From Netflix’s ‘Cujo’ to Neon’s ‘The Life of Chuck’ [Derry Monthly]

Lilja
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Mar 18, 2025

Welcome to a new column with Lilja, Dread Central’s Stephen King expert. March is here and with that, most of us thought spring would come. But instead, at least here in Sweden, we got snow. Thank God there are good books to read and great movies to watch.

This past month has been a bit slower than usual when it comes to King so I thought I’d start with some things from his son, Joe Hill. I always tell people who read King that they should try Hill’s books. They have a similar writing style and if you like Stephen King, chances are you’ll like Hill’s work, too.

A New Book On The Horizon From Joe Hill

This year we’re finally getting a new book from Joe Hill. His last novel, The Fireman, was released nine years ago so it’s about time. It’s not that he hasn’t been working, that’s for sure. He’s released two collections—Strange Weather and Full Throttle—, written comics, and been involved with the Netflix adaptation of his comic Locke & Key. All this is good and fine but first and foremost I love Hill as a novelist. I heard he plans to write one book a year for 10 years. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but we can always hope, right?

The book we’re getting this year (October 21) is called King Sorrow (no it doesn’t have anything to do with his father) is a thick one. Almost 900 pages and as I write this I have read about 40% of it and let me tell you, you don’t want to miss out in this one. It’s as good as it’s thick.

We’ll also get an adaptation of Hill’s story Abraham’s Boys from his collection 20^th Century Ghosts, as well as a follow-up to The Black Phone from 2021. I did really like The Black Phone but I have a hard time seeing what they could do in a sequel. I suppose we’ll see!

Back to Stephen King…

OK, back to Stephen King. In the last week, we’ve got both a poster and a trailer for The Life of Chuck, which showcase what kind of movie this is. Basically, it confirms that the latest Stephen King adaptation isn’t going to be a horror movie. I haven’t seen it yet, but word is that it’ll be something along the lines of Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile. The teaser is very short and doesn’t really give away much. Those of you who have read the story know that this is a special one; it’s definitely not your regular King story. With that said, I want to be clear that it’s a very good story. I personally really like it.

Outside of The Life Of Chuck, it’s been rather quiet in the world of Stephen King adaptations. However, we did learn that Netflix has bought the rights to Cujo. How about that? It’s not the first time there’s been talk about a sequel or new version of the movie. One was called C.U.J.O and was going to be about a dog version of Robocop or something along those lines. That never happened, thank God. So it will be interesting to see what Netflix comes up with.

The King adaptations done for Netflix have all been good. We have Gerald’s Game (a favorite of mine), 1922, In the Tall Grass (King wrote this one with Hill), and Mr. Harrigan’s Phone so I have high hopes for their version of Cujo. There’s another discussion to be had about why they don’t adapt a story that hasn’t been done already, but that’s a topic for another column.

A Lilja Recommendation

I want to end this column with a recommendation. For quite some time, I’ve collected memorabilia from King adaptations, including movie props. I showcase that collection I’m showing it on my site, Lilja’s Library under the name Marv’s Museum (Marv is Lilja’s Library’s mascot).

Well, recently I got a really exciting addition. Some of you have probably heard about the pilot Glen Mazzara did for The Dark Tower for Amazon. Amazon then decided they wanted to go with other shows instead and dropped it. The pilot never aired and only a few have seen it, myself included and I can only say that Amazone made a mistake.

Anyway, that’s in the past. But recently, I got one of two decks of cards that The Big Coffin Hunters use as playing cards in a salon. It’s not a regular deck of cards but one specially made for this pilot and let me tell you, it’s beautiful. It’s now on display in Marv’s Museum if you want to check it out. While you’re there, take some time to check out the other stuff there, too. It’s pretty cool, if I may say so myself.

That’s it for this time. Take care of each other and until we meet next, read a book. I know I will.

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