The Stephen King Book That Scared John Carpenter The Most

Curiously, the book alluded to in the headline is not "Christine," the novel Stephen King published in 1983. "Christine" follows a young man named Arnie who buys a disused 1958 Plymouth Fury and decides to fix it up. The car, however, begins asserting an eerie influence over Artie, turning him into a defiant 1950s greaser. He names the car Christine, and it soon begins acting with a mind of its own, chasing down anyone who would do Artie harm. Christine is a jealous girlfriend that feeds on Arnie's affection. 

Celebrated director John Carpenter famously adapted "Christine" to the big screen the same year as its publication, and many of Carpenter's eerie visuals are still scary to this day. The scene where Christine "grows back" after being smashed up by bullies is a sequence on par with the werewolf transformation scene in George Waggner's 1941 classic "The Wolf Man." The 1980s was a conservative time, and a lot of films of the era looked to the 1950s as a legacy that needed to be either recaptured or lived down, depending on the filmmaker's perspective. Carpenter, however, saw Christine as a dangerous relic of a former era, a ghost of the '50s that was still doing damage.

Back in 2015, Carpenter was interviewed by the New York Post about the book in his library, and he — like so many of us — had a small section devoted to Stephen King. The director and the author were old friends since the days of "Christine," and, as it so happens, they have similar tastes in music. When pointing out his favorite, though, Carpenter didn't choose "Christine." He chose "Pet Sematary."

"Pet Sematary," which was published only seven months after "Christine," was about a family who moves to a remote cottage in the wilds of Maine. They are warned by a creepy old man to stay away from a nearby burial ground in the mountains, as it is said to possess eerie powers. Anything buried there will come back to life. The family cat, Church, is run over by a car, so the family patriarch Louis decides to put the cemetery's powers to the test. The buried cat does indeed return from the grave. When their young son is run down by a truck, the distraught father carries his body to the cemetery and buries him, too. The child also returns, but he is ... changed. He is now dripping with the stink of evil.

"Pet Sematary" was adapted to a well-received film in 1989, directed by Mary Lambert. It has also spawned a movie sequel, a movie remake, a movie prequel, a BBC radio adaptation, and a Ramones song. Guillermo del Toro has also said he would like to remake it.

Carpenter also loves the book, saying:

"I've known Stephen King a long time. He did one great kindness for me: He invited me to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the year the Doors were inducted. It was great! This is one of his scariest books ever. Those dead pets buried in the cemetery come back alive, but they're not the same." 

"Christine" was the only King work Carpenter ever adapted. He did, however, make a film in 1995 called "In the Mouth of Madness" which featured a very Stephen King-like horror author named Sutter Kane (Jürgen Prochnow). One would hope King would be flattered.