The horror movie Stephen King called “genius perfected”
Scouring the world of horror, it is hard to find a voice that is more booming than that of Stephen King. A prolific storyteller in the genre, though King’s work has been produced within the spectrum of the written word, his countless novels have found their way to the silver screen so often that his opinion on the cinematic version of horror is just as heralded as any director, actor or other film industry expert.
As an iconic writer of traditional horror, you wouldn’t expect the influential author King to be a lover of the modern genre, particularly as the likes of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, and even Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby share more similarities with the tone of the writer than something like James Wan’s Insidious. Despite this, as a lover of all things horror and science fiction, King is vocal about his love of contemporary cinema and has often used his unique position as a commanding officer of the most frightening armada of novels to share the good word on his favourite pieces.
Creating a comprehensive list of his modern horror favourites, King includes such classics as The Blair Witch Project that transformed the found footage sub-genre, as well as The Descent which utilised ingenious set design to contain its suspense. In addition to these, however, King also adds some strange surprises like the remake of The Last House on the Left from 2009 and even the uninspiring film The Hitcher released in 2007. The reality is that King is an author first and foremost and, therefore, saves his highest praise for the stories which really capture his love–regardless if they are modern or classics of the genre.
Perhaps the biggest surprise, however, is King’s support for the 2004 remake of George Romero’s horror classic Dawn of the Dead directed by Zack Snyder, a film for which King holds a particular passion. Part of that surprise lies in the idea that it is reboot of the classic picture, but such notions don’t seem to phase King.
In fact, Stephen King goes as far as to suggest Snyder’s film is “genius perfected” in his 2010 book Danse Macabre, adding that it “begins with one of the best opening sequences of a horror film ever made”. Describing the opening of the film that starts with Ana (Sarah Polley) in bed with her husband when a strange outbreak occurs outside, King recalls “in the Snyder version, the zombies move fast” as the protagonist grabs her car keys and dashes out the front door.
Facing off against the suburban carnage, Ana is faced with pure terror as her neighbourhood is overrun with bloodthirsty, mindless zombies. “I’d argue that the most effective terror sequences are either the result of instinct or pure accident rather than screenwriting or direction, and that’s the case here,” King asserts with the consummate knowledge of an artist who has inflicted night-long terrors upon the majority of his audience.
Praising the casting of the somewhat unknown Sarah Polley in the lead role, King rightly states that if any other actor was cast in the lead role the same effect would not be felt. “If we saw an actress like Julia Roberts or Charlize Theron as Ana, we’d know she’s going to live,” he says, before describing the opening sequence of the film as “a sonata of anxiety”.
Gushing over the quality of this initial opening sequence, the introduction finally ends when Ana crashes her car against a tree and the film cuts to credits set to Johnny Cash’s ‘The Man Comes Around’. Using news reports and found footage, Snyder stitches together a truly compelling opening credits sequence, with King concluding his thoughts by suggesting, “It’s here that Snyder shows us exactly what this inspired remake is about and how well he knew what was driving our fear-engines at that particular point in time”.
Featuring the likes of Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Scott Reiniger, Ty Burrell, Ken Foree and Tom Savini, the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead is a surprisingly thrilling ride that proves when he’s on his A-game Zack Snyder can create delightful cinema. While many of his movies rely on director’s cuts to be given true adoration in the wider world, it’s clear that in the eyes of a true horror aficionado, Snyder has created at least one piece of untouchable brilliant cinema.
