Night Shift
Stephen King’s first collection of short stories introduces us to some of his most well known works.
Stephen King. For many, he is the first thought that comes to mind when the topic of horror authors are brought up. He is also the writer of some of the first pieces of horror that people get exposed to, in one form or another.
And many of those pieces of horror are linked to Night Shift.
Night Shift is Stephen King’s first collection of short stories he ever put out. It includes some great stories like:
”Jerusalem’s Lot”, which has been adapted recently in Chapelwaite
“Trucks,” which was adapted into the cult classic Maximum Overdrive
”The Boogeyman,” which was adapted into a movie recently
”Children of the Corn,” which spawned a whole fuck ton of movies and has a remake on the way
I hold this book near and dear to my heart. Besides having seen some form of these stories when I was younger, it was one of the first Stephen King books I read. I can recall reading some of these stories with my mouth hanging open, having to reread passages because I couldn’t get over how creepy they were. My favorites include: “Gray Matter,” the story of a young boy who comes into a bar and tells the locals that his father has become some sort of putrid blob after drinking a strange substance found in his beer. The locals decide to pay the man a visit, and things don’t go well for them. I also am a huge fan of the written version of “Children of the Corn”: a couple driving through the midwest accidentally run a man over- or so they think. As they walk through the nearest town looking for help, they stumble into a church and discover the children of the town worship a deity that hides in the fields of corn. They also realize that there are no adults in the town- and they did not go willingly. There are many great stories in this collection, and it is one of King’s best books (and definitely his best short story collection).
Rating: 10 creatures out of 10, because there are so many brief moments of terror throughout the book. It's the nightmare that keeps on giving.
If you are looking for books that are similar, check out King’s second best (in my opinion) short story collection, Nightmares & Dreamscapes. It contains a couple other well recognized stories, such as “Dolan’s Cadillac” and “The Night Flier.” It’s a fun read and goes by quick. You can also check out After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones. Jones does an excellent job with his short stories, and this book has gotten a lotttt of attention over the last couple of years (due to the physical copies of the book being hard to come by).
Movie wise, check out ABC’s of Death. 27 different directors each took a letter and made a short horror movie based off the letter. It’s a fun watch and definitely introduces you to some- weird- stories. You also can check out All Hallows’ Eve. A babysitter finds a strange tape while watching two children, and we are introduced to three terrifying shorts. The director does a great job in creating tension, and introduces the amazing Art the Clown, who you can catch in Terrifier and Terrifier 2.
Whats your favorite collection of shorts- movie or stories? Always looking for some short bursts of nightmare fuel- so send them my way!
Until next time…
-M