The Kingcast

Battleground is a simple story of a hitman fighting a bunch of revenge-seeking little green army men toys that King originally published in Playboy before rolling into his short story collection Skeleton Crew.

Gramma is one of Stephen King's creepiest short stories, all about a young boy left at home with his ailing grandmother... who might also be a witch and in the final stages of putting a master plan together that doesn't bode very well for her terrified grandson. Published in Skeleton Crew, this story made an impression on our guest at a young age and he came over to talk about that with the boys.

Conversation once again turns to Stephen King's second novel, 'Salem's Lot, which is about a corrupt small Maine town slowly being taken over by vampires. This chat largely focuses on Tobe Hooper's made-for-TV adaptation from 1979 which forever terrified a whole generation of kids who now can't look out a misty window without crapping their pants. Thanks, Tobe.

After the publication of Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot he decided to write a prequel short story in the style of Bram Stoker's Dracula about the origins of the cursed town that would, eventually, be overrun by vampires. Jerusalem's Lot is that story is perhaps the earliest story by the prolific author to go into some creepy Lovecraft territory.

The image of the toy monkey on the cover of Skeleton Crew traumatized a generation. This episode dives into the short story that inspired that cover image, all about a cursed toy monkey that can make really bad things happen when it clangs its little symbols together.

The year of our lord 2022 saw the release of Blumhouse's remake of Firestarter in which a bunch of stuff got changed without much thought and all the stuff they left alone was boring. For the first time this new adaptation is up for discussion and they boys are ready with some sharp, sharp knives.

Insomnia is a rare Stephen King novel that has not yet been adapted. The book centers on an elderly protagonist named Ralph Roberts who must square off against a mischievous supernatural being working at the behest of the dreaded Crimson King. The novel tackles abortion rights, ageism, and lets us know that a bout with insomnia is all you need to pull back the dull veil of our real world and see the colorful beauty and horror beneath it all.

Going back nearly 50 years of written material, Stephen King's queer characters run the gamut from authentic to caricature and it's about time someone took a long, hard look at that representation and have a lengthy discussion about where we think the popular author lands in terms of allyship.

If It Bleeds is the most recent novella compilation from Stephen King, containing four short stories (Mr. Harrigan's Phone, The Life of Chuck, If It Bleeds and Rat), three of which have either been adapted or optioned.

N. is one of King's more disturbing short stories, which is all about the thin place between realities and the Old God style evil that might just be trying to break through. The story has a large focus on repetitive behaviors and OCD as well as a terrible fascination with round numbers.

When Dino De Laurentiis and Stephen King team up, things are gonna get wild, especially with Cat's Eye, a cable staple for '80s kids that features three Stephen King short vignettes all strung together by a cute cat and little Drew Barrymore.

Billy Summers is a damn good hitman out on his final job, so of course things go wrong. Today's episode takes a look at one of Stephen King's more recent books that is soon to be adapted by JJ Abrams and Ed Zwick.

Originally published in Cavalier magazine in 1972, Suffer the Little Children is a bleak, twisty short story of a stern teacher who begins to suspect her third grade students are turning into evil creatures and takes... well, desperate measures.

The conversation once again turns to Stephen King's collaboration with George A. Romero. Creepshow and each of its segments is up for discussion in this lively chat.

You Know They Got a Hell of a Band is a short story that sees a couple on a road trip stumbling across a small country town with a ton of undead rock stars. It might be tempting to stay and enjoy the great music, but there's something sinister underneath this seemingly peaceful town. Like the song says, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

It takes a brave guest to pick a 1200 page book to cover, but by God we found such a guest to once again journey into The Stand and its two TV adaptations. Plus, our guest is such a King fan that we can't help but cover a couple dozen other King books and short stories while we're at it.

We made our poor guest watch 2017's questionable (at best) adaptation of Stephen King's magnum opus, The Dark Tower and she hadn't even read the books. The goal was to find out if the movie was at all coherent to a Dark Tower newbie and... well, you'll just have to listen to find out.

Stephen King's most existentially terrifying short story is under the microscope in today's episode. At nearly 2 hours, this episode is longer than you think.

Before Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark burned a mountain of cash, the poster child for high profile Broadway failure was a stage adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie. Ten million dollars down the toilet for a show that was a critical disaster and closed in a week. However there is a vocal contingent that holds that Carrie the Musical is a misunderstood masterpiece so it's about time The Kingcast boys take a hard look at this baffling adaptation.

The topic is The Raft, with a focus on both the short story and its adaptation in Creepshow 2. It's a fun little ditty about some horny college friends who take a swim where they're not supposed to and are picked off by a malevolent and very hungry oil slick in the water.

One of Stephen King's best stories is up for discussion this week. That's right, we're talking about The Long Walk, the dystopian tale and likely Vietnam allegory that has America sending its young men off to die while the adults cheer them on in a cruel contest that can only have one winner.

That's right, we got the OG Beverly Marsh, Ben Hanscom and Stan Uris from the 1990 It mini-series on the show to talk about their experiences filming the landmark adaptation, dealing with the legacy of that show and what they're up to now.

The journey through the two thousand Children of the Corn movies continues with The Kingcast boys tackling 1996's Children of the Corn Part IV: The Gathering which inexplicably stars Naomi Watts and a bunch of pissed off corn children.

Finally, The Kingcast focuses an episode on Andy Muschietti's It: Chapter 1, the blockbuster success that launched this current Stephen King cinematic renaissance with an iconic horror villain performance and a bunch of charmingly foul-mouthed kids.

We've done our spoiler-lite Dark Tower episodes... this is not one of those! Everything in the books is up for debate, including reading order, character deaths and, of course, that ending. So, beware of spoilers!

The time has come. A guest has finally chosen 11/22/63 to talk about on The Kingcast. This is King's 2011 novel about a modern day English teacher who is sent back in time to prevent the assassination of JFK, a difficult task in the best of circumstances and nearly impossible when time itself fights back.

Carrie was the book that launched Stephen King's literary career and the movie that put Brian DePalma on the map, so it's only fitting that we get an expert cinephile and King fanatic in to break them both down.

Finn tells the story of a young man cursed with a lifetime of bad luck who ends up kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity and tortured by a faceless agency demanding answers he doesn't have.

Sometimes They Come Back is an odd little old school King story originally published before the success of Carrie that was then adapted for TV during the early '90s Stephen King adaptation boom. The story centers on a school teacher whose students start dying and are replaced by transfers who just happen to look like the long dead greaser teens who killed his brother when he was a child.

Today's topic: Stephen King's Graveyard Shift, an early short story from the master that was made into a very fun, often overlooked B-movie of the same name.

Shelbyville is a comedy/horror Actual Play podcast heavily inspired by the works of Stephen King that chronicles the adventures of a trio of tweens in early '90s Maine as they navigate changing bodies, hormones and the occasional reanimated pile of meat. Previously only available on The Kingcast's Patreon (www.patreon.com/thekingcast), the first four chapters are being released as bonus episodes on the main Kingcast feed in celebration of the show's 2nd anniversary.

Night Shift is Stephen King's first short story collection, compiling his earliest stories that he sold to various gentlemen's magazines in order keep the lights on before he hit it big with Carrie. The book contains 20 stories, many of them having been adapted into films big and small.

Previously only available on The Kingcast Patreon, this nerdy horror/comedy themed Actual Play podcast is finally available to the masses as The Kingcast celebrates its second birthday!

Previously only available on The Kingcast Patreon, this nerdy horror/comedy themed Actual Play podcast is finally available to the masses as The Kingcast celebrates its second birthday!

Episode 1 starts off with the hosts building their characters, figuring out their skills and traits and learning the ropes on playing a tabletop RPG before the story begins in earnest as all of our characters find themselves in a Saturday detention even more hellish than normal.

Take a trip, if you dare, into Stephen King's London-based Lovecraftian nightmare where you can run into rat-faced teenagers, children with claws for hands and unimaginable eldrich horrors.

Sometimes these episodes feature deep dives into King's writing and examine the subtext of its cinematic adaptation and sometimes these episodes use the title at hand as a jumping off point for a chaotic conversation. This episode is the latter.

If we're talking about buried alien spaceships, metal plates in heads, killer soda machines, a protagonist who is both a drunk and a wife-killer... you know what that means! That's right! It's time to talk Tommyknockers.

This episode has everything: Bill Hader talking about working on It, a constantly shifting conversation that never stays on a single topic for more than 5 minutes, casual mentions of some really big name Stephen King fans, what reading King at a young age can mean to a creative kid and MTV's Dan Cortese.

The Man in the Black Suit was something of a turning point for Stephen King. Published in The New Yorker in 1994, this short story went on to win many prestigious awards, including the O. Henry Award for short fiction and seemed to singlehandedly turn critical perception of the best selling author around.

In the late '90s the great character actor Miguel Ferrer starred in an HBO Original Movie adaptation of Stephen King's The Night Flier as a sleazy tabloid reporter on the trail of a Cessna pilot who also happens to be a vampire and it has become a favorite of the Kingcast boys.

Michael Whelan's paintings and illustrations have graced the covers and interior pages of the best genre authors. We're talking Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Edgar Rice Burroughs, HP Lovecraft and, yes, Mr. Stephen King.

A finger pops out of a bathroom sink's drain and drives the poor bastard who lives in that apartment out of his mind. That is the topic in today's surprise bonus episode drop.

The little town of Desperation, Nevada has fallen on hard times and that was before an ancient evil decided to take over the body of the town's gentle giant cop. Today's topic is Desperation, with a little talk about its twinner book, The Regulators, for good measure.

One of the rare Stephen King books that hasn't been adapted, Joyland is a quick, breezy read about a broken-hearted teenager who works at a dilapidated (and haunted) amusement park where he finds new love and even a ghost or two.

Children of the Corn follows a couple as they investigate a small, isolated Nebraska town and find that it has been taken over by a murderous cult of corn-monster worshipping children. It has many Stephen King benchmarks, like creepy kids and... well, corn-based horror.

Ready to take a stroll through one of Stephen King's most f*cked up short stories with The Kingcast boys and one of the funniest comedians working today? If your answer's yes then, boy, do we have some good news for you.

The Kingcast has been going strong for nearly two years, bringing in some amazing guests to break down the work of one of our top living authors. It's about time Vespe and Wampler go straight to the horse's mouth, don't you think?

Dreamcatcher is one of Stephen King's least favorite of his own novels, but how does it stack up with the co-hosts of a very popular film podcast? This story of a group of childhood friends battling an extra-terrestrial menace with psychic powers and a little help from their deeply problematic friend, Duddits, should have been a non-stop pinata party, but there are some surprise fans in the mix for this discussion.

Stephen King's first full-blown masterpiece, and the novel that moved him firmly to the top of the best seller list, is front and center once more. The topic: The Shining. The guest... well, someone comfortable wearing some really short shorts.