To be honest, I’ve never liked horror or extreme suspense as visual entertainments. It always overhangs things and forced gore, clichéd jump scares, etc. are boring to me. But I do love books. Any book. Horror to comic give me anything interesting written on paper and I’ll have my fill out of it. This habit led me to read many horror books. The earliest I can remember is that when I was 7 or 8, I first read Dracula the OG edition. Maybe the exposure to such things which should not have been present there turned me into this, introvert and generic all together.
I always liked Stephen King’s adaptations. Shawshank Redemption, Both IT 1 and 2, The Dark Tower, Mr. Mercedes, Castle Rock, and all the other adaptations. These are like palate cleansers to me. The Griping nature, Grittiness and all the other shades of enjoyable fear. The Outsider, as a novel was never at the top of King’s works. You can find it somewhere in the middle or lower-middle if you try to rank all of his works. Having read the book, HBO’s adaptation as a show felt better to me. It was missing a few things, but still, it felt better.
Stephen King is known for his massive universe building and all the unique characters. I’ve thought about writing a series of posts about King’s universe but that is for later. For now, The outsider, the show felt better but not original. The book, if you have the time to read it, you will feel the actual sensation of horror. But the Series came out more like Mr. Mercedes which also is One of kings novels, but it has nothing unnatural horror element to it. A gore, serial killer mystery drama or psychological thriller.
The reason behind the show is like this is Richard Price. Who created the TV adaptation and wrote the whole thing. He also created other shows for HBO but namely one TV series back in 2016 named The Night of. The Uncanny similarities in the making of both shows are uncanny. If you watch both The Night Of and The Outsider, you will know right away what I’m talking about.
Jason Bateman as Terry Maitland
The show starts with the murder of a kid in Georgia. The investigator, Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) finds out right away that the murderer was none other than the local little league coach, terry Maitland (Jason Bateman). So he arrests him in front of a lot of parents while the little league’s game was ongoing. When Interrogated, he produces alibi and evidence that makes it confusing. His testimony states that he was out of the town at the time of the murder. But the CCTV footage and witness testimony put him In two places at the same time. His credibility is proven and while taking him to court, the brother of the victim shoots him in the neck. While dying he pleads that he was not guilty.
The trauma breaks Ralphs's mental stability. And later on, when many things about the murder of the kid don’t add up, he, The DA and Howie Solomon (Bill Campbel), the lawyer of terry hire a PI, Holly Gibney to investigate the incident. While she investigates many unnatural truths start to come up And the motion of the show starts pacing into mystery and suspense.
The cinematography, background scores, scaling of the environment, the acting, everything about the show was top-notch. As most of the actors had movie experience weighing in their portfolio making the show seem more like a ten-hour-long movie. It would’ve been great to see it as a movie but the show too was not so bad. It will feel unnecessarily long at times but people like me who like it slow will enjoy it the most.
Stephen King as a writer always likes to build up steam and let loose the steamy monster. Like a predator silently observing his prey and when it’s time, letting out a roar and grab it by its throat.
And the show creator, Richard price also had a pretty successful career. I mean, The wire and The Night of, both are great shows and critically acclaimed, making him the owner of many awards. But Jason Bateman, Always the clichéd funny guy in cheesy movies with repetitive jokes, while trying to build up the story, disconnects the viewers from raw entertainment. He won Emmys for Ozark both as an actor and the director but when directing a horror mystery thriller, the repetitive method never worked.
Those of you, who are familiar with King’s other works will know that he has always found his inspiration to write from real events around him. Most of his books are like a metaphor or allegory of sorts. It’s like both the protagonist and the antagonists from his books are parts of his soul and mind. But The Outsider was different. A little example of why is that because the meaning of naming it the Outsider was justified almost at the end of the story. When the monster after whom the story is told is called an outsider by the investigator Holly Gibney. She relates herself to the monster as she is an outsider too herself. Never being able to fit in with others. Always needing special care made her think of herself as an outcast. Telling us that the book is not named after the monster.
This is something you have to watch at your own volition. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to entertainment. And this too is not suitable for everyone.
!!ALL OF THE PHOTOS SHOWN HERE ARE FROM THE ACTUAL SHOW AND THE COPYRIGHT GOES TO HBO!!