Journey step started: May 6, 2022
Journey step ended: Sep 10, 2022
Click the Google sheet to the right to see every item covered on this step of the journey.
<(prev) — The Boogeyman — Gray Matter — Battleground — Trucks — Sometimes They Come Back — (next)>
The Boogeyman
Day 163: Jun 12, 2022
Next up for me in Night Shift is the short story “The Boogeyman”.
I hear a movie is in development, set to be released on Hulu in 2023. Let’s see if this story is worth it!
“Or they get to be sissies. Can you imagine waking up some morning and finding your kid – your son – is a sissy?”
These early stories of King all feature characters who are homophobic. I get it – it’s the early 70’s. But these type of throwaway dialog moments are so pervasive!
Nothing of note or memorable with “The Boogeyman”. The “twist” at the end was quite sophomoric. I can’t see how this warrants a full length film adaptation.
Day 164: Jun 13, 2022
Only David Farrington had the courage (or the free time) to take on the Night Shift short story “The Boogeyman”.
There’s a short film version of “The Boogeyman” apparently.
You can catch it on YouTube. But I can’t in good conscience recommend you do so unless you like an early 80’s synthesized soundtrack beating you over the head the whole time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBFqGXqPX6s
The main character was odd-looking enough, but did they really have to put him in yellow underwear with a stain on the backside??
Day 165: Jun 14, 2022
David Farrington does a Vlog of that 1982 “The Boogeyman” short film. He certainly seemed to have more fun with it than I did!
Day 166: June 15, 2022
Finishing up Night Shift’s “The Boogeyman” with Chat Sematary and the painful to watch short film adaptation from 1982.
I have also seen reference to a 2010 film version. But haven’t had any luck finding it anywhere.
Day 612: Sep 04, 2023
***circling back***
Last week, “The Boogeyman” was finally released for streaming, so before I begin my next book (see yesterday’s posts) I’m going to take advantage of the US holiday today and circle back to Night Shift and give this a watch.
This is the very first thing that we’re greeted with. When did they start putting THESE warnings in front of movies? Shoot – when I was a kid, smoking was found in rated-G cartoons! My, how society has changed.
I now want one of these amazing looking glowing moon balls. Onto my Christmas wish list it goes!
When this character walked into the psychiatrist’s office, he perfectly gave off the creepiest vibes. And then I looked up who the actor was (David Dastmalchian) and saw that he was also the hilarious Polka-Dot Man from “The Suicide Squad” and the creepy factor just disappeared. I need to learn to do my research AFTER the movie, not DURING it!
Already a major deviation from the source material where the father of the young children who have been killed by the Boogeyman is himself found dead at the psychiatrist’s house.
Interested to see where this goes from here.
How many takes were required until she nailed this scene?
There is a scene involving a tooth on the end of a string that had me squirming in my chair and making noises out loud.
I love it!
For a movie that’s primarily built around one of the biggest horror tropes: A monster that only children are seeing and the adults don’t believe them…
“The Boogeyman” feels very fresh and original!
No. Way.
“The Boogeyman” indeed was a solid movie. If you watch it, do so in a dimly lit room as many of the scenes are understandable dark. Also, watch with headphones on or at least with a quality sound system. This is essential to the effectiveness of this movie.
Well done Rob Savage and team! Well done!
Day 613: Sep 05, 2023
***circling back***
After a crackingly good time watching The Boogeyman yesterday, I jump over to the podcasting world to see what they have to say about it.
Surprisingly, there were few who touched it. Starting off with The Losers’ Club who recorded an original audio drama inspired by the movie: “An ambitious ER physician meets her scariest patient yet…”
Next is Chat Sematary‘s review of The Boogeyman.
Day 614: Sep 06, 2023
***circling back***
The Losers’ Club (having wrapped up a cringeworthy original audio drama inspired by The Boogeyman) get to interview Rob Savage, the director of the most recent King-related film adaptation.
Day 615: Sep 07, 2023
***circling back***
The Losers’ Club seemed to be the only podcast to have gotten excited about The Boogeyman film as they released a THIRD episode about it no too long ago. It’s a lengthy one, so I plan only to listen to the first half of it today.
Here they actually review the film, something I suppose they couldn’t do with honesty in the last episode while interviewing the director. I wonder if they’ll now completely trash it. 😂
“I always like a good microfiche montage.”
A comment about a curious absence of any “research” performed about the boogeyman monster to get its backstory. The teenage girl certainly is comfortable looking up how to communicate with the dead on YouTube. Why not do some boogeyman googling?
Day 616: Sep 08, 2023
***circling back***
Finishing off The Losers’ Club‘s lengthy review of The Boogeyman film, which they indeed were a bit critical of. I felt they are nitpicking on irrelevant minutia, giving this the analysis that one would give to The Godfather.
remember when Stranger Things came out and the number of people who pointed out how much of a Stephen King vibe it had. How story elements seem lifted from such works as Firestarter and Carrie.
Now here, a big complaint The Losers’ Club raised was how much this Stephen King film reminds them of Stranger Things. Oh how the world of irony has turned.
They covered Easter eggs in this film, and while I noticed the house numbered 19, I completely miss the one numbered 217!
Their biggest complaint was that this did not follow the same plot as the very very short story that King wrote.
Personally, I thought they gave the source material a wonderful homage at the beginning and then took it into a different direction with a traditional, modern monster film that was professionally executed.
Well it’s not going to rank in the top 10 films I’ve ever seen, I can’t imagine taking the source material and stretching it to 90 min.
Day 704: Dec 05, 2023
***circling back***
Circling back to Night Shift and a review of the surprisingly high quality film, The Boogeyman.
Day XXX: MMM DD, YYYY
Template text
Day XXX: MMM DD, YYYY
Template text
Gray Matter
Day 166: Jun 15, 2022
Next story up is “Grey Matter”. I’m excited by this because it’s the first of the Night Shift material that I have absolutely no recollection of. All the stories up to now I kind of remember, at least the general plotline if not the details. But this one feels brand new to me!
“That kid walked away like his ass was on sideways and he had to crap.”
I cherish these old fart colloquialisms more than anything else in Stephen King stories! Where does he get these from?
“Frankie Haldeman, who knew him, said George went down into a sewer pipe on Essex laughing and joking just like always and came up fifteen minutes later with his hair just as white as snow and his eyes staring like he just looked through a window into hell.”
“I was up to 32,768 times two is the end of the human race”
OK, I really dug this story. Bravo! 👏
I’m excited to watch the Creepshow TV series adaptation of “Gray Matter”! It’s just gotta be better than these “Dollar Babies” I’ve been suffering through lately!
p.s. Just realized I’ve been spelling it “Grey” this whole time. Stupid “Grey’s Anatomy”…
I’m really digging the cartoon opening.
Well that was certainly better acted and produced than most things I’ve seen. I’m looking forward to seeing more Creepshow episodes in the future!
Day 167: Jun 16, 2022
I agree with David Farrington’s glowing review of Creepshow’s take on “Gray Matter”. We also learn in this episode that 4 * 2 = 16. 😁
It was fun to enjoy a decent King adaptation with Chat Sematary for a change. We’ve suffered through so many bad ones together!
Zach Dionne provided a great list of all the “Kingster eggs” that I completely missed during this episode of Creepshow’s episode that included “Gray Matter”.
“Bell also acted in the movie Boogeyman 2”
Wait… Wut??? Boogeyman 2?
Oh, that has nothing to do with King’s “The Boogeyman”.
But still… That they didn’t name it “Boogeyman 2: Electric Boogeyloo” was a missed opportunity.
Battleground
Day 168: Jun 17, 2022
Night Shift’s “Battleground” was short yet a lot of fun! I rolled my eyes after page 3 once I realized what was happening. The premise was so ridiculous! But King has such a way with writing action and before I knew it I was sucked in.
Day 169: Jun 18, 2022
Now watching the TV rendition of Night Shift’s “Battleground” from the series Nightmares and Dreamscapes. It’s a 52-minute episode with no dialog and William freaking Hurt!
The most incredible thing about this is how a story that took about 7 minutes to read was stretched out into a rather engaging 52 minutes of television!
Day 170: Jun 19, 2022
I started off this Father’s Day with The Kingcast and their deep-dive into the TV episode which very faithfully rendered Night Shift’s “Battleground”.
As faithful as it was, Battleground was an extremely short read and they needed a way to pad it. The introduction of a Rambo-style army character was brilliant!
With product placement like this, we see how they were able to pay William Hurt to appear on TNT.
Day 394: Jan 29, 2023
***circling back***
The next stop on this visit of the short story collection is The Kingcast with a lengthy take on one of the weirdest entries, “Battleground”.
Day 829: Apr 8, 2024
***circling back***
The Kingcast is in the middle of Night Shift reviewing that weird little story about green little army men called “Battleground”.
Trucks
Day 170: Jun 19, 2022
To finish off Father’s Day I’m reading Night Shift’s “Trucks”. As if we didn’t already have a laundry machine, little green army men, and cans of beer to worry about…
Day 171: Jun 20, 2022
I’m rapidly catching up to David Farrington’s output as I tackle his reading Vlog on a few Night Shift stories that I recently completed.
(note: His video on “Trucks” was taken private for an unknown reason)
Day 172: Jun 21, 2022
I settle down to watch the masterpiece known as “Maximum Overdrive”.
I know of this movie. But I’ve never actually seen this movie. Is it as bad as its reputation? Couldn’t possibly be as bad as some I’ve seen recently.
Didn’t expect to see what appears to be a 12-year-old Yeardley Smith (aka voice of Lisa Simpson) in this disturbingly inappropriate role.
Day 173: Jun 22, 2022
Finishing up the movie “Maximum Overdrive” tonight. All I can say is that with gas prices the way they are, this movie would cost over $100 million if it were made today.
The idea of planes wasn’t covered in the story “Trucks” (at least as far as I recall) but I like how it’s being explored in the movie!
The idea of planes wasn’t covered in the story “Trucks” (at least as far as I recall) but I like how it’s being explored in the movie!
I had a lot of laughs with Filmsack‘s sack of “Maximum Overdrive”. This is from back in the olden days when they would do live audience broadcasts from time to time.
Day 174: Jun 23, 2022
I can’t believe The Losers’ Club is making me watch “Maximum Overdrive” again with their Ka-mmentary track to this classically bad film!
Day 175: Jun 24, 2022
Finishing off the The Losers’ Club‘s Ka-mmentary track to “Maximum Overdrive”. The middle of this movie is so riveting, the gang has been talking about road trips and Wilmington, NC – the dullest place on Earth.
Day 176: Jun 25, 2022
Only The Kingcast could motivate me to watch “Maximum Overdrive” for a THIRD time in the same week with their continued movie commentary series.
Day 177: Jun 26, 2022
The one where The Kingcast confuses Laura Harrington in “Maximum Overdrive” with Laura Harring from “Mulholland Drive”. It’s not such a terrible mistake.
Yet another podcast episode of The Kingcast covering “Maximum Overdrive”. This may be their most covered film, based on the queue I’m maintaining. At least they’re not making me watch it again!
“Big stupid fun” watching Maximum Overdrive, according to Chat Sematary.
Day 178: Jun 27, 2022
Listening to very old podcast episodes can be fun. This one from Stephen King Podcast has a guest who was present on the set of the film “Maximum Overdrive”.
The gang at Stephen King Podcast revisited Maximum Overdrive a few years later and invited back Tyson Blue who had visited the set of the movie while it was filming and wrote about it.
Day 179: Jun 28, 2022
I wasn’t aware that the trailer for Maximum Overdrive was somewhat infamous. In fact, when I first started this journey I was completely annoyed by The Kingcast‘s opening music, especially if I had headphones on. Now I know!
Look, I know: you’re thinking, “An entire episode on a single trailer?” Well, yes, but this episode probably digs a bit deeper than you’re imagining. We all know the MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE trailer and love it for its bizarrely over-produced quality, but today (with the help of special returning guest Todd Gilchrist), we’re not just here to watch it and provide a commentary, or point out how silly some of it is.
I could listen to The Kingcast and Flula Borg discuss a 10-hr C-SPAN budget hearing. It’s pure magic whenever Flula is a guest. He is one of the most quick-witted, sharpest comedians I have ever heard and the fact that he’s not even a comedian is incredible.
Day 180: Jun 29, 2022
Super busy today, so I only had time for a quickie with David Farrington and his analysis of Maximum Overdrive.
(note: David has since made many of videos private including this one)
Day 181: Jun 30, 2022
I don’t get why Maximum Overdrive is such a popular topic but it warranted a THIRD episode from Stephen King Podcast episode, again with expert Tyson Blue to talk about the home HD release of the film.
Day 182: Jul 1, 2022
Stephen Kingcast provides the final podcast episode to consume for Maximum Overdrive (thank God!)
And the last word for me about this movie is this writeup from Zach Dionne!
Day 253: Sep 10, 2022
circling back after having finished the book
Before I move on to the next book in my Stephen King journey, I have some cleanup I need to do. Various podcast episodes have dropped about books I’ve already completed, so I’m going to circle back and clear out the backlog before moving on.
I also discovered Dark Tower Radio midway through Night Shift, so I’m going to go back and catch up on the episodes covering books I’ve already read, starting with this one.
Day 566: Jul 20, 2023
***circling back***
Continuing forward with “Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide”.
Tonight kicks off with a writeup of Maximum Overdrive (1986).
I might’ve missed it being mentioned in the dozens of podcast episodes about this film, but I found it hilarious that Stephen King, when directing Maximum Overdrive, had to work with an Italian production crew who knew very little English!
Day 395: Jan 30, 2023
***circling back***
There is only one thing that would get me to watch “Maximum Overdrive” again and that would be this hilarious commentary track provided by The Kingcast and special guest Flula Borg!
Day 396: Jan 31, 2023
***circling back***
I’m finishing off “Maximum Overdrive” with the laugh-out-loud commentary track provided by The Kingcast and special guest Flula Borg.
It’s worth getting this Patreon subscription if only to hear Flula imagine what truck copulation would look like.
Day 507: May 22, 2023
***circling back***
Day 183: Jul 2, 2022
God help me, but I’m now settling down to watch “Trucks”, a made-for-TV film that’s already making “Maximum Overdrive” look like a goddamn masterpiece. Oh, and it’s 20 minutes longer to boot. Yay!
I see we’re dealing with only the HIGHEST quality of production here.
This may be the stupidest scene in all of horror movie history.
Here’s some Stephen King math:
Maximum Overdrive
– AC/DC soundtrack
– fun campiness
– rocket launchers
– Green Goblin
– daytime scenes
= Trucks (1997)
Hopefully to add something redeeming to “Trucks” is The Kingcast.
“We’re here today to talk about fucking ‘Trucks’”.
Ah, if only there were some truck-fucking in this movie…
The final, final, final word on this tale from Night Shift goes to Chat Sematary. I am soooo ready to move on to the next story!
The most shocking thing I heard in that last episode was that another Stephen King video piece, Golden Years, is supposedly even worse than this film “Trucks”. How could there possibly be something worse?
Day 566: Jul 20, 2023
***circling back***
Next in “Creepshows” is a one-page review of Trucks (1997) – that godawful remake which had ONE redeeming scene where a postal worker gets taken down by a remote control toy truck.
Day 704: Dec 05, 2023
***circling back***
Next up, staying within the Night Shift world, is a full-on commentary track of the truly unfortunately filmed adaptation of Trucks (a made-for-TV version that makes Maximum Overdrive look like a goddamn masterpiece).
The only way we were going to sit through this particular dud of a movie again was with someone super funny, so we recruited a guy by the name of Cullen Crawford, whose work you may know from The Onion and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Sometimes They Come Back
Day 184: Jul 3, 2022
After a far too long pit stop with a bunch of possessed trucks, it’s refreshing to start a new story, “Sometimes They Come Back”.
“The next page was a disciplinary history, the yellow sheet. The Milford sheet was white with a black border, and it was depressingly well filled. Lawson had been in a hundred kinds of trouble.”
I just spent the last 10 minutes googling what a “Milford sheet” was. No success.
“‘Can I talk to you for a minute, Mr Norman?’
‘Sure. But if it’s about that test, you’re wasting your -‘
‘It’s not about that. Uh, can I smoke in here?’
‘Go ahead.’”
——-
Unfathomable to think now about high school students asking a teacher for permission to smoke!
I have no recollection of the story from when I first read it 35 or so years ago. An absolutely gripping setup, but took a wild left turn with a Satanic ritual at the end that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. I’m actually looking forward to the movies now!
Another Dino DeLaurentis production of a Stephen King story. I know nothing about this film, but if it follows the wild turn at the end, I might be in for a surprising treat.
Continuing the long tradition of casting 40-year-olds to play high school characters.
From IMDB:
Taglines
With “The Shining” and “Misery” Stephen King scared you to death. Now, he’s going to scare you back to life.
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA! That’s sooooo dumb!
This movie stars Tim Matheson, who’s biggest claim to fame is National Lampoon’s Animal House.
Rule #1 in horror films:
When chased by a car, make sure you run straight down the middle of the road and rely solely on your own speed.
Don’t look for safety in brick barriers, going behind houses or into the trees.
Well, they completely discarded SK’s ending and replaced it with something I guess made more logical sense. But it was a lot less fun, that’s for sure.
This is what I thought of when watching the ending to Sometimes They Come Back.
Day 185: Jul 4, 2022
Having managed to stay awake through the movie “Sometimes They Come Back”, I look forward to hearing what others thought of this film, starting with Chat Sematary.
Nobody can take something so bad and turn it into so much fun as Derry Public Radio can. Exhibit A:
Day 186: Jul 5, 2022
Tearing apart the film “Sometimes They Come Back” is The Kingcast and the maniacal Paul Rust. Hearing them read the movie synopsis for the sequels has me actually pumped to watch them next!
Excellent point about the recycling of Jack Torrance’s back story (a teacher who gets in trouble for getting violent with a student) onto “Sometimes They Come Back”s protagonist, Jim Norman.
Day 187: Jul 6, 2022
It’s with great anticipation that I settle down to watch the star-studded “Sometimes They Come Back… Again”!
How this movie didn’t sweep all the Academy Awards in 1996 is beyond me. Haven’t seen this level of perfection in acting since The Godfather.
The resurrection of the dead is not unlike a Jane’s Addiction MTV music video.
Well that movie was… Unnecessary.
Day 188: Jul 7, 2022
If there’s ever a movie that screamed out for a “Lobstrosity” from The Losers’ Club, it’s “Sometimes They Come Back… Again”.
Excellent point: This movie seems like it was created with all the deleted scenes from the first movie. Where the original left out any reference to the Dark Arts, this film goes full-fledged demonology.
The movie should have been called “Sometimes They Get Electrocuted.. Again.
What I like most about Chat Sematary is that they go deep into the SK-related movie sequels – the only ones to cover the “Sometimes They Come Back” trilogy. I admire the commitment, but disappointed they won’t be there for all Children of the Corn films!
Day 189: Jul 8, 2022
This is the “Return of the King” of the epic “Sometimes They Come Back” trilogy.
Peter Jackson totally stole the fonts used in “Sometimes They Come Back… For More” for the elven script in his film years later.
I seriously think the producers of “Sometimes They Come Back… For More”, which was made in 1998, have a case against Peter Jackson whose Lord of the Rings films didn’t come out until 2001. Just look at this shot below and tell me LotR didn’t rip them off!
I’m slightly bothered by the fact that one of the lead characters looks like Donald Trump Jr.
The visual effects of “Sometimes They Come Back… For More” are STUNNING! (I think)
I so tuned out of this movie, I just finished it and I can’t for the life of me remember how it ended.
I’m so grateful to be done with these “Sometimes They Come Back” films… But before I move onto the next “Night Shift” story, I will grudgingly relive this third movie with Chat Sematary.
Day 397: Feb 1, 2023
***circling back***
My “Night Shift” catch-up continues as The Losers’ Club takes on the unenviable task of watching “Sometimes They Come Back.. For More”.
Day 566: Jul 20, 2023
***circling back***
Well, “Creepshows” had next to nothing to say about Trucks (good), so now I’m off to read about Sometimes They Come Back (1991).
Oh good grief, the tagline to “Sometimes They Come Back” was:
“With Pet Sematary and Misery Stephen King Scared You to Death. Now He’s Going to Scare You Back to Life.”
This would have made me think the movie was about a haunted defibrillator.
Interesting fact: “Sometime They Come Back also includes clips from Dino De Laurentiis’ King Kong (1976) remake on TV.”
I must’ve not paid much attention because I don’t recall seeing any giant apes in this film.
Day 567: Jul 21, 2023
***circling back***
Reading three more articles from “Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide” about movies I’ve already seen as part of this journey.
First is the rather unmemorable “Sometimes They Come Back… Again (1996)”. And I say unmemorable because I cannot recall a damn thing about it even though I saw it only a few months ago.
Oh yeah – this was a star-studded event, with Michael Gross, Alexis Arquette and Hilary Swank!
Well, that takes me to the writeup on Sometimes They Come Back… For More (1998). And I do remember this being a literal interpretation of when Hell freezes over as it was about demons attacking an Arctic research post.
Day 705: Dec 06, 2023
***circling back***
Tower Junkies handles the double feature of “Sometimes They Come Back” and “The Boogeyman”.
Day XXX: MMM DD, YYYY
Template text
Day XXX: MMM DD, YYYY
Template text