I've not read Carrie, maybe I should.

I never read Carrie either. I remembered hating seeing the cover of that paperback book in my mom's room as a little kid.

If you're a King fan then you HAVE to read Carrie. You know, since it is his 1st novel.

Couldn't get past Sissy Spacek's picture on the cover drenched with blood. The blood was bad enough, but her eyes were so friggin scary...lol

I kinda miss the days (as a kid) when just the idea of King novels scared me half to death. As an adult they don't scare me at all. Standard?

The length of some of his latter books scares me

You've read one King 1200 page book, you've read them all.

Story 12/20 The Ledge


No supernatural, otherwordly or demonic stuff in this one, just a guy being forced to do something where he could wind up dead all too easily. This reminded me of the sort of twist in the tale stories from Roald Dahl (remember that one where a man bets a finger that his lighter will work 10 times in a row?).

Pretty decent, sweaty gangster story.





Story 13/20 The Lawnmower Man

Probably the most bizarre story in this collection (though Gray Matter is close), involving a guy wanting his lawn mown, and ending up dealing with ancient demigods (I think).

Love those two stories the most in that collection. The Ledge had my palms sweating all of the way through, and I still have my imagined Lawnmower Man burned into my mind. Creepy.

I had no idea that lighter story was a Dahl story. That was a great episode in the 60s Alfred Hitchcock, with Peter Lorre. It doesn't hold a candle to the one I remember in the 80s version, though (I haven't seen it since, so it might not hold up today).

The Ledge was even a pretty decent movie adaptation in Cat's Eye.

Who was the actor in The Ledge? I forgot.

The guy from Airplane, if I remember correctly, but I can't remember his name right now.

Robert Hays!

Story 13/20 Quitters, Inc.

Like The Ledge, this has no supernatural or otherworldly basis, but is a sweaty look at a man forced to do something against his will and wants. I like this one, it's a clean little tale, comically dark, and I like the little statements that add the horrific twists, usually concerning what will happen to the protagonist's family if he does X.

Ah, I will be watching Cat's Eye today, if I can cram it in. First watch. Robert Hays sounds like a great match for the ageing tennis pro who hooks up with the wrong wife. Ted McGinley would have worked too (ten years later).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_from_the_South

Wow, Michael Ontkean (from Twin Peaks) was in the 1979 version.

Quitters, Inc. is also in Cat's Eye (I think James Woods was the star of that one). It's not as good as The Ledge, and I think The Ledge would be a much better movie today, with someone like Christopher Nolan directing it...lol. Today, you can really sell danger in movies, but in 1985, that was pretty tough. The bird scene was pretty memorable.

I forgot that McQueen was the protagonist in the first Hitchcock version, and also had my memory jogged that John Huston (YES THAT JOHN HUSTON!) is the guy who sets up the wager in the 1985 one I mentioned. All these adaptations of it make me want to try to find the story.

This story seems like it was out of the same part of his brain that produced The Running Man.

Quitters, Inc. is the best Cat's Eye vignette, I think. James Woods is perfect.

Were you a smoker at the time?

nope, never...but it's such a great concept...and it adapts perfectly for the screen

If ever a movie could maybe use a reboot, this one could be it. I'd love to a see a modern take on those two stories. Smoking is so done now that I don't know how it would have any impact. In 1985, quitting smoking was all the rage. I think that was the year my mom stopped (or 83 or 84, can't remember for sure).

Oh, and I think the reason I criticized Quitters, Inc. a little more than The Ledge was because I seem to remember the family torture scenes as playing rather campy. A slightly more serious take might have made it better for me, though they were definitely trying to tread lightly as a PG-13.

Yes, Quitters Inc is definitely played for laughs, even the wife torture and the goofy schlubs who were weak enough to chance getting their wife tortured etc. I liked it though.


Here's the thoughts I wrote on it this morning:

Cat's Eye - The Movie

3.5/5

I really liked this anthology movie. Quitters Inc is actually played as a light comedy segment (I lolled when 'Every Breath you Take' came on the soundtrack), and James Woods and the cast are pretty good, and The Ledge is a cool version of the original story too. The final, original segment 'General' involved the cat that was meandering through the rest of the movie, had some great practical effects with a little goblin trying to steal breath, and the cat coming to the rescue, like Gelert (google 'Gelert's Grave' it if you don't know that particular story). It was cool to see James Naughton, who I really liked in the Planet of the Apes TV show, in something else.

Also, it contained references to Cujo, Christine, Dead Zone, and Pet Semetary, and maybe even more King (Drew Barrymore was in Firestarter, for example).

Lewis Teague directed Cujo as well as Cat's Eye. He somehow managed to have Cujo, Cat's Eye, and Jewel of the Nile back to back. Other than that, he doesn't seem to have many career highlights that I can see other than directing one episode each for Barnaby Jones, Vega$, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.