One of my favorite things about the movie in general is how bold it is with being “extra”—the comic-inspired surreal/over-dramatic sudden lighting/background changes, the over-the-top performances (“Meteor shit!”), and the unashamed teenaged-boy style sense of humor, though still not overly crass—it’s kind of innocently fun for being a horror movie with lots of gruesome deaths. And even though it is fun and goofy, there is obvious craft and care put into it.
One funny anecdote I heard recently from a live Q&A featuring both Stephen King and Joe Hill recorded a few years ago: Joe plays the young boy in the wraparound story and when they shot the scene where his dad in the movie (played by Tom Atkins) slaps him and takes his comics away, Tom Savini made up young Joe’s face with a red hand-print. Filming went late into the early morning hours and Joe, unaccustomed to staying up so late, grew super manic and kept pestering his actual dad for a milkshake after they wrapped. King obliges his son and takes him to a McDonald’s drive-through but while there, the staff are real stand-off-ish and nearly call the cops because King keeps telling Joe “he can’t let his mom know about this” (meaning getting him a milkshake in the middle of the night) and Joe still has the handprint on his face making it look like King was buying his silence for smacking him around.
One of my favorite things about the movie in general is how bold it is with being “extra”—the comic-inspired surreal/over-dramatic sudden lighting/background changes, the over-the-top performances (“Meteor shit!”), and the unashamed teenaged-boy style sense of humor, though still not overly crass—it’s kind of innocently fun for being a horror movie with lots of gruesome deaths. And even though it is fun and goofy, there is obvious craft and care put into it. One funny anecdote I heard recently from a live Q&A featuring both Stephen King and Joe Hill recorded a few years ago: Joe plays the young boy in the wraparound story and when they shot the scene where his dad in the movie (played by Tom Atkins) slaps him and takes his comics away, Tom Savini made up young Joe’s face with a red hand-print. Filming went late into the early morning hours and Joe, unaccustomed to staying up so late, grew super manic and kept pestering his actual dad for a milkshake after they wrapped. King obliges his son and takes him to a McDonald’s drive-through but while there, the staff are real stand-off-ish and nearly call the cops because King keeps telling Joe “he can’t let his mom know about this” (meaning getting him a milkshake in the middle of the night) and Joe still has the handprint on his face making it look like King was buying his silence for smacking him around.
The series on Shudder is solid too.