40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
98% previously published fiction repackaged around a movie theme., January 9, 2009
Because the stories are all excellent, I've given this book five stars. But prospective customers ought to know exaclty what they're buying, and in this case, you're buying an anthology of previously published fiction that share a movie theme: each has been adapted to the silver screen.
If you have all of King's books, you already have the stories in previous collections: "The Shawshank Redemption" appeared in DIFFERENT SEASONS, "1408" from EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL, "Children of the Corn" from NIGHT SHIFT, "The Mangler" from NIGHT SHIFT, and "Low Men in Yellow Coats" from HEARTS IN ATLANTIS.
In other words, most of the text is reprinted.
Which raises the question: What's new?
Short introductions -- the kind Harlan Ellison popularized decades ago in his collections of short fiction -- serve as set-ups: 2 pages for "1408," 2 pages for "The Mangler," 2 pages for "Shawshank," 1 page for "Children of the Corn," 2 pages for "Low Men," and 1 page for a list of his 10 favorite fiction-to-film adaptations. That works out to 10 pages (actually, less than that: some are 1.5 pages) out of a 626 page book. In other words, there's less than 2% of new material and 98% of previously published material.
One major omission: "The Body" from DIFFERENT SEASONS, but its inclusion would mean that HALF of DIFFERENT SEASONS would be available in this new anthology, so King wisely limited his selection to one novella from D.S. But "The Mist" would have been a great choice--reprinted in SKELETON CREW.
So, is it worth it? Well, if you absolutely must have the new introductions, it's a slam dunk: Get the book and enjoy the brief intros. For me, it's $7.99 that's well spent, since these short intros won't appear anywhere else.
But given that King could have written much more about each story in this book and their respective adaptations to the screen, I think he missed an opportunity to hold court, so to speak. DANSE MACABRE and ON WRITING shows King's strengths as a nonfiction writer, and this would have been a great opportunity for him to talk at length about each adaptation, as opposed to the abbreviated introductions.
Appropriately, the book is dedicated to film director Frank Darabont, whose adaptations of SHAWSHANK, GREEN MILE, and THE MIST rank among the best King fiction-to-film adaptations. Too bad Frank didn't do an introduction, since I would have liked to see through the lens of his imagination as to how successfully he felt these stories had been adapted to the screen.
Bottom line: If you've already got everything by King, this is a nice but not essential addition, given the brevity of the introductions. But if you're a completist, or specifically want a movie-themed collection of King's best fiction, this is worth the asking price.
PS: "Trucks" from NIGHT SHIFT should have been included, because of its uniqueness: it's the only film King himself directed. The story of King behind the wheel as director is as entertaining as the short story itself. The film version was MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, which is something of a misnomer: the film really never got into first gear, so to speak, but stalled in neutral.
Note: Subterranean Press is issuing a $75 edition in hardback, with art commissioned especially for their edition. It's a run of 2000 copies and, if you want it, you'd have to get it directly from the publisher to guarantee receiving a copy, as they tend to sell principally to subscribers and, if there's anything left over, then to online booksellers. Again, my recommendation is that this edition is more for completists than a new reader, who will want all the King anthologies in their original appearances.
Truth in advertising: I've written a little bit about Stephen King here and there, so I'm reasonably familiar with his work.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Selection and purpose boggles the mind, February 20, 2009
I'm struggling to understand why this book exists.
For starters, it contains five short stories or novellas that are readily available anywhere and that a King fan of any stripe will have already read.
What is equally confounding is why these five stories. They are, for the most part, great stories, but they haven't even come close to representing the best adaptations of his work. His (too) brief introductions to each story mostly consist of, "This movie missed the mark", so is this collection to set the record straight, to prove that the source material wasn't to blame? I don't think so. I still don't know why this book exists, but I am reasonably sure that record-keeping is not the answer.
Also mind-boggling: eleven pages? Eleven pages of new material - and one of them just a top 10 list - is why I'm supposed to buy this? As long-winded as King is, and we get 11 pages of new material to justify a collection of stories, almost all of which were written over ten years ago?
Again, but different: why these stories? Why stories about bad films? Not all of them obviously, but who cares about "The Mangler"? It's an awesome story - one of my favorites to read aloud - but even King doesn't remember parts of the forgettable movie. Why not pick movies that he actually liked? Why no insight into his relationship with "Apt Pupil" or "The Mist"?
The short shrift and non-sensical motives behind this book make it feel like a ruse. This man is turning into Harlan Ellison: "Reprint that story just ONE more time, please. I don't think anyone's read it in the last few years. Just one more time, please." I'd have loved to read a book about his thoughts on his films; his fans largely don't even need the stories present to make that worth buying. How about a book where King has to sit down and watch all of the movies based on his stories? now THAT would be an awesome book. Painful for him I am sure, but an awesome book. This isn't even a sneeze in that direction.
At the price, you can buy "Skeleton Crew" or "Night Shift" and get twice the amount of stories without the insult to boot. I want to give it one star but the stories in here are actually good...it's just that no one needs them again without some real insight from the author, and he doesn't provide any.
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