For the past three decades, The Crate has been best known as one of the main segments in the 1982 film Creepshow. It also appeared in the comic-book-style companion to the movie, but the actual Stephen King novella upon which the segment was based has never been published. Until now, that is. The author's original text is collected at last in the new anthology from Cemetery Dance, Shivers VI. I'll review the anthology as a whole in a future post; today, I'd like to offer my reactions to reading The Crate for the first time.
Defying expectations, the print version proves markedly less cartoonish than the Creepshow segment. Whereas the latter is modeled on E.C. Comics narratives, the novella (with its eerie university setting, its featuring of a malefic object shipped from the far reaches of the world) has an almost Lovecraftian quality. The creature in the crate cuts a more sinister figure than its filmic counterpart, and King's death scenes are more intricately detailed and thus more chilling than those directed by George Romero. Also, the movie segment--dominated by Adrienne Barbeau's performance as a boozy, ball-busting housewife--goes heavy on the comeuppance, but the novella focuses on the more serious theme of companionship (surprisingly, King keeps the wife character off-stage throughout most of the story). There are some obvious glitches (mid-scene shifts in viewpoint; inconsistencies in reference [i.e. characters alternately cited by their first and last names]) in this early piece of writing, but King's skills as a storyteller are still evident. Like some latter-day Pandora, the author pries the lid off a box full of ominousness, and his Constant Readers will no doubt appreciate what King has let loose upon the world.
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For those who might like a quick Creepshow refresher before cracking open Shivers VI, here's the relevant movie segment (courtesy of You Tube):
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