Dream Casting For The Carrie Remake

Hollywood, in its infinite, money-spinning wisdom, has decided to once again flog the dead horse that is Stephen King's breakout debut novel, despite or perhaps because of a hugely popular 1970s adaptation starring Sissy Spacek.  The less said about its loose "Generation X" sequel and TV pilot the better.  While I remain undecided as to whether this is a good idea or not (film versions of King's work vary greatly in quality), it was interesting to give a little thought to who might be suitable for the role of Carrie White, the victim of cruel bullying who exacts revenge with her telekinetic powers.

Below are my top picks.

Lindsay Lohan: This name, believe it or not, has already come up on the net as a possibility.  While LiLo has become more famous for her court appearances and personal life recently than she has for her film work, a teen horror flick might be just what she needs to get her career back on track, or at least regain some of the pop culture clout she achieved with Mean Girls.  I'm thinking update the story to a university or apartment building so that she doesn't appear too old for the part, and lay on the sexual tension as Carrie is torn between her wish to conform and her secret crush on Sue Snell (that's not a spoiler, I just totally made it up).

Kristen Stewart: Hear me out! While I find K-Stew wholly unappealing in the Twilight films, I feel that has more to do with the cardboard cut-out of a character she is being forced to play.  Rewind a few years to her role as awkward teenager Lucy in the indie drama In The Land Of Women, and you start to get a glimpse of what she might be capable of.  Plus she has horror experience with The Messengers, and the Carrie franchise would attract her built-in Twilight fanbase.  So think on that, Hollywood.

Kaya Scodelario: Better known as Effy Stonem in the first four seasons of British drama Skins, Kaya Scodelario could perfectly embody the skinny, vulnerable Carrie.  She'd bring in the trendy young crowd, and as she's shown in the role of Effy, she can swing from "mystery girl" to "tortured psychopath" with ease.  In fact, why not shift the entire story to an arts college in Bristol and show her wreaking supernatural havoc on her hipster classmates?  I for one would pay for that ticket.

Jessica Stroup: Famous for playing the pixie-like, bipolar Silver in 90210, Stroup has an otherworldly charm - and looks a hell of a lot like a young Mia Kirschner.  She's young enough to be believable as a teenage girl struggling with the burgeoning power brought on by a late and traumatic puberty, and the rest of the cast could be peppered with pretty Beverly Hills faces.

Jennifer Lawrence: Having proven her acting chops in the Oscar-nominated Winter's Bone and wowed fanboys as misfit Raven in the X-Men reboot, Lawrence is certainly flavour of the month.  If she could fit in the role of Carrie amongst her Hunger Games commitments, she'd be a sure-fire box office draw - and she has enough talent to carry what would otherwise undoubtedly be a terrible and unoriginal rehash.

Who do you think would make the best Carrie White for the 2010s?  Feel free to submit your own suggestions in the comments below.

Top 5: Stephen King and the "Final Girl"

In the same way that Joss Whedon's feminist beliefs compel him to imperil beautiful girls in order for them to fight their way to freedom, so Stephen King brings us tale after tale of ordinary women (and plenty of men) who find themselves in the most nightmarish of scenarios and must risk everything to survive.  This Top 5 post is dedicated to that classic horror trope, the "final girl" - the female who, through cunning or skill or sheer virtue, stands triumphant at the end of the tale.

Spoilers may lie ahead for readers not familiar with all of Stephen King's work - so, you know. Beware.

5. Lisey
LISEY'S STORY
There's a tiny clue in the title of this novel as to which character might last to the final page.  As everything in the book is from Lisey's perspective, one might suspect that there is no feeling of danger - but King still manages to make the reader fear for Lisey as she discovers the unreal world that her late husband spent much of his troubled life in.  More than any other King novel, Lisey's Story is about empowerment.  Having long been the supportive wife, Lisey is forced to walk into hell alone, and come out the other side.

4. Sue Snell
CARRIE
It would be easy enough to remember the ending of Carrie, which we all read a long time ago, as one where everybody ended up dead.  Not quite: Sue Snell, the popular girl who tried to do something nice for outcast Carrie White, survives to witness the destruction her own actions caused.  If she hadn't encouraged her boyfriend to take Carrie to the prom, then the unfortunate pig's blood incident would never have happened, and all those cruel teenagers who tormented her would still be alive.  Actually, come to think of it, it sounds like an unconventionally happy ending to me.

3. Wendy
THE SHINING
Motherly love never came stronger than it did in Wendy Torrance.  A large, uneasy portion of The Shining is spent watching her walk on eggshells around her recovering alcoholic husband, all the while being eaten up inside with fear and anger at what might happen to their son Danny if Jack falls off the wagon.  Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation did nothing to convey the lioness-defending-her-cub strength of character that Wendy embodies in the book - shattered bones and a head injury do not stop her dragging herself, inch by painful inch, to Danny's aid.

2. Rosie
ROSE MADDER
This story is one of numerous trials.  Rose Daniels suffers for years at the hands of a violent, abusive husband.  When she finally works up the courage to leave him, an even more terrifying journey begins, as she finds herself drawn into a dream-like painted world, where her fearsome doppelänger holds the key to vengeance.  Rose's survival is a triumph, but is shadowed by an epilogue which reveals (SPOILERS) she has inherited her former husband's bloody rages.


1. Jessie
GERALD'S GAME
Personally, I think the word "harrowing" is overused, especially when describing books.  But in this case I find it incredibly apt - I was as attached to Jessie's ordeal as she was to the bed.  When a simple sex game goes awry and Jessie is left naked and alone, it is not death that poses a threat.  It is the voices.  The madness.  And the misshapen face that keeps emerging from the shadows.  Gerald's Game is not a supernatural novel, making the unlikely peril Jessie faces feel all the more real.

5 Modern Novels That Deserve To Be Classics

For a heathen like me, reading a good book or coming across an immensely talented author is probably the closest thing I have to a religious experience.  It happens quite rarely, but when it does, it's the most peculiar feeling.  I want to tell, no, order everyone I know to immediately go out and buy the book I've just read, but another part of me wants to hold this treasure back, keep it all to myself.  I think it stems from my teenage crush on the Scissor Sisters, which faded as soon as they became immensely popular.  Nobody likes their own private joy to become mainstream.

On the other hand, there are some novels that I read and instantly find myself hoping that other people feel as thrilled by it as I do, that it will be the topic of discussion in book clubs and living rooms all over the world.  Because some books are just that good.  Here are five modern novels which I feel deserve widespread, long-lasting admiration.  I hope there's something on this list for everyone!

5. The Green Mile by Stephen King

Until this spiritual, heartbreaking serialised novel hit the shelves, the world had seen Stephen King as a horror author and not much else.  "Horror author", in this context, not particularly being a compliment.  Then he penned the tale of John Coffey, a gentle giant on death row with an extraordinary gift.  The film adaptation serves as a lesson in how to adapt a novel, as the story has incredible power in either medium.

4. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Eugenides's first novel, The Virgin Suicides, was a poignant and pensive fable of innocence lost.  His second book, Middlesex, massively ups the ante in ambition and scope, spanning several generations of an immigrant family, tracing a rogue gene through time and culminating in the birth of Calliope - protagonist, narrator, hermaphrodite.  This is no literary gimmick, however; Eugenides follows Cal's story believably and lovingly from being raised as a girl, through a shocking and transformative adolescence, all the way to adulthood, by which time Cal is living as a man.  Written with humour and intelligence, Middlesex makes me wish Jeffrey Eugenides would write more books.

3. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

I've raved about this book before, so forgive me if this all sounds a little familiar, but months down the line the story has stayed with me.  A handsome but arrogant porn star and drug addict is involved in a car accident that leaves him drastically disfigured.  While recovering in the hospital, he is visited by a woman named Marianne, who is clearly deranged but also entirely bewitching.  She tells him that they've met before, even though he has no memory of this encounter.  What follows is an eight hundred year love story, a trip around the world and a journey to the very heart of Dante's Inferno.

2. A Density Of Souls by Christopher Rice

I've included Rice's second and third novels The Snow Garden and Light Before Day in previous lists, but his debut A Density of Souls is probably my favourite.  It is in turn a coming of age story, a revenge tragedy, a romance and a horror novel.  Four friends enter high school and are immediately pulled apart - by bullying, by their own selfish desires, by love disguised as hate and vice versa.  What happens to them as teenagers sends ripples throughout the rest of their lives.

1. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
I first read this book when I was meant to be revising for a French exam.  Subsequently, each time I revisit it I get the same rush, as if I am doing something slightly naughty.  It is a feeling that goes well with this read.  The premise is a very, very loose parody of The Omen, but the duo of writers have taken a step back and seen the bigger picture.  The opening chapter introduces us to Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon, who are seen conversing as Adam and Eve are booted out of the Garden of Eden.  Their friendly banter is a running motif in the novel, as is a book of prophecies by Agnes Nutter (the world's only reliable psychic) and the adventures of young Adam, a perfectly ordinary boy who just so happens to be the Antichrist.  Good Omens works as an intelligent, good-natured satire, but also as a not-too-serious meditation on human nature.

Some other books I wanted to include in this list are The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon - but I reckon they're going to go down as classics anyway.

5 Great Books Summarised In One Sentence

Don't worry, this is a spoiler-free zone!

5. Atonement by Ian McEwan
An epic, heartbreaking novel about how your life will fall apart if you use the "C" word.

4. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Gripping story that will terrify the parents of university students everywhere.

3. A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
Four people decide to kill themselves, then don't.

2. The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The most unconventional and rewarding murder mystery you will ever read.

1. Carrie by Stephen King
Beware teenage girls who have not had the birds and the bees conversation with their mothers.

Top 5... Ghost Stories

The ghost story has been around since the invention of the campfire.  Since children have woken in the night and asked; "what was that noise?".  The best ghost stories chill you to the bone.  These five paranormal novels provide numerous spooky moments, but there's also plenty of meat on their bones when it comes to characters and plot.

5. Sleep, Pale Sister by Joanne Harris

Effie Gray, an artist's young wife, is drawn into the devious plans of a Tarot-reading brothel keeper in this chilling, lustrous Victorian thriller.  Set against the backdrop of the thriving Romantic art movement, Harris's novel spins a tale of deceit and possession that mystifies and grips at the same time.

4. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

Michael is saved from drowning by Rowan, an ambitious surgeon.  As an after-effect of his near-death experience, Michael develops psychometric abilities - he can touch an object or a person and experience visions of the past and future.  Rowan soon finds that Michael's powers are connected to her own search for her biological family, after she was adopted as an infant.  Together they discover that Rowan is a child of the Mayfair family, a New Orleans dynasty that also happen to have supernatural powers - powers that have been inherited by Rowan.  This is a hefty read, and at times the narrative can drag (an entire section of the novel is devoted to the generations of Mayfair witches), but the end result is worth it.  This is the first book in a trilogy, by the end of which your head will be spinning with the intricacies of Mayfair geneology and the Machiavellian plottings of the spirit Lasher.

3. Beloved by Toni Morrison

Taking place in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery, Beloved follows Sethe, a mother and former slave who is haunted by the crimes she endured (and committed) in her past.  One day, a mysterious woman arrives at her house.  Much of the novel is spent trying to figure out exactly who she is: simply a stranger passing, or an avenger from the spirit world?  Read it and decide for yourself.

2. Bag Of Bones by Stephen King

Like many of King's novels, the protagonist in Bag of Bones is a New England-based writer.  When he loses his wife suddenly, he is paralysed by grief, and decides to go to their old lake house to mourn.  Once there, he becomes involved in a local power struggle, develops a fixation with the lake, and comes across numerous clues that his wife has not truly left him...

1. Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel went on to win the Booker Prize with her historical epic Wolf Hall.  This novel, by comparison, is less ambitious - but still gives the reader much food for thought.  The central figure in Beyond Black is Alison, a psychic medium by trade who tours the South of England with her manager Colette and spirit guide Morris.  Colette is a hard-hearted harridan, and Morris is just this side of pure evil.  Alison, by contrast, is a large and jovial soul (I kept thinking of Dawn French in the role), or at least, that is what appearances would suggest.  As the reader follows Alison on her seemingly endless stage show around the suburban dystopia of middle England, it becomes evident that she is running from her past, as well as trying to find her place in the world.  Beyond Black effortlessly blends the ethereal with the domestic and is both depressing and hilarious, as the best British fiction tends to be, with something to say about human beings, not just their ghostly counterparts.

Top 5... Horror Novels

It takes two things to make a decent horror novel.  First, the author has to convince you that everything you're reading is real.  If you can't believe in the characters, the setting or the plot, then their second task is impossible.  The second task being, of course, to scare you rigid.  Below are my five personal favourites, taken from the last century or so of horror fiction.  I highly recommend you read them all.  But not too late at night...

5. The Shining by Stephen King

Let's be honest.  I could fill several Top 5 lists with works by Stephen King.  So I'm exercising an enormous amount of self-restraint by including just one of his many horror masterpieces in this countdown.  I've selected The Shining not just because it is one of the best (and most affecting) horror stories I've ever read, but also because it comes from very early on in King's career; it is a raw and potent example of the skill that he would continue to hone over the next three decades.
Runners-up for Stephen King's slot were Salem's Lot, Bag of Bones, Desperation and Duma Key.

4. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill

A modern nightmare from horror heir Joe Hill.  Judas Coyne is an ageing rockstar with a collection of occult objects.  When he buys a genuine ghost on the Internet, gift wrapped in a heart-shaped box, Jude unwittingly opens a door to his own troubled past.  Hill's second novel Horns was a devilish tour-de-force with strokes of black humour, but his debut Heart Shaped Box is a genuinely disturbing read.

3. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

This particular ghost story invented many of the last century's horror staples.  A haunted house, spooky children, and a naive central character who finds herself caught up in events that may or may not be of a paranormal nature.  Is the governess in this Gothic tale the victim of malignant spirits, or her own hysteria? To this day, I remain unsure.

2. Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

A bullied adolescent boy, a pale and strange girl, a cold and unforgiving urban landscape and an endless thirst for blood make this one of the most original and entertaining horror stories of the last ten years.  Adapted into a film in its native Sweden and more recently the United States, Let The Right One In revels in its 1980s setting, chronicling the highs and lows of childhood along with the chilling reality of what life might be like for a vampire waif.

1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

These days, the young Mary Godwin might be dismissed as an emo poseur, similar to Effy "Skins" Stonem.  But back in the day, she was the young bride of Peter Shelley and a creative genius - Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus is a work of incredible imagination, full of ideas that are still relevant today (humankind's interference with nature, science vs religion etc.).  The truly scary thing about this novel is not the Creature itself, but rather the very fact of its existence - here is the story of something which never should have been, and Victor Frankenstein must face the consequences of playing God.

If this were a longlist, I'd include Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, and the second half of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (seriously, Voldemort's resurrection and the murder of Cedric were truly unsettling as a kid).

The Devil & I

I've been reading a lot about good and evil lately.  Among my Christmas presents last December was a beautiful copy of Mikhail Bulgakov's masterpiece, The Master And Margarita.  In this decadent tale, the Devil himself visits Soviet Russia - land of atheists.  He is accompanied by a talking cat and a host of other phantasmagorical characters.

 Just this week I have been lent a copy of The Devil And Miss Prym by Paulo Coehlo.  The subject matter is very similar; a stranger arrives in a remote village, and takes it upon himself to tempt the locals into breaking the Ten Commandments.  He invites young, beautiful barmaid Chantal Prym to steal a gold bar, and sets the larger populace a much greater challenge: to kill one of their own.

 The Devil And Miss Prym has a clear, concise narrative style, making it ideal for readers of practically any age, and it got me to thinking that it would make an ideal set text for schools and colleges.  When I was seventeen, we read Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.  As expanded reading, the teacher suggested we delve into The Master And Margarita for more insight into the concepts of good and evil, angels and demons, heaven and hell. It strikes me that Paulo Coehlo's short novel would have been a much more appropriate read: the language is of this era, the storyline is unclogged by history and politics.  It is, essentially, a tale of humanity undiluted and put under a microscope.  The village setting ensures that the outside world cannot intrude upon the week-long story; the villagers must make their own choices.

 Of course, this kind of story is hardly unique.  John Updike gave us a devil in the form of Darryl Van Horn, the villainous seducer of The Witches Of Eastwick.  Stephen King's Needful Things explored how a small community can be poisoned when somebody appears to give them exactly what they want.  Religious allegory turns up time and time again in literature, throwing characters into the path of temptation.  And evil isn't always an external, evident force.  The base and cruel Edward Hyde is born from within Dr Jekyll.  James Hogg's Justified Sinner commits evil acts willingly.  More recently, the hero (or anti-hero, depending on how you look at it) in Joe Hill's novel Horns wakes up one morning to realise he has literally transformed into a devil.

 As human beings, we tend to root for the angel on the shoulder of the protagonist, hoping that they will do the right thing.  But as readers, deep down we want the devil to win, at least at first.  Because otherwise, it would be a very short story - and quite a dull one at that.



Last year in books

So here we are.  The obligatory first post, in which I am required to charm the pants off the blogosphere with my wit and intelligence.  I thought that, as this blog is going to be centred on my reading and writing habits, I might begin with a brief chat about the last couple of books I've devoured.


2010 was a pretty excellent year for reading.  I didn't so much as touch "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen, or any of the Booker shortlist.  I always intend to, but fiction fashion is fickle, and it always seems that as soon as I've shelled out on half a dozen pristine paperbacks, a new wave of authors are in and my new purchases are obsolete.  The literary high brow don't seem to have much time for many of my tastes, either.  You won't find a decent horror novel being nominated for the Orange prize, or any decent thrillers on the same shelf as Ian McEwan.


That said, I couldn't bring myself to read any more than a hundred pages of Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo".  Either Quercus need to hire better literary translators, or the late Larsson had a talent that is invisible to the naked eye.


I took the time this last year to make a start on my extensive To-Be-Read list.

"The Shining" by Stephen King.  This book has been around since before I was born, and even though I've been a massive fan of King for the last ten years, the only image "The Shining" brought to mind was the iconic moment from the film of the same name, in which Jack Nicholson leers through a broken doorway and shouts: "Here's Johnny!"


The novel itself was a pleasant surprise.  The character of Jack Torrance, off-season caretaker at the Overlook Hotel, is not a two-dimensional psychopath-in-the-making as the film had let me to believe, but rather a recovering alcoholic who is desperate to mend his relationships with his wife Wendy and precociously intelligent son Danny.


Danny has second sight, and when the family move into the hotel, moments from its chequered past begin to surface.  As winter sets in, Jack develops an unhealthy obsession with the hotel and its previous guests.  The reader is left in the dark for much of the novel as to whether Jack's visions are as real as Danny's, or simply a product of cabin fever, and while the story's climax is so well-known that you can't help but predict some of the inevitable plot twists, that doesn't prevent King from producing moments of pure terror.  A few hints: hedge animals, bathtub, dog suit.


"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman.  I've loved Gaiman's prose since I first picked up "American Gods" in 2005.  "Neverwhere" is the story of two cities: London Above, the city of Big Ben and St. Paul's Cathedral, and London Below, a mythical underworld.  In this alternate city, Knightsbridge is the Knight's Bridge, Earl's Court is a literal royal court, the Black Friars are a religious order and Islington is a bona fide angel.


Stumbling into this world is Richard Mayhew, a Scot living in London with his fiance.  When he stops one night to help an injured girl in the street, she draws him into London Below on a quest to save the city from the evil Messrs Croup and Vandemar.  Joining them is the fantastically imagined Marquis de Carabas, and the enigmatic Hunter.


Next on my Gaiman TBR List - The Graveyard Book.  I would also highly recommend Anansi Boys.

"Let The Right One In" by John Ajvide Lindqvist hardly needs an introduction these days.  Adapted into a chiller in the author's native Sweden, it's since been remade for English-speaking audiences under the slightly underwhelming title "Let Me In".


It's Blackeberg, it's the Eighties, and twelve year old Oskar is enduring the living hell that is adolescence.  Bullied at school, more or less ignored by his mother, he finds companionship in his mysterious new neighbour, Eli.  The twist in this tale is not a huge one: Eli is a centuries old vampire in the body of a young girl, and is forced to go to extreme lengths to feed her bloodlust when she is left without her sinister guardian.


Horror elements aside, this novel also packs an emotional punch.  While the misery of a lonely pre-teen would make for dull reading in itself, the relationship that develops between Oskar and Eli is truly moving, and the story's climax had me with my heart in my mouth.


"Horns" by Joe Hill.  Iggy wakes up one morning with a raging hangover and demonic horns protuding from his forehead.  As a premise, this doesn't suck - but I was worried that the explanation wouldn't live up to it.  I needn't have, as Hill delivers thrills and chills in equal measure just as in his previous novel "Heart Shaped Box".


As Iggy tries to find out how he got his horns, he finds that people react to them in odd ways.  They feel suddenly compelled to confess their darkest thoughts and impulses to him.  Iggy decides to use this knowledge, not just to solve the mystery of the horns, but to find the man that killed his girlfriend one year before.


Not quite a simple revenge story, not a straightforward horror, "Horns" is a clever and complex contemporary novel.


I can't wait to read more of King and Gaiman this year.  I'm also hoping to discover some brand new talented author who can claim hours of my time.  And when I'm not reading, I'll be writing.  And occasionally drinking.