Camera Obscura: TNT “know[s] drama,” but do they know horror?
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Intergalactic Medicine Show just published the latest installment of my column, Camera Obscura, in which I review the first two episodes of the new TNT miniseries, Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, which premieres tonight on TNT (if you missed it already, never fear, there are encore airings, and each episode stands alone).
[Excerpt:] Stephen King has said “I am the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries,” which is to say that he’s kind of an everyman writer: nothing too fancy, just something good and satisfying. Although he may think that, I don’t think it’s true, and if you examine the failed films that have been adapted from his stories, I think you can see why. The reason is that King’s ideas often aren’t revolutionary in of themselves; instead, he uses his craft to spin those ideas into something truly special. And so when you strip away his prose, and adapt the work into film, you are left with nothing but the idea–an idea that’s been filtered through the creative process of an entire cast and crew. This filtering sometimes results in a product that seems watered down and devoid of spirit, and that’s the case with “Crouch End.”