Dark Kingdom: A review of Castle Rock
Hulu, 2018
Produced by Bad Robot Productions, JJ Abrams, with Stephen King collaborating.
Created by: Sam Shaw, Dustin Thomas
Starring: André Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Bill Skarsgård
It took me a while to make up my mind to watch Castle Rock. I like Stephen King, and many of his best novels and stories have taken place in and around the mythical Maine town of Castle Rock. But I’m never keen on mash-ups where a writer attempts to combine separate works. Usually at best it’s fan service, and at worst it is the writer jacking off at us. It got really annoying when King did it in his already-overburdened Dark Tower series, and really, how many stories do you need where the antagonist’s initials are “RF”? The one time such an indulgence actually added to the story was when King had the kids from IT play roles a couple of times in 11/22/63.
Remembering the JFK/time travel story (one of King’s most powerful novels) and the crossover that worked persuaded me to at least try Castle Rock.
Yes, the references are all there, from Cujo and Needful Things to IT and The Body. I counted nine other works before I lost count. And since some of King’s novels where ones I read in the ‘70s and ‘80s, a lot of references were familiar even if I couldn’t remember where I read it.
But Abrams doesn’t bludgeon the reader with them: most are there as easter eggs, to be noticed or not, which makes it possible for someone not up on the King Kanon to enjoy the series.
And there’s a lot to enjoy.
André Holland is Henry Deaver, the thoughtful and haunted protagonist. Holland is best known for Moonlight but was absolutely stellar in The Knick. This may be the work that makes him an A-lister.
Melanie Lynskey is the mysterious neighbor girl and brings the same electricity she showed in Heavenly Creatures. I spent the first two episodes thinking I was watching Mary Louise Parker, the resemblance is that strong. (Parker was great in the best TV adaptation – by AT&T, no less! – of a King book yet, Mr. Mercedes. Available for free viewing at https://yesmovies.to/movie/mr-mercedes-season-1-21492/931716-16/watching.html )
Bill Skarsgård, who played Pennywise the Clown in the latest version of IT, is creepy and chilling as the strange ‘boy in a cage’ who turns up in an unused section of Shawshank prison. There are other alumni of King movies and TV shows in the series, most notably Sissy Spacek (Carrie, of course) who plays Deaver’s mother, a victim of dementia.
Spacek also symbolizes the sheer scale of the King universe, playing a troubled teen in her first King-based work and, forty-two years later, playing an infirm elderly woman.
The series (and I’m up to chapter six, far enough in the signs of the disintegration that afflicts far too many of television efforts at adapting King to have shown up.) is thoughtful, intelligent, and eschews the cheap scares for a well-maintained sense of dread.
The final episode of the ten-episode series is released this coming week, and of course the entire series is available for viewing on Hulu.