The most disturbing incident, however, has to be the hysteria and madness that gripped the entire town in the fall of 1991, coincident with the grand opening of the store called Needful Things. Spouses killed one another, neighbor battled neighbor to the death, and rival churches fought tooth and nail in the streets. The town was nearly destroyed in the chaos, as several buildings were dynamited by known criminal Ace Merrill (see the chapter on Needful Things).
By 1990, King had decided to “close the book” on Castle Rock, the quirky little community where so many of his favorite characters had lived and died, triumphed and suffered. And close the book he did. As one can see from the events described above, Castle Rock went out, not with a whimper, but with a bang.
Although King had seemingly cut all ties to the town in Needful Things (which was boldly subtitled “The Last Castle Rock Story”), he is still drawn to its familiar environs every now and then. For instance, there is the putative epilogue to that book, a short story called “It Grows on You,” which appeared in Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993). The town was also mentioned in passing in 1996’s tale “The Man in the Black Suit,” and in 1999’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Former townspeople have also appeared in subsequent stories, the most recent example being former Castle Rock deputy Norris Ridgewick’s cameo at the conclusion of Bag of Bones.
Castle Rock, with its constant struggles between good and evil, seems to have been almost a microcosmic version of the much grander cosmic conflict going on in the Stephen King Universe as a whole. Though that certainly does not mean that the seemingly minor skirmishes in Castle Rock are not also a part of that larger struggle.
The town has served as a setting for King’s ongoing examination of the eternal struggle between good and evil, detailing the conflicts between Johnny Smith and Frank Dodd, Donna Trenton and Cujo, and Thad Beaumont and George Stark. The battle described in Needful Things, however, provides the best example of this theme. Leland Gaunt is obviously of the same breed of monster as other evil denizens of King’s Universe such as Randall Flagg (The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon), Andre Linoge (Storm of the Century), Aredelia Lortz (“The Library Policeman”), and Kurt Barlow (’Salem’s Lot), and the troubles he caused in the town a tiny reflection of the battle that rages between the Random and the Purpose mentioned in Insomnia.
One could even characterize the human combatants in Needful Things—Alan Pangborn, Polly Chalmers, and Norris Ridgewick—as a ka-tet, similar in structure to the one Roland leads. This drives home the point that although evil exists, it is always opposed by good.
Another recurring theme is that evil lingers, as proved by the legacy of Frank Dodd, which King detailed in Cujo and has mentioned several times since. Again, however, King points out that the forces of good are just as resilient, that a champion always arises in a time of need.
Perhaps the most telling physical evidence that Castle Rock is a key part of the Stephen King Universe is the map of Maine contained in the novels Dolores Claiborne and Gerald’s Game. There, readers can easily see that Castle Rock is part of King’s Maine, sitting as it does to the south of towns like Bangor, Derry, and Haven. Bolstering this evidence are the many references King makes to events in Castle Rock in other books (for instance, Frank Dodd’s suicide made national news, and was mentioned in passing in It), and his frequent mentions of such fictional Maine landmarks as Shawshank Prison and the mental institution known as Juniper Hill.
Obviously very resilient, the people of Castle Rock have rebuilt their town and continue with their daily lives. Perhaps the conflagration that nearly destroyed the Rock has cleansed the town of evil, allowing its denizens to live out their days in peace. Perhaps, though, evil still lingers there, waiting for the proper moment to inflict additional horrors on the unsuspecting populace.
CASTLE ROCK: TRIVIA
• As noted in the Introduction, Castle Rock also figures in the fiction of King’s wife, Tabitha King. One example of this appears in her 1993 novel One on One. There, Castle Rock is depicted as a sports rival of Greenspark Academy, the school that two of her main characters attend.
• Like Derry, Castle Rock has spawned more than its share of working authors. Besides the unfortunate Thad Beaumont, the town is also the birthplace of writer Gordon LaChance (an incident from Gordie’s childhood is told in the 1982 novella The Body).
• King took the name Castle Rock from a favorite novel of his youth, William Golding’s 1954 classic Lord of the Flies. The name in turn was used by Rob Reiner, director of Stand by Me, as the name of his production company.
19
THE DEAD ZONE
(1979)
Of the dozens of character-driven novels that Stephen King has published since 1974, The Dead Zone remains one of his most powerful, poignant, and emotionally involving. Tragic and terrifying, The Dead Zone was King’s first novel to demonstrate that the acknowledged master of horror could also move readers to tears. Although not as overtly frightening as such previous bestsellers as ’Salem’s Lot (1975) and The Shining (1977), it is no less memorable.
A somber study of one man’s strange and sad journey toward his unique destiny, The Dead Zone poses the question of whether one man’s actions can change the fate of the entire world. The man in question is a New Hampshire high school teacher who goes by the nondescript name of Johnny Smith.
Johnny has a bright future stolen from him when, upon returning from a date with his sweetheart, Sarah Bracknell, he is involved in an automobile accident that renders him comatose for four and a half years. When he finally awakens from his long sleep, he learns from his parents that the world has gone on without him. The most shocking news, however, is that Sarah, with whom he was deeply in love and believed he would marry, has met and wed another man.
Meanwhile, in another part of the country, a sociopath named Greg Stillson has decided to run for political office as a stepping-stone toward the presidency of the United States, though by rights he isn’t fit to be a town’s dogcatcher. Shrewd and cruel and totally amoral, Stillson wins that first race. Although it will be years before the two men eventually meet, their lives are intimately intertwined in ways they can’t begin to imagine. Both are outsiders—but one is fated to heal people, the other is destined to destroy the world.
Johnny awakens from his coma with a special gift, a so-called “wild talent.” He now possesses incredible psychic powers—mainly that of precognition—in which he can see the future of anyone he touches. However, due to what he refers to as “the dead zone” in his brain, Johnny is unable to see certain details of these future events. Nor can he “see” what his own future will be. And although the last thing Johnny wants is to be thought of as a “celebrity psychic,” or some kind of sideshow freak, that, ultimately, is his destiny. His past life is over, and his future is a mystery. To complicate matters, he also has an inoperable brain tumor that is slowly but surely killing him.
After a long period of rehabilitation, Johnny reenters the world, trying to use his power to help those who need it most. His experiences, however, are more traumatic than rewarding. The worst is yet to come, though, as, attending a political rally for the fast rising politician Greg Stillson, Johnny shakes the candidate’s hand. Upon contact, Johnny is stunned by a terrifying vision of the older Stillson as president, about to engage in an unprovoked act of nuclear aggression against the Soviet Union. Johnny realizes that this act—thankfully still off in the future—could signal the death knell for the entire world.
Johnny, now faced with an incredible moral dilemma, has to decide whether he has the right to intervene, to perhaps take the life of someone who—albeit only potentially—may indirectly murder billions. Johnny reluctantly accepts this responsibility, realizing it might cost him his own life.
The Dead Zone is remarkable not only for its intimate portrait of Johnny Smith (what better name to subtly represent Everyman?), but because King for the first time delves into the secrets of the small Maine town of Castle Rock. King,
as he had already done with the fictional town of Jerusalem’s Lot, and would later do with Derry, would eventually make Castle Rock stand out as vividly as any of his greatest characters. Although its primary focus is on Johnny Smith, The Dead Zone also zeroes in on the many secrets concealed by the pleasant façade that the town presents to the world.
King reminds us repeatedly in The Dead Zone how little control we ultimately have over our own destinies. Even if we were allowed glimpses into the future, there is very little chance that most of us would be able to substantially change our lot in life. It is not the psychic talent that Johnny Smith possesses that makes him special—it is that he has the courage to try to change fate despite the personal cost.
As the classic rock ’n’ roll song by the Doors says, “No one here gets out alive,” and in the Stephen King Universe, that is never more eloquently stated than in The Dead Zone. For here, King seems to be saying that, unfair though life may be, we must accept the cards fate has dealt us, and try to do the best we can. It’s a profoundly sad lesson to absorb, to be sure, but a vitally important one.
THE DEAD ZONE: PRIMARY SUBJECTS
JOHNNY SMITH: An ordinary, likeable young man whose entire life is changed when he is involved in an automobile accident that leaves him in a coma for fifty-five months. Johnny awakens from that coma with the fully realized ability to see a person’s future merely by touching them. Johnny initially does his best to assist all who ask for his help, but ultimately finds his psychic abilities more of a burden than a joy. After shaking corrupt politician Greg Stillson’s hand, Johnny realizes that Stillson would someday destroy the world in a nuclear holocaust. Already slowly dying of a brain tumor, Johnny devotes the rest of his days to devising a way to eliminate the threat Stillson presents, ultimately concluding that he must kill the man. Although he dies in the attempt, Johnny knows that his sacrifice is not in vain—Stillson’s cowardly response to Johnny’s assassination attempt effectively squashes his political career, thus preventing the disaster Johnny foresaw.
SARAH BRACKNELL: Johnny’s one true love, a fellow English teacher, she is Johnny’s date on the night of his automobile accident. Not knowing if Johnny will ever emerge from his coma, Sarah meets and marries a man named Walter Hazlett and bears him two children. Although happy with Hazlett, she still considers Johnny Smith to be the greatest love of her life. She is believed to be still living in Castle Rock.
FRANK DODD: A Castle Rock police officer, one of the most respected men in the community, he harbors a terrible secret. Frank, you see, is also the serial rapist/killer known as the Castle Rock Strangler. When identified by Johnny Smith, Dodd cheats justice by slitting his own throat after composing a suicide note on the bathroom mirror with his mother’s lipstick. The note reads, “I confess.”
SHERIFF BANNERMAN: The likeable sheriff of Castle Rock, he is willing to give some credence to Johnny’s paranormal powers until the psychic accuses his trusted deputy, Frank Dodd, of being the notorious Castle Rock Strangler. Much to his horror, he is proven wrong in his previous evaluation of Dodd. Bannerman continues on in Castle Rock in the role of sheriff until the fateful day Joe Camber’s rabid dog, Cujo, kills him.
GREG STILLSON: Horribly abused as a child, he spends the rest of life getting back at the world that he believes, with the conviction of a paranoid zealot, that it is his destiny to rule. Given Stillson’s blue-collar appeal, it seems that he may someday achieve that goal. A chance encounter with Johnny Smith at a political rally upsets his plans to gain the highest office in the land. As they exchange handshakes, Johnny experiences the insanity that Congressman Stillson is capable of, and dedicates his life to stopping him from rising any higher. Seeing no other way to bring him down, Johnny attempts to assassinate Stillson. Johnny is unsuccessful, as Stillson escapes serious injury. However, in an attempt to protect himself, Stillson plucks a child from the surrounding crowd, using the infant as a human shield. Although the child is unhurt, this cowardly act ends Stillson’s political career forever.
DR. SAMUEL WEIZAK: A Polish refugee of the Nazi concentration camps of World War II, he is the physician who cares for Johnny after he awakens from his coma. Johnny is able to prove his unique “wild talent” to the doctor when he informs the elderly man that his mother, long believed to be a victim of the Holocaust, is still alive. A “small, roly-poly man,” he is still believed to be on the staff at the local hospital, if he has not already retired.
RICHARD DEES: A brash reporter from Inside View, a sleazy supermarket tabloid. Dees’s newspaper offers Johnny a job as a celebrity psychic to boost their circulation.
THE DEAD ZONE: ADAPTATIONS
The 103-minute screen version of The Dead Zone, released in 1983, remains one of the most faithful and effective adaptations of a Stephen King work ever executed. Although many of the events of the lengthy novel were modified or compressed, screenwriter Jeffrey Boam does a masterful job of retaining the fragile essence and somber tone of the original book. (Interestingly, at one point executive producer Dino De Laurentiis asked King himself to take a crack at adapting his own novel. After the author did so, De Laurentiis rejected the screenplay as being too “involved and convoluted.”)
The director chosen for the R-rated project was Canadian David Cronenberg, who up until that point had never directed a movie not based on one of his own original screenplays. Cronenberg, already famous for such bizarre shockers as They Came from Within (1975), The Brood (1979), and Videodrome (1982), did an incredible job of capturing the Norman Rockwell “look” of Castle Rock and King’s wintry New England. Reportedly, the author told Cronenberg that some of the changes the director and screenwriter Boam made to his novel improved and intensified the power of the narrative.
Equally fortuitous was the casting. Academy Award–winning actor Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter) was featured in the starring role of Smith. Walken was, simply put, the best possible choice for playing the lonely, haunted, and forever “different” human being. As much as George C. Scott was Patton in the 1970 movie of the same name, so, too, is Walken the perfect realization of Johnny Smith. Walken portrays Smith as someone who may truly be one of the walking wounded, but who knows his innermost moral convictions are still intact.
In supporting roles, the choices in casting were equally appropriate: Brooke Adams as Sarah, Tom Skeritt as Sheriff Bannerman, Herbert Lom as Dr. Weizak, and Colleen Dewhurst as Henrietta Dodd are all tremendous. Martin Sheen, who portrays Greg Stillson, would be one of the few actors—such as Drew Barrymore and Kathy Bates—to ever appear in a second Stephen King movie adaptation. He would play another ruthless, amoral villain, Captain Hollister, in the following year’s Firestarter.
The Dead Zone is that rare instance where a superb creative team joined together to make the most effective adaptation of a bestselling novel that could be done, while still remaining essentially true to its source material.
The Dead Zone’s most recent incarnation is as a USA Network television series starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith. An intriguing reinterpretation of King’s novel and characters, the series is currently about to enter its fourth season.
THE DEAD ZONE TRIVIA
• The Dead Zone was the first book by the author to reach #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
• The character Johnny Smith was born in 1947—the same year as the author. Like Johnny, King also was a teacher.
• In a 1998 interview, King stated that The Dead Zone remained one of his two or three favorite novels.
• The unflappable journalist Richard Dees would later appear again in the 1988 short story “The Night Flier.”
• The film version of Carrie is mentioned when Johnny predicts the prom fire.
20
CUJO
(1981)
According to Douglas Winter’s excellent and informative Stephen King: The Art of Darkness (NAL Books, 1984), Cujo, like so much of King’s fiction, “had its origin in a real incident in King’s life,�
� springing from the author’s encounter with a huge St. Bernard with the unlikely name of Gonzo. King emerged from that incident with the germ of the idea for a new novel, the story of a two-hundred-pound dog named Cujo that one day goes berserk, threatening the lives and safety of the people of Castle Rock, Maine.
The tragic tale of a good dog gone bad, Cujo also tells the story of two Castle Rock families, the Trentons and the Cambers. Vic and Donna Trenton have recently relocated to the town in an attempt to find a better quality of life for themselves and their four-year-old son, Tad. Joe and Charity Camber have lived in Castle Rock all their lives; Joe owns a garage in town, where his son, Brett, can often be seen playing with his dog, an amiable St. Bernard named Cujo.
Both families are under stress. The Trentons quickly discover that moving will not solve all their problems: Vic’s New York advertising agency is on the verge of collapse, and he must devote all his time and energy to saving his last big account with the Sharp Cereal Company. Stressed by the move, Donna feels abandoned by her workaholic husband. More out of boredom than anything else, she drifts into a brief but destructive extramarital affair. Tad, meanwhile, suffers repeated nightmares about a terrible monster that dwells in the shadows of his bedroom closet.
The Complete Stephen King Universe Page 17