The plot of a slightly deadbeat father trying to save his kids during an apocalyptic invasion is also reminiscent of Spielberg's War of the Worlds adaptation, which pop-culture omnivore King explicitly namechecks. Telephones have always played an important part in horror films, but more so in recent years, with mobile technology increasing the possibility for scares in films such as the Scream trilogy the Japanese Ringu Takeshi Miike's Chakushin Ari (One Missed Call), and two telephone thrillers scripted by Larry Cohen: Phone Booth and Cellular. It also seems as if King is borrowing back and extending the motifs that have driven a lot of modern horror.

The 'phoners' affected by the pulse spend their time listening and transmitting soft rock, from Britney Spears to the Carpenters, suggesting that King is having a pop at conformity. Dedicated to George Romero, the horror director best known for his zombie films, Cell initially seems like a similar sort of social satire. It takes quite a long time for King to reveal his true intentions. But while Cell is out-and-out horror, it has the deep and disturbing subtexts found only in the best of the genre. While these novels, such as 2001's Dreamcatcher, are invariably satisfying, he makes it look so easy that they usually don't feel quite as bracing as the finest of his genre-stretching fiction.

He's right.Įvery now and again, King seemingly gets the urge to go back to basics and write a full-throttle horror novel, almost to prove to himself that he is as capable of scaring the pants off his readers now as he was when he started out. Cell doesn't end with such justifications, having only a short list of acknowledgements, and a handwritten extract from the next novel. In recent years, King has become equivocal about some of his fiction, and recent novels have ended with long afterwords explaining his motivations for writing the books and his attitude to concerns some readers might have with the conclusions.

Stephen king the cell book review