Needful Things
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Needful Things is a horror/black comedy novel written by Stephen King in 1991.
Plot
In the small town of Castle Rock, Maine, where a new shop named "Needful Things" opens to the curiosity of the townspeople. One by one, they start to come into the shop, drawn there by something they want more than anything else. In young Brian Rusk's case, it's a Sandy Koufax baseball card with Brian's name signed by the ball player. In Danforth Keeton's case, it's a machine that simulates a horse race, and will, if each tin horse is named for the participants in actual, future races, correctly predict the winner. They are all greeted by the seemingly kind old man, Leland Gaunt, and they all ignore the sign Leland has in his store, "Caveat emptor". When they realize that they can't buy the object of their desire, Leland offers them a trade — perform a small "favor" for him, in the form of a prank on someone else in the town, and the object is theirs. These betrayals and pranks (some of which deceptively seem to be harmless) gradually increase in frequency and intensity until the entire town is in complete chaos.The only person not caught up in what Leland has to offer is Castle Rock Sheriff Alan Pangborn. At the beginning of the story, he's simply interested in figuring out who did certain acts of vandalism. As the story progresses, however, he suspects that they all have something to do with Leland. Things begin to come to a head when Leland manages to seduce Alan's girlfriend Polly with a necklace that somehow relieves her of the pain in her arthritic hands. Alan soon discovers that Leland is none other than the Devil himself, and that he travels from town to town, setting up shop and offering items for sale (which turn out, in reality, to be useless junk) until the townspeople's greed and selfishness are manipulated into turning on each other and destroying their town. Alan eventually manages to face Leland down, forcing Leland to leave town — but not without having provoked the destruction of most of the town and the deaths of many of the townspeople, including the aforementioned Brian Rusk and Danforth Keeton.
Needful Things also features an appearance by a hood named "Ace" Merrill, a recurring character in King's universe (he also appeared in the novella The Body, and in the short story "Nona"). Ace plays a significant role in the book, becoming an assistant to Mr. Gaunt. Not surprisingly, Ace dies in the street with a bullet in his head.
An interesting subtext in the book is frequent, subtle references to H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, which lends to the possibility that Leland Gaunt may be an avatar of the sadistic shapeshifting deity Nyarlathotep, sometimes associated with Satan by other authors (see also Randall Flagg). This point is further proved with the appearance of a cryptic bit of graffiti, discovered by "Ace" Merril, reading "Yog-Sothoth Rules". Yog-Sothoth is another deity in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
About the book
Needful Things also marks a watershed in King's career, as he bids farewell to the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, a city he visited in The Dead Zone, Cujo, The Body, and The Dark Half.This book is also considered by King to be the final part of an unofficial, loosely-linked trilogy of stories - the first of which was The Dark Half, and the second of which was "The Sun Dog", a short story that was part of his Four Past Midnight collection. As a result, the Sheriff often thinks about Thad Beaumont from The Dark Half.
The book contains a number of references to previous books written by Stephen King, such as a rabid St. Bernard (Cujo) a demonic car (Christine) Ace Merril's dislike for the town due to his past experiences (The Body) and "the white" ('Salem's Lot).
Needful Things also references a character passing by the Camber house from Cujo: "Around three o'clock he had run over a nail out on Town Road #7 near the old Camber place and had to change the tire."
Film
A movie adaptation was released in 1993, starring Max von Sydow as Gaunt and Ed Harris as Sheriff Pangborn. Bonnie Bedelia played Polly, Pangborn's girlfriend. It was markedly different from the book, however. Notable differences include the absence of Ace Merril, many of the items bought from Gaunt altered, a number of subplots illustrating the townfolks' peccadilloes and dirty secrets dropped, and Buster Keeton curiously bcoming a sort of hero--if an inept one--who stands up to his tormentor. At the end Gaunt promises to return to plague Pangborn's decendant, even giving a specific time and place, before his car vanishes at the end of the road.
Cast
- Max von Sydow .... Leland Gaunt
- Ed Harris .... Sheriff Alan J. Pangborn
- Bonnie Bedelia .... Polly Chalmers
- Amanda Plummer .... Netitia 'Nettie' Cobb
- J.T. Walsh .... Danforth 'Buster' Keeton III
- Ray McKinnon .... Deputy Norris Ridgewick
- Duncan Fraser .... Hugh Albert Priest
- Valri Bromfield .... Wilma Wadlowski Jerzyck
- Shane Meier .... Brian Rusk
External links
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