Tag Archives: stephen king

Film Adaptation: Stephen King’s Needful Things (1993)

7 May

You can have whatever you want and favors mean more than cash at Needful Things. Everyone finds what they can’t lie without here or what they’ve regrettably let behind in a past life. 

Cover for Needful Things (MGM). Ed Harris and Bonnie Bedelia appear in the foreground looking alarmed, while Max Von Sydow's face looms large in the background. The tagline reads: "The town of Castle Rock just made a deal with the Devil...Now it's time to pay."

The movie adaptation of Stephen King’s Needful Things does a good job bringing to life one of King’s most underrated villains, Leland Gaunt. For those not familiar with the story, Mr. Gaunt (Max Von Sydow) is the Devil in human form, and he comes to Castle Rock, Maine to open a collectibles and antiques shop. Ed Harris plays the town’s sheriff, who has his suspicions after just his first meeting with the store owner and serves as the rational anchor as the town unravels.

Of course, die-hards will point out the movie’s derailment in many areas from the book, but let’s be realistic that it’s impossible to fit all the details of a 700 page book into two hours. The movie brings forth the mainstream style of a big studio while preserving King’s spiderweb design of greed and seduction’s hold on us. It teeters into dark comedy at times, showing the town as ugly from the beginning, with grudges festering around every corner. Yep, perfect pickings for the Devil to exploit.

The pranks each customer plays on each other to “pay off their debt” leads to murderous consequences, and all the while Mr. Gaunt revels in it. Max Von Sydow was a perfect pick for this role.

This movie won’t scare you or make you keep the lights on until the very last second before bed. Instead, it will, at least it did for me, cast gloom over the power that possessions and the want for prestige can hold over us. The more we want, the more the Devil entangles our minds to do his will. And what this story makes chillingly clear is that his will isn’t to destroy the world. No, it’s to watch it torture itself into madness.

As Mr. Gaunt says at the end, “This town wasn’t my best work, but it was fun.” Then he drives away.

Have you seen Needful Things (or read the book)? What did you think? Comment below.

You can reserve the movie here and the book here,

Horror fan and interested in the Hoboken Library’s Horror/Thriller Book Club? Please email reference@hobokenlibrary.org, or register for our next meeting by searching under Events on our website.

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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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A Lost Tale from Stephen King: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

30 Apr
Cover of the novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King. The design is a misty forest scene with a young girl wearing a baseball cap and backpack, walking alone. The title appears in white handwritten-style text. Stephen King's name is at the top in large gold lettering.

Stephen King is at his best when he keeps it simple, in my humble opinion: a rabid dog terrorizes a family, a bullied girl uses her telekinetic powers to terrorize a school, the Devil turns residents against each other, a psychopath traps an author in her house, a hotel drives a man to madness. There’s also getting lost alone in the woods, and that’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

And at just over 300 pages, it’s pleasant deviation from King’s normal marathon 700+ page reads.

Tricia McFarland strays off the Appalachian Trail in Maine and finds herself in a world of shifting shadows, buzzing insects, mysterious cabins, and a stalker.

Her solace is Boston Red Sox games on her Walkman and the hope that her favorite player, Tom Gordon, will make an appearance.

She grows desperate in her survival, and the only one who can bring her comfort is the love of her life. She adores Tom, and has faith that with every relief appearance he makes, she draws closer to escaping the jam she’s in, just as Tom does for her favorite baseball team nearly every night.

(Yankees fans, don’t worry. This isn’t a literary love letter to the Red Sox. More so, a fun project from King, who is a lifelong Sox fan.)

Told in innings rather than chapters, King plays off the slow-burn, rising tension of America’s pastime, which happens to be his bread-and-butter way of storytelling as well.

This book is far less supernatural than the classics that made King famous, and perhaps that’s why it flies under the radar. I found it an enjoyable detour into a world where our primal fears, in a situation very much possible, take over when survival instincts go haywire. 

It’s 9 days and 9 innings against nature, where the monsters of our imagination lurk so naturally.

Have you read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon? What did you think? Comment below.

You can reserve it in the BCCLS system here, or access the audiobook on Hoopla.

Horror fan and interested in the Hoboken Library’s Horror/Thriller Book Club? Please email reference@hobokenlibrary.org, or register for our next meeting by searching under Events on our website.

Hit subscribe to get more Hoboken Public Library Staff Picks delivered to your inbox!

Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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