A number of superior horror, fantasy, and sci-fi stories earn this collection a hearty recommendation, but only one of them emerges as the author’s finest short-fiction triumph.
With all the hubbub regarding the recent film adaptation of THE MONKEY, I figured now would be a good time to revisit Stephen King’s short story collection, “Skeleton Crew”, which traverses more than 15 years of short fiction from the King of Horror.
I still remember when this book was originally released. I had just moved to Los Angeles the week before, and my first outing to a true L.A. mall was where I saw a huge display of hardcover copies of “Skeleton Crew” artfully stacked in a circle outside the main entrance of Waldenbooks.
Yes, “The Monkey” is included here, and while the story definitely serves as one of the collection’s more popular stories, it pales in comparison to more memorable offerings such as “The Raft”, which was faithfully adapted in CREEPSHOW 2 (1987), and “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut”, a whimsical tale of a woman so obsessed with finding the fastest possible route home that she zooms straight through the laws of quantum physics.
Other stories find King thriving at his most bizarre when he wanders further into the sci-fi realm. “Beachworld” and “The Jaunt” both offer unsettling glimpses into the future where interplanetary travel and exploration become increasingly more complex.
Undoubtedly, one of the most infamous stories of the collection is “Survivor Type”. Even a casual Constant Reader will know about this pitch-black tribute to cannibalism, which King once described as a story that “goes a little bit too far, even for me”. Gallows humor abounds as a drug runner washes up on the shore of a desert island with only a journal and a clutch of heroin to stave off his inevitable madness. It’s no surprise that, even considering King’s stature in the publishing world, the story took years to get published.
In the end, one story in the collection stands heads and shoulders above the others. “The Mist” takes a generic, end-of-the-world premise and stands it on its noggin–the world we know is slowly overtaken by the titular menace, which hides a seemingly unending battalion of creepy crawlies intent on desecrating mankind. While King obviously took a cue from George A. Romero and DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978), as the bulk of the story’s claustrophobic drama unfolds in a small-town supermarket, the story owes just as much to the likes of John W. Campbell’s 1938 novella, “Who Goes There?”. King limns a volatile world as newfound distrust leads long-time friends to quickly become enemies. However, the story turns awe-inspiring once the army of insects, spiders, and dinosaurs begin to attack. Whether you agree with the twist ending director Frank Darabont fused onto the 2007 feature film adaptation (for the record, I thought it was genius), every horror fan owes it to themselves to check out its original source material. Therefore, “Skeleton Crew” isn’t just for King fans, it’s must-read material for fear fans everywhere.
#boundhorror #skeletoncrew #stephenking #constantreaders #beachworld #thejaunt #themonkey #theraft #mrstoddsshortcut #survivortype #themist #frankdarabont #johnwcampbell #whogoesthere #georgeromero #dawnofthedead #creepshow2 #shortstories #novellas #scifi #horrorfiction #waldenbooks
UNBOUND HORROR BLOG 