Stephen King: Shining in the Dark

Usually, a biopic tells the sunny, happy side of the celebrity. Here Stephen is shown like the Maine hicks he described (the cap, the van) and also as having all the problems one can encounter all along his life: single family, school tension, poverty, mental breakdowns, drugs dependencies and illness… What's even more exciting is that it's Stephen himself who tells us that and even takes us to his places in rural Maine… So it's really original and moving to see that the most famous American (horror) writer had such a hard life: sure we have read about it but to see the real thing is totally different! If his last novels are really downhill, repetitive and yes bad, his early career was fantastic and maybe it was all this suffering that made his books amazing. Now he seems more in peace materially and spiritually so he loses his inspiration! Another good thing in this documentary is that he speaks clearly about his values (american culture embarrassing violence, the hometown passion) and they are something I can connect easily…. So it's really a must-see documentary about the master but also an amazing tale about becoming a modern famous writer….

This is not a bad documentary just a very incomplete one. There are no references to his seminal work, "The Dark Tower" series which he began in college and forms the backbone of many of his other novels. It is too defensive. It does not discuss the writers that influenced him, ignoring the Bradbury's and Lovecraft's and more that make Stephen possible. I know that King does not put himself beyond them. It's just unfortunate that old SCi Fi/Horror genre stereotypes were reinforced by the piece.

I loved seeing him at his old residences but where was Connecticut. He spent many years in Stratford as a child.

For a supposed literary documentary there is a bit too much Hollywood. Although I was very happy to hear him dis Kubrick's Shining. It is an interesting Kubrick but it's not a King.