Castle Rock, Maine, a new store called Needful Things opens, which claims to have something for everyone. The shop's proprietor, Leland Gaunt, does business in a strange way, half of the price being cash, and the other half being a 'deed'. Every deed is a prank played on another citizen, and using these deeds, Mr. Gaunt slowly turns the townspeople against each other. Sheriff Alan Pangborn realizes all the sudden crime and violence is connected to Mr. Gaunt and begins his own investigation into the man, finally stopping him before he can destroy the town from inside.

The novel is a bit different from a typical King novel. While it still has a clear protagonist and an antagonist in the forms of Alan Pangborn and Leland Gaunt, it also puts the highlight on most of the town residents, delving into the backstory and the inner thoughts of at least 13 or 15 different characters (I'm positive that there are more, but it's been a while since I read the novel and I can't remember everything) very well, allowing each separate character to be unique and human in their own way, making each character very memorable in the eyes of the reader. Stephen King, I think, has always had an ability that allowed you to connect deeply with many of his characters, being very invested in most of them, and that was exactly the case I found with this novel as well. I especially liked the characters of Brian Rusk and Norris Ridgewick, because I found the two of them to just be more compelling then the other two.

Brian is an innocent, corrupted, 11-year-old victim of Leland Gaunt, and the novel focuses a little more on Brian then perhaps other characters, him being the first victim of Gaunt. Brian is all in all, essentially an innocent little kid who falls under Gaunt's spell because of a rare baseball card, and in exchange, he plays a prank that lights the (figurative) flame that burn the whole town down, and throughout the novel, the reader can clearly see Brian's guilt at what he has done and the conclusion of his story was very much shocking. Norris Ridgewick I found to be one of the more humane characters in the novel. He is a regular, decent human being whose actions are motivated essentially by childhood nostalgia. Norris is a very likable character  because I found his character to be very easy to relate to, as he is no different from an ordinary person, pleasant on the outside, but with his own personal flaws, and that just made his character more interesting to follow.

This novel also has one of the most interesting supernatural villains I've read in literature, Leland Gaunt. Whether he is the devil or not is never technically specified, but it is very much obvious that he is demonic creature of some sort. Gaunt is first introduced as a very kindly older gentleman who always seems to have exactly what you need and is willing to give you a "fair" price for it. Despite his kindly exterior, his true evil nature is actually very cleverly hinted by page 24 of the novel where Gaunt says to Brian "Come in my friend. Enter freely, and leave some of the happiness you bring!" Now this line may not have any significance to most people, but to those people that do understand it, it is a HUGE red flag that Gaunt is not who he seems. The line is a paraphrased one from Bram Stoker's Dracula, where the Count himself says to Johnathan Harker (the "protagonist of the novel"), "Enter freely and of your own free will!" and "Welcome to my house! Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring!". Furthermore, Gaunt's exact line is used by Gary Oldman's Dracula in the 1992 (a year after this novel was published) film Bram Stoker's Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. This seemingly innocuous line is a clever hint right from the bat that Gaunt is something more then human. While he was portrayed by Max Von Sydow in the film adaptation, if they ever re-adapted this novel, I'd like to see Lars Mikkelson in the role.

King also builds up to supernatural origins of Gaunt throughout the novel very effectively, using characteristics such as Gaunt's unusually long index finger, his touch somehow feeling revolting, his eye colours that differ to everyone (which is pointed out in such a casual manner such as "His eyes were a nice green" to "His eyes were a stormy gray", so that it's not outright noticeable, but becomes very unnerving). Furthermore, the novel begins with a second-person narration (only for a few short pages) where a towns-person (unnamed and unidentified) introduces the reader to the town of Castle Rock and talks about a soon-to-be-open Needful Things, ending by introducing the reader to Brian Rusk and segues into the first chapter. The novel ends in a similar way, with the second-person narrative and repeating of many of the lines in the prologue. This time, the reader is introduced to Junction City, Iowa (the setting of another one of King's novellas The Library Policeman) in the same manner as the prologue. The epilogue concludes with the statement that a new store called Answered Prayers is about to open, suggesting that Leland Gaunt has moved to Iowa to start his cycle all over again. Interestingly enough, Alan Pangborn also remembers a shop in his hometown (which he never entered) called Just The Ticket. While it may have been run by Gaunt, Alan not knowing Gaunt is interesting, as Alan should have at least found the name familiar if we are to assume that Gaunt tore that town apart as well.

Like most Stephen King novels, Needful Things has many references and connections to other works by King, and while I'm not a King expert by any means here are some that I noticed:

• Castle Rock is the setting of many King novels, including The Body, Cujo, and The Dark Half
• Alan Pangborn is a recurring character from The Dark Half, and mentions the central character of the story Thad Beaumont in passing.
• The events of Cujo are reference at least twice; once when Pangborn (I think) mentions or passes by the Chambers House (the setting of Cujo) and the second time when Polly Chalmers (a central figure in the story) goes to the Chambers House and hears a dog growling, most likely hinting at the ghost of Cujo.
• Ace Merrill is a character from The Body (Adapted into Stand By Me in 1986) and refers to the events of the novel.
• Ace has also apparently spent time in Shawshank Prison, a location famous for Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.
• Nettie Cobb (another character from the novel) has spent time at Juniper Hill Asylum, which is where Henry Bowers is sent to in 1957 in IT, but is broken out of it by It in 1987.

It's nice to see that King's still working hard to establish a pretty solid universe and it's always nice to see references to other beloved works by King

Overall, Needful Things was a great read. It had a very enrapturing plot, and a very much 'human' cast of characters. I really liked how the novel jumped around to show the different thoughts of multiple different characters at different moments in the story. This really helped to establish the concept that the story doesn't just revolve around one person, but that Mr. Gaunt's influence stretches over the entire town, and it was really nice seeing how Mr. Gaunt was affecting all the different people. I honestly wouldn't mind if King kept writing sequels to this one just to read about how Leland Gaunt would influence different people in different towns, because I really think that would be interesting to read. Leland Gaunt really is a very creepy villain as he plays a  puppet-master-type character and I find those "behind the scenes mastermind" to be more interesting and creepy then an outright hunter-type villain who actually does all of their dirty work, because with a mastermind villain, while you get a vague sense of their powers, you would never actually see the full extent of it until the end, and the slow buildup to that final confrontation is always so exciting for me. Villains that never get their hands dirty and uses puppets in the background have always had a sense of grace and elegance about them, because their ability to control people to do their bidding just seems to make them more intimidating and godlike in a sense. While I have yet to read Needful Things a second time (due to me having other stuff to read), I am definitely aiming to read it at least once again within the year, and I strongly urge any horror fans to read this one because I'm not sure why but this novel doesn't seem to be particularly well-known to non-King fans, which is a big shame, and I really think this novel deserves more popularity and a better adaptation reboot, most preferably in the form of a Miniseries like IT. Needful Things gets a final review score of 4.5/5.

I think this will be my last Stephen King-related review for a while (although I won't make any promises), and I will be reviewing some other works NOT related to King instead. I already have my next few posts planned out, and my next review will be different from the ones I usually do, and I'll probably be bring back some nostalgia for most (or maybe all) of you, since I'm going with a childhood classic. As always, thank you for reading my blog, and I always will enjoy hearing from all of you, so if you have any comments, feedbacks, opinions, suggestions, etc., please feel free to comment, and I WILL respond to ALL comments!

Your Most Faithful Blogger, 

The Connoisseur

FILM REVIEW: The Mist (2007)

In this review, I will be talking a little bit about the popular TV Series, The Walking Dead. Now, my knowledge of this show is VERY limited, so please correct me if I make any mistakes concerning the show in the comments. The 2007 film The Mist is based on a novella of the same name by none other then Stephen King, who's popping up REALLY frequently in my reviews. The basic premise of the film is that a group of townspeople become trapped inside a grocery store when a mysterious mist that contains monsters engulfs the town. The survivors inside the store have to find a way to fend off the monsters, but the store falls into chaos as people begin to fight amongst each other, each having different ideas. There will be some spoilers in my review, so read at your own caution, but the spoilers won't detract from the movie at all.

The conflicts among the people is the connection to The Walking Dead I will touch on slightly. So in the later seasons of the show, we are presented with different types of survivor colonies that are run in different ways, like the dictatorship run by The Governor. And although the show is about a zombie apocalypse, it can also be said that the zombies are just a medium used to show how different people will act in a life-or-death situation. This sort of psychological thrillers have always interested me quite a bit, and that is essentially what the film is mainly about.

The Mist works to show the viewers different people acting differently and even erratically in a dangerous situation. When the mist first encompasses the town, a group of "rationalists" (for a lack of better word) are the first to speak up. Led by Brent Norton, a lawyer, these people refuse to believe that there is anything supernatural about the mist (despite there being evidence), out of intellectual stubbornness and makes a "rational" (or rational in a normal situation) choice of leaving the store to get help, only to never return, presumably killed by the monsters. Interestingly enough, a woman leaves the store just as the mist begins to envelop the town to rescue her kids, and despite the monsters, she is revealed to have survived with her two kids at the end of the film.

Mrs. Carmody is a constant antagonistic figure in the film. As a religious zealot, she constantly preaches about how this mist is the apocalypse and how there is no survival for the sinners (everyone). Towards the end of the film, almost everyone in the store begins to actually believe in her words, and she essentially takes over as a theocratic dictator, demanding daily sacrifices to keep the monsters at bay "in the name of God". Interestingly enough Mrs. Carmody and all of her followers have definitely survived the monsters by staying inside the store at the end of the film, compared to the "protagonists" of the film (who I will discuss in the next paragraph).

The main cast of characters: David Drayton, Amanda Dumfries, Ollie Weeks, and Dan Miller take control of the store for the majority of the film, working to defend against the creatures that are outside, and eventually venturing outside the store to find supplies and eventually leaves the store altogether. They are considered to be the protagonists of the story as they are the ones that stay strong and are willing to stay optimistic (to a point) and fight against these monsters for survival. Unfortunately, their optimism runs out, and David has to kill the four other people (one of whom is his son Billy) who left the store with him, when they run out of options, leaving David a broken man.

It is interesting to see how different people react to a strange situation. In the film, all three groups of people succeed to a certain extent, and although there are clear protagonist-type figures in the form of David, Amanda, Ollie, and Dan, it seems as though that Mrs. Carmody's religious zealots and the "rationalists" are potentially more successful in surviving the monsters (although we do only see that one woman survive from the rationalist group). I'm still not quite sure myself what the movie was trying to communicate, but it is clear that it was going for a psychological angle where it intended to delve into human psychology and how real-life people would react in this situation, which I think they did represent very accurately, as people will go crazy and fight among each other in a stressful situation (this sort of behaviour is referred to as cabin fever).

It was, overall, a very enjoyable film. The monsters are genuinely creepy, and I do like that the movie (and most likely the book as well) mentioned briefly that the monsters were from an another dimension, making a (possible) connection to King's Dark Tower novels. The characters were all very interesting, making the irritating characters very much so, and keeping the likable "hero" characters very likable as well to contrast against the characters who are clearly meant to be antagonistic. I really did enjoy this film, and from my research, it seems that majority of the people who watched this movie agrees. I genuinely cannot think of a single thing I disliked about this film. The Mist gets a fantastic rating of 5/5.

So that was my review of the 2007 film, The Mist. I think my next post will be a novel review (yes, I'm finally doing one of those), although I still haven't quite decided on a novel yet. As always, thank you for reading my blog, and I always will enjoy hearing from all of you, so if you have any comments, feedbacks, opinions, suggestions, etc., please feel free to comment, and I WILL respond to ALL comments!

Your Most Faithful Blogger, 

The Connoisseur