The latest release from Stephen King, Later, focuses on Jamie Conklin, a young boy who can see dead people, and though the Sixth Sense comparison is obvious, that’s really the most basic, surface-level take on this story. The more interesting examination of Later is in how effectively King uses this non-horror book to tell a story that would be a perfect introduction to horror for teens and young adults both in book and potentially also in movie form.
Later follows the young Jamie Conklin from the ages of 6 to 15 as he navigates his unique ability, wrestles with his family life, and discovers the dark places that people will go in order to keep their secrets and get what they want. The story is told first person through Jamie’s eyes as if he’s writing a memoir of his experiences, and offers a very poignant story of a young boy’s coming of age.
While the book does contain some supernatural themes – one of which is a major tie back to the mythology of Stephen King’s other works, the deadlights – and has some graphic imagery, mostly in depictions of the dead, it’s mostly non-violent and reads very much like a YA novel, which makes it the perfect gateway drug for young readers getting into King.
Later also has a story that could be easily adapted for the big screen, focusing mostly on lived experiences, characters, and supernatural elements that wouldn’t be too difficult to replicate with special effects. As such, it would make for a perfect PG-13 movie to attract teens to the movie theatre and get a whole new generation into horror stories and themes.
There are some who groan when a movie receives a PG-13 rating, thinking that a younger audiences means the movie won’t be visceral or effective. Not only is that not the case (Drag Me to Hell, Happy Death Day, Insidious), but horror movies have pretty much always been targeted to teen audiences, and bringing up a new generation of horror lovers requires that there be new movies for them to fall in love with in theatres!
Stephen King is well-known for integrating children as protagonists in his work both horror and non-horror, and while this isn’t always totally successful (there are some valid criticisms about certain scenes in IT) he does a really great job with Later.
This book isn’t horror in the traditional sense, focusing mostly on the coming-of-age story while weaving in supernatural and horror elements, but for a movie, the right script and cinematography could really highlight these moments to create a highly effective horror thriller. The spirits of the dead could be created easily enough with makeup and maybe a bit of CGI, but not much, and the result would be a Stephen King movie adaptation that could actually be really successful and also true to source.
Since Later just came out this month in March of 2021, it will most likely be a while before we hear about any upcoming adaptations, but I honestly think it’s a great opportunity to bring King to younger audiences in a really accessible story.
Jackalope House of Horrors 