Misery scared me a lot. It was more believable and disturbing than some of his other books (such as Firestarter). I would give him an 9 out of 10 on the Scary Scale.
@Poziga - yeah I know about those ones, sure. Christine, Carrie, It and The Shining, and I think there's one called Dream Weaver? What I didn't know is there're non-horror films based on his books. I'd always thought of King as an exclusively horror writer. @Robert_S - if Lovecraft sounds like the excerpt I read in King's On Writing with tonnes of technical jargon and long obscure adjectives, then no thanks for me. Sounds boring as hell. I did once try to read Bag of Bones and got through about 50 pages. I just got bored with all the detail. For the same reason I didn't find Girl with the Dragon Tattoo terribly thrilling, and I can't even get through The Hobbit, let alone LOTR. @outsider - I'll find it on torrents @Lea`Brooks - but someone else above you said I totally shouldn't read Under the Dome because it's scary!? What's it even about? It sounds like something that would induce claustrophobia... and I am mildly claustrophobic. Like, I don't have a phobia - that's too serious - but I'm nervous enough about it that I am always uneasy in a lift I'm unfamiliar with, and I'd totally get a panic/heart attack if ever I went down a cave, a shaft, a mine, or a sub. (I did nearly get a panic attack once when I felt trapped in a spiraling staircase in the underground. It had something like 200-300 steps, about 20 floors, the deepest tube station in London. I emerged shaking all over and sat at the curb and cried for half an hour. I made it up because I was telling myself not to be silly because I'd certainly get out as long as I keep walking lol and forced myself to go very slow so I didn't exhaust myself and become even more panicked) At the same time these things fascinate me - I read The Pendulum (or was it called The Pit and the Pendulum) by Poe and it was very good. I also really wanted to watch the film Buried - where Ryan Reynolds got buried alive and it's a 90min film with that one coffin as your setting. *shudders*
I don't know about Dream Weaver, but there is one movie called The Dreamcatcher, maybe you meant this one? I haven't seen it, though... I'm currently reading Lovecraft, finished The dreams in the Witch House and Pickman's model yesterday. I don't think they are anything special, the endings were good. But I still have to read The Call of Cthulhu and At the Mountains of Madness, which are his most famous works. I start today.
Hmmm...don't think so. I don't recall Lovecraft being technical. His writing is more Victorian, but it's pretty good stuff.
It's scary in how the people react. It's about how a clear dome suddenly drops around an entire town and how the people inside react to it. There is a lot of power struggle, some of which leads to murder, rape, and people just plain going crazy. It's scary in how the people react and what the town does to stay alive. I don't consider it a horror, more a psychological thriller. It's disturbing more than it is scary. But it's still are rarest story.
I used to love Lovecraft, and while I will always appreciate him. I can't say I like him anymore. He has his good stories, one or two are still personal favorites, but here's the thing: I've read everything the man ever published. Including all his poetry and non-fiction. The guy had some really big stinkers, and some seriously inhibiting writing issues that his fans will often say is what they like about him. That's fair enough, but still look at them from the perspective of a modern critic, even if that isn't exactly fair on Lovecraft. I will say this in his defence: he was very funny at times, which he's not appreciated for. He has a short story about Dr. Johnson, and if you know a lot about that era you'll find the piece riddled with jokes, but if you don't get it you'll not like it at all. That actually sums Lovecraft up perfectly.
I've had a Lovecraft novel in my possession for years and years. It was given to me by my uncle when I was a teenager and going through my 'horror' phase. I never got round to reading it in all honesty, can't even remember the title. An author I was really into during that time was Clive Barker. There was a novel in particular, The Thief of Always I'm sure it's called. Anyway it was written as a YA sort of introductory (to his work) piece. I remember loving it at the time and devouring it in its entirety in a single day. Being as I was approx 13 or 14 at the time, it must've been good to hold my attention for such a period of time. Anyone else read or remember this book?
Lovecraft is notoriously inconsistent. Compare "Call of Cthulhu" to "Pickman's Model." However, Poe was also inconsistent and so he and Lovecraft get compared a lot.
Personally, King books and the films that are based on them tend to be as scary as a late running train. You kind of wonder when it's gonna turn up, and when it does, nothing much happens.
@Lea`Brooks - that actually sounds like the kinda thing I'd be fascinated by... crap, to read or not to read. I do love my psychological thrillers - but then at least in terms of movies, I've come to realise psychological thrillers is just another term for horror really. The only difference is there's no fantasy/sci-fi element to it (aliens, monsters, viruses, demons etc). I realised this after I watched The Road. It was after that film that I decided I don't ever wanna watch psychological thrillers either (it was also the first film ever where I egged the character on to just go top himself, and it had the most superfluous ending in history - the whole thing was a lot of despair, depression, and I definitely got scared in a few places, and nothing satisfying about it AT ALL. I felt like McCormac just thought, "Sh*t this is too depressing, I better wrap it up with something fuzzy and I don't really know how else to end this story".) Anyway... I might see what the sample's like @Robert_S - Victorian, now I don't actually know what Victorian literature's like, but I think of it as lengthy with descriptions and very long words...
Well, at the least, read "Call of Cthulhu" and "From Beyond." From beyond is short, four pages or so, while CoC is lengthier. Call of Cthulhu From Beyond
Certain ones are really scary. I agree that Stand by Me was not scary at all but I was scared for the Shining.
@Robert_S - sure, I'll check them out and let you know how I like them! Thanks @outsider - surprisingly, no, I've never read any of Dickens' works. I think I tried just once - Maddening Crowd or whatever the title was. I managed one paragraph, maybe not even that. I could give it another go though. For someone who loves to write and also loves to read, I've not read all that much. I mean, I'm almost always reading a book, but I've not read many of the classics.
@Robert_S - just read From Beyond. The long-winded language put me off a bit - I lost the image of the scene several times. The idea is good, the opening reminded me of a horror flash game I played once (which was no doubt inspired by Lovecraft), and the dialogue at the end - or rather monologue - was fast and powerful. I wish I knew what "they" were though. It's slightly unsatisfying without being all too thrilling/scary because the language put me off too much. Maybe I need to reread it... I sorta wish there was more to set up the atmosphere of the house and the strange disappearances of the servants, and a little less random colours and pillars. For me the bits that should've been long were short, and the bits that could've been short were long and distracting.
On the front of Books of Blood Vol. 3, King says: I have seen the future of Horror...and it is named Clive Barker. The book is Barkers. I find King to be too tedious to be scary. Barker on the other hand has a knack for getting under your skin, and in your head.
I really liked The Stand, although I'd suggest the abridged version. The Body and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption are novellas with pretty much zero horror. (And Far from the Madding Crowd is by Thomas Hardy, not Dickens)
@Cave Troll are you on a zombie-thread-resurrection mission? I've never been scared by any King books. The only one I actually enjoyed reading was a short story collection but even that was only creepy, not scary.
Oh, shoot, I caught myself before I contributed to another necro-thread, but I missed this one! Sorry, dead thread. Please Rest In Peace, without my interference!
I've only read the Shining. good book, but didn't scare me. Was more of a psychological/supernatural thriller than scary. I don't know if I can get "scared" reading a book, though. *edit* oh well, zombie thread engaged
I don't necessarily scare easily, but I get really tense if I'm reading something... well... intense. I've read a number of King's novels and some have made me very tense. I managed to get through The Stand without resorting to medical treatment, but Misery? Good grief! I almost had to go on quaaludes! But he's such a great writer, I keep hoping he'll turn to less terrifying stories. 11.22.63 was right up my alley (I'm a big time travel fan) so the only part of that story that got me tense (and even then, it wasn't so bad, really) was when he got onto the Yellow-card Man. Other books that aren't really scary are: The Green Mile Joyland Cell The Dead Zone The Eyes of the Dragon (he wrote this one for his kids) The Tommyknockers
I don't know what he writes today but I love many of his old work, and find some of them even too scary. One of my all time favourite books is Cycle of the Werewolf from him which isn't scary at all, but totally awesome. I also enjoyed The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon which title sucks and I really only read it because my language title is wonderful (direct translation being "The God of the Lost Ones")...But the story itself is great - just perfectly scary. Except for the ending which was a huge let-down / disappointing. Also, as a teen I read Pet Sematary two and a half times, because on the third time I couldn't take it anymore. It's incredibly dark and disturbing book - but I love it for it's psychology aspects and the core theme of how far a person might go in his/her deepest grief. I suppose I appreciate King's works mostly for the psychological aspects more than the scariness. That being said I named my werewolf child character (Stephen Hunter King) after him while I don't really write much horror stories about the character but whenever writing about his werewolf side I focus on the psychological effects and aspects of werewolfness and how it affects his family too.
