Stephen King's Most Lovecraftian Novel Is Exactly The Kind of Existential Horror That The Movie Industry Needs

Summary

Revival by Stephen King delves into cosmic horror, challenging faith and existence in a twisted narrative.
The novel features a dark and trippy journey of miracles and horrors, perfect for a cinematic adaptation.
Stephen King’s Revival confronts existential dread with Lovecraftian horror, demanding attention from filmmakers.

For any fan of the horror genre, whether it be through books, games, movies or television, there is always a special subgenre that holds more interest than others. From supernatural thrillers and slasher flicks, to body horror and so much more, there is no end to the genres that make up the horror realm.

One powerful and trippy subgenre that has become more popular in recent years is the cosmic horror and metaphysical horror subgenres, such as that found in shows like Lovecraft Country and long associated with H.P. Lovecraft’s works. Acclaimed horror author Stephen King has always been drawn to these types of works, and in 2014 published a novel himself that encapsulated the cosmic horror narrative, titled Revival.

Stephen King: This Novel Deserves A Limited Series Like HBO’s The Outsider

This Dark Story would perfectly fill the void left behind by the end of HBO’s The Outsider miniseries.

The story is a melting pot of different ideas, challenging religion and faith versus the unknown, while also coping with loss and what it means for those who are left behind. A young boy journeys into adulthood, while a beloved preacher goes on a dark journey of miracles and horrors, challenging the idea of existence for humanity. With so much acclaim for the genre thanks to projects like Stranger Things in recent years, now is the perfect time for filmmakers to bring Revival to the screen.

What Is Revival About?

The story of Revival follows a young boy named Jamie Morton, who, in a small Maine town, becomes enthralled by a new preacher and his family. During youth ministry, a new preacher named Jacobs shares the healing power of electricity. After an accident leaves Jamie’s older brother Conrad unable to speak, the preacher offers to heal Conrad using electricity. It appears to work, but soon afterward, things take a bad turn. The preacher’s wife and child die in a car accident, and the preacher soon renounces his faith and leaves the town in disgrace, scarring young Jamie in the process.

Years later, Jamie lives as a musician and becomes an addict. After his band leaves him behind, Jamie stumbles into a local carnival where he discovers the former preacher, Jacobs, now working as a carnival performer, capturing people’s portraits using electricity. As Jamie is in a fugue state, Jacobs leads him to his camper van, where he treats Jamie using electricity in an effort to cure his addiction. Jamie experiences strange visions and hears a heated exchange with a customer whose daughter was a volunteer for an electric portrait, and later shoplifted from a store as if directed by whatever his experiment did. Before Jacobs leaves, he gets Jamie a job at a recording studio with a man named Yates.

Over the years, Jamie and Yates reminisce about their experiences of having been healed by Jacobs. They learn he is back now as a faith healer in revival shows, using electricity in his preaching. They witness Jacobs performing, but leave as Yates has strange visions of giant ants in the audience. As Jamie investigates the people whom Jacobs has healed, he learns the former preacher’s experiments have delved into more occult practices. They have caused strange and even fatal side effects as a result, including some taking their own lives. When confronted, Jacobs admits to knowing this, but dismisses them as only a fraction of those he has treated over the years.

Later, Jacobs asks Jamie to become his assistant for one final experiment. Jamie reluctantly agrees when his childhood sweetheart is diagnosed with cancer, and Jacobs offers to heal her. Jacobs reveals there is a secret source of electricity, and he hopes to use this to communicate with the afterlife, using Jamie’s childhood sweetheart as a conduit.

However, things take a horrific turn when the other side is revealed not to be heaven, but a nightmare dimension known as The Null. Here, souls are tormented by giant ants and Lovecraftian gods such as the all-powerful “Mother”, who possesses Jamie’s childhood sweetheart and turns her into a monster. Jamie is forced to end her life. Jacobs has a fatal stroke in the resultant confrontation, leaving Jamie scarred for the rest of his life as the majority of Jacobs’s patients lose their sanity.

Revival Has Huge Potential in Live-Action

While some parts of Revival can be a bit slow, the build-up leads to one of Stephen King’s most twisted and horrifying reveals, capturing the appeal of novels and short stories of his past, such as The Mist. The majority of the story feels like a cat-and-mouse psychological thriller between Jamie and Jacobs, two men who are marked by tragedy and seek to find some semblance of peace or reassurance about what waits for them when life ends.

Yet, when they are confronted by the truth, things go from psychological to straight-up cosmic-level horror. The visceral imagery of Stephen King’s writing creates a cinematic quality that brings the depravity and horrors of The Null to life, which would stand out in a film or even limited television event.

If there is one horror author’s name who is more popular and more in demand than anyone else, it is Stephen King. His works have garnered much acclaim from filmmakers and writers such as Mike Flanagan and Osgood Perkins. The chilling nature of the Lovecraftian gods and creatures featured in the Null would make for great filmmaking. Not only that, but the rich character dynamics between Jacobs and Jamie would bring some top-tier acting to the table. The existentialism in the narrative’s theme would both challenge audiences to delve into the concepts this story plays with, and rewatch the film or series over and over again.