TV

‘Castle Rock’ Trailer: Not Knowing What Happens is Part of the Intrigue

The iron grip of Stephen King adaptations isn’t yet letting up, but that seems to be a great thing.
By  · Published on October 9th, 2017

The iron grip of Stephen King adaptations isn’t yet letting up, but that seems to be a great thing.

Very rarely do we get trailers these days that sell stories without so much as a single word, but the new teaser for upcoming Hulu series, Castle Rock, sure makes wordless, provocative imagery work in its favor thoroughly. Having Stephen King, JJ Abrams and a slew of wonderful actors attached to the project from the get-go would do wonders for any project in general. But that fact is especially true these days in the aftermath of perfectly solid King adaptations like It and Gerald’s Game. Castle Rock looks to be a perfect follow-up in what has been a great year for the author’s specific brand of beauty and grotesque.

https://youtu.be/K3U7Z94NHgg

This new first look teaser for Castle Rock is definitely elusive in terms of plot. All we know is that the series is set in the eponymous fictional town in Maine where many of King’s novels, novellas and short stories take place. That on its own is already pretty exciting for those aware of the interconnectivity of King’s fictional universe. The world has had many standalone projects dissecting the creepy, omnipresent evils in King’s works and drawing them together into a single project is enough to whet appetites. The trailer cuts together some disturbing images and events that combine a sense of luscious otherworldliness and real-life gruesome aftermaths. “Haunting” doesn’t even begin to describe the tone Castle Rock already has in a minute and 15 seconds.

Some extraordinary talent will star in Castle Rock, namely Andre Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Sissy Spacek, Jane Levy and Bill Skarsgård. They feature in the trailer mostly silently, occupying mysterious and broody roles. Fans of King adaptations would be extra eager for Spacek’s and Skarsgård’s involvement, as they have, in the past, filled the shoes of two of the most iconic King characters of all time. Obviously, no word on whether Carrie White and Pennywise will be sharing scenes in the series, but it still inadvertently adds to the meta quality associated with King’s works overall.

So between vignettes of missing children posters, water/blood? flowing down a flight of stairs, a masked man in the distance, and even a dog digging up a corpse, Castle Rock seems like a divinely messed up place for audiences to visit. Or as King would have us believe about our demons, we already live there and it’s time to uncover some ugly secrets. Castle Rock will stream on Hulu sometime in 2018.

Related Topics: , ,

Sheryl Oh often finds herself fascinated (and let's be real, a little obsessed) with actors and their onscreen accomplishments, developing Film School Rejects' Filmographies column as a passion project. She's not very good at Twitter but find her at @sherhorowitz anyway. (She/Her)