Mundane Horror and Its Master
By: Dan Asad

Stephen King. The very name is sufficient to conjure up nightmarish images of fear, madness, and morbidity in one’s mind. A devout fan of the horror genre is indubitably acquainted with Stephen ‘the Master of Horror’ King’s treasure trove of horror-related accomplishments; King is the most successful horror writer the world has ever seen; he is the author of more than fifty books (the majority of which concern darkness and terror and all manner of night-creatures); and there have been countless cinematic adaptations of his venerable array of short stories, novels, and novelettes since the dawn of his career as a horror virtuoso.

King may not be the most original horror writer in the literary world (that title, in my humble opinion, should be bestowed upon Clive Barker). He may also not be a trailblazer in the genre which he toils in (like Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft before him). However, King possesses a distinct talent/skill that the aforementioned masters of dark fiction do not: he has the ability to elicit genuine, unadulterated horror from very mundane, ordinary concepts and scenarios, and he does this in the most masterful manner. While Barker and Lovecraft often resort to the concept of god-like entities/monsters which have long lay dormant and have just begun reemerging in Man’s defenseless world as a source of the horror element in their stories, King can instill terror in his audience by relegating the role of the fear-engine in his tales to such simple/familiar things as an automobile. Though King’s method may seem a tad laughable at first glance, scrutiny of one his actual works would attest to the man’s knack for crafting truly unsettling stories which revolve around ideas that another horror writer, thinking them rooted far too deep in the world of reality, might disregard. King yarns such as “The Mangler” are epitomes of King’s mastery over a sub-genre of horror which I like to label ‘the Mundane Supernatural Tale’. Other King titles which fall into this category of our beloved genre are the short novel, “The Sun Dog” (found in King’s Four Past Midnight anthology), and the short story “Word Processor of the Gods” from the Skeleton Crew collection. In each and every one of these stories (as well as other ones not mentioned here), the origin of the horror can be traced to everyday (and seemingly non-terrifying) objects and appliances; a type-writer, a Polaroid camera, an ironing/folding machine. In King’s hands, these and many more turn out to be supernatural instruments capable of precipitating death, madness, and destruction upon those who dare to utilize them… and what unspeakable horrors do King’s characters suffer through. One may very well find it impossible to eject from his mind the grotesque fate of a man who tinkers far too much with a not-so-ordinary camera in the closing scenes of “The Sun Dog”. And “The Mangler’s” demon-possessed-laundry-machine-on-the-loose ending is as chilling as it’s unforgettable.

Stephen King has (once again, in my personal opinion) not contributed as much as Poe or Lovecraft to the horror universe, and his horror works may not be considered as mind-bendingly original as those of Clive Barker and various other storytellers. But King’s marvelous talent for injecting the macabre into the realm of the real and the natural, without always having to invoke the aid of extra-dimensional beings and alien abominations, is what makes him unique among other horror lords. In the annals of the genre’s history, Stephen Edwin King will forever be remembered as the one who invited supernatural fear into our lives using less than supernatural mediums.

In addition to the Stephen King works mentioned in this article, there is a vast collection of King books and films (both made-for-TV and made-for-theater ones) that a horror fan can look forward to exploring. I can’t possibly list every one of them, but I will make note of some of the more distinguished ones. In Stephen King movies: Tobe Hooper’s adaptation of the vampire novel, Salem’s Lot, as well as Stanley Kubrick’s inaccurate but nevertheless excellent rendition of The Shining merit viewing. In Stephen King books: the novels which the previously-mentioned films were based upon, as well as novels such as Carrie, The Dead Zone, Needful Things, The Stand, and Pet Semetary are all fantastic reads, and considered to be King classics. Fans of vignettes would most likely enjoy King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes and the immensely horrific Night Shift anthology.

-Dan Asad (May 2007)