Welcome to The Horror Section

Dedictaed to the one & ONLY

My first encounter with King's work was when I was studying for my S.A.Ts - that was a near mistake!

I was so greatly overcome by the power of his writing I could'nt bring myself to put down the book, & buring your nose in a book other then a study book a day before the MATH S.A.Ts is hardly recommended.

Luckily for me, My grades did not suffer, but my "Stefan King - Mania" was there to stay. Since that 1st books I've read many of S.K's books, & with the exception of perhaps a couple, I LOVED them all.

Stefan (In the picture) has "Closure Talent ". What i mean is, that when it comes to ending a tale, this guy never fails. The endings in his books always send a cheeling tingling sensation up my spine.

Here is a collection of his books I recommend you read : (Preferably with someone to hold your hand ;) )

"IT" - This is the best book ever yet. & luckily for me it was my 1st so it left a hugh impression. This is the story of pure Evil, which lurks in the sewers of a town in Maine Called Deri. Evil choses to surface in the form of a clown, it lures innocent kids & devours them. However, IT meets his match in the form of 6 brave youngsters who manage to beat him.

Quotation : "Down here they ALL float"

IT was also made into a two part mini-series which I highly reccomend.
"The Dark Half" - A story that would make any writer think twice before publishing under an alias. This is a tale of a succeful writer, who published his first books under a pseudo pen name. Later on in his career, some sleasy charchter decideds to blackmail him, threating he would reveal his "early" identity. In an act of rebelion the writer decides to "OUT" himself, & arranges a fake burial for his EX-identity. But what he does'nt know, is that his other identity does'nt wish to simply disapear. It takes the form of a twin brother & comes after the writer & his family. But our writer has a couple of "Birds" up his sleeve...

Quotation : "The Sparrows are flying"

This book was also made into a movie & quite a good one !
"The Stand" - tells a story we all know can very well happen tomorrow, & still we do not change our ways. A terrible accident in a secret army lab somewhere in the U.S causes a man made disease to break free. A scared guard flees the scene with his family & causes the disease to spread nation wide. All attempts to contain the plague fail, & a hugh percentage of the US public dies. The survivers split into two camps. One is lead by a good force trying to restore the balance, & the second is lead by a hedious hell-spawned creature going by the name of Flag. In a world of close to no popultion the fight for survival commences...

This book was made into a mini-series with several parts. they tried really hard, but could'nt even compare to the book's stature.
"Misery" - Some people going on vacation lose luggage, miss planes, suffer from bad weather - well, not here. Our hero, the well known author of a best selling series called "Misery", Paul Sheldon, is on his way to spend his vacation. On the way he is involved in a car accident. He awakes only to find himself in the home of a carrying middle aged woman, who happens to be his No.1 fan. His "nurse" takes good care of him, but later on she discovers his plan to kill-off the hero in the next "Misery" book. She won't stand for that, & Paul Sheldon must now fight to survive...

The film based on this book was quite good & the director did an excellent job in moderating the bloody scenes.
"Thinner" - We all have a scene in our past we wish we had acted out differently. Thus is a case for a small town fleshy lawyer by the name of Billy Hulk. After a car accident to which he & his wife were mainly responsible, he is tried for the killing of an elderly gipsy woman. Thanks to his public standing he is acquitted of all charges & set free. However, outside the courtroom, an old gipsy man waits for him, & commands a curse upon him. The once bulk Billy starts loosing his weight with no means of reversing the process. Now he must seek out the old gipsy before he turns to no more then bones.
"Insomania" - The older we get, the harder it becomes to sleep. But Ralph has a much worse problem. He wakes up sooner & sooner every night. In a town where a battle for legal abortion is waged, seeds of evil start spawning, & Ralph is given the power to see them for what they really are. Old & wise, he recruits the aid of several friends in an attempt to either save the whole town from the claws of evil, or face the long everlasting sleep.

This book was SO good, I myself stayed up till 3am to finish reading it. The name befits !
"Needful Things" - How much would you pay for something you've lusted for all your life. In this little town, there is a new shop & you pay for everything in pranks. Small pranks, harmless, but they serve their purpose. The shop owner, the mysterious Lilland Gaunt gives you a taste of paradise, but draws you nearer to hell, every time you enter his business to purchase another object. But Mr. Gaunt is faced with the local sheriff, which makes sure he gets more then he bargained for.

Great book, also made into a medium rate film. The director tried to stick to the main plot, but you'd do better reading the book prior to seeing the film.
"Despertaion" - You never want to get in trouble with the law. But what if the LAW wants to make sure you get into trouble. A lonely patrolman roams the scorched highways near a mining town called Desperation. He imprissons passerbys, & has made dier plans for them. But the prisoners break free, & must figure out what happend to the townsfolk, in hopes to avoid the same misfortune.
"Gerald's Games" - S&M games can end up quite nastily, especially if your partner dies on you, before freeing you're chains. Ever tnought what it would be like to spend several days, in minimum clothing, cuffed to a bed in a secluded cabin, where only the woods can here your screams ? Well the hero of this book finds out just how chilling this experrience can be. This one will make you think twice before endulging in S&M.
"Pet Sematary" - No no, this is not a typo. This sign hangs over a place where children come to bury their beloved pets. But there is a special part of this cemetery, an old Indian burial ground with mystical resurrection traits. However, those who come back to life are not quite the same as they where before. A family makes the mistake of discovering this terrible truth... to late.

A chilling book made into an excellent chilling movie !
"The Eyes Of The Dragon" - S.K writes a fantsy book. A tale of dragons & wizards, heros & damsels. Not a very chilling story line, but it has severl nice twists to it. S.K explores the world of children's books, although I would rate several parts of this book as PG13.
"FireStarter" - What happens if a destructive power is given in the hands of an infant ? This happens when two students, who participated in some governmental experiment, get married & give birth to a sweet little baby girl with Pyrokinetic ability. This power grows as the girl ages, & now a secret bureau called "The Shop" want to grab hold of this weapon. Will their quest go up in smoke?

There is a film based on this book, staring Drew Barimor which I never saw.
"The Shawshank Redemption" - This is the story of the wrongfully imprissoned, who finds a reason to live on. Andy was framed for a murder he did not commit & sent to a maximus security prison. Clinging to the hope of redemption, he manages to come out upper hand & on the way teaches the corrupted warden a lesson he will never forget. A wonderful story of mind over matter.

This short story was the base for a very succeful & highly recommended film staring Morgan Freeman & Tim Robins.
"The Shining" - Jack Torrence, an ex-alcoholic, gets a winter caretaking job in a Castle-Rock hotel called "The Overlook". He takes his wife & young son Danny with him. But Danny is no ordinary kid. He has "The Shining", & the dead spirits infesting the Overlook wish to gain this power, & will manuver the weak minded Jack into getting hold of the boy. Young Danny must now confront his biggest fear & use his "Force" to save himself.

This book was made into a Stanly Cubrick film staring Jack Nickolson, but years later S.K himself wrote the script to a mini-series which he thought to be scarier as he initialy intended, & even included a nice twist at the end, which was'nt availble in the book. (Danny's middle name!)
"Apt Pupil" - How would you react if you found out you where neigbours with Satan himself ? An all american apt pupil finds out his next door neighbour is a Nazi war criminal, but instead of turning him in, he collects a strange silence debt, he forcess the aging Nazi to tell him of his past in the death camps. The strange connection between the two turns into a nightmare from which neither can wake up.

This book was made into a movie which I hav'nt seen yet.

 

The Following are books which I only had the pleasure of enjoying on-screen. Most of the movies are quite bad in comparison to the written version... still...

"SleepWalkers" - Thet live among us, they feed on us, & the only thing that can stop them are cats. The SleepWalkers can wear any shape, conjure up any illusion, anything to draw you near, & suck the life out of you. But this time, they've set foot in the wrong town.
"Langoliers" - If you're lazy in your work, they are sure to get you. A plane full of passangers flies through a rip in space-time. Some of the passengers survive & some merely vanish leaving behind their private belongings. The survivers must now figure out how to escape the world they arrived at, before the arrival of the Langoliers.
"Dolores Claiborne" - A woman is tried & convicted for murder. Her doughter returnes to visit her is her home town, & the two voyage back into the past, raising painful truths about the history of the family. A sad tale of family crisis & child abuse all in the shadow of the great natural miracle of a solar eclipse.
"The Mangler" - Sometimes day to day objects can turn into tools of murder. Meet the Mangler, an apparently ordinary innocent tool of ironing, but at night it seeks for human blood . Watch where you stick those hands !
"Cujo" - When Man's Best Friend decides to rise up against him. A friendly, relativly "dead" family dog by the name of Cujo, runs amock, dismembering everybody in his vicinity. A woman & her son get trapped in their car & are at the mercy of the beast... Will they become Pedigree Chum ?
"Night shift" - Sure, this shift pays better, but will you live to see daylight. No one wanted to do the awful task of cleaning the factory's rat infested cellar, but somebody had to do it. Going down they discover a vicious creature lurking in the basement, which mistakes them for a midnight snack.
"The TommyKnockers" - "Late last night & the night before, TommyKnockers TommyKnockers knocking at my door". A poet trying to overcome a writers block & an alchohol addiction stumbles into weird behaviour amongst the people of a small town where he is staying. Why are they acting that way, what is the strange grean aura radiating from the woods, & who are the Tommyknockers?

A film staring Jimmy Smiths from "NYPD"

Stefan King is still writing, & does it as good as ever... If you need a tale to shake you from your quiet, comfortable, ordinary life... check out the shelves for one of his works.

Note : Some of the books I mention here I read in their Hebrew translation, thus the names & quotations may vary from the original.

Intended additions to this page : Ratings, Reviews about : "Rose Madder", "Bag of Bones", "The green Mile".