Small Town, Big Secrets – “Castle Rock” DVD Release Review

There is no doubt that Stephen King is one of the most prolific writers. It just so happens that adaptations of the prose of the master of suspense appear on the screens almost as often as publications. How does Castle Rock look compared to the numerous competition ?

A breeze of freshness

Produced by JJ Abrams, the series stands out thanks to its concept. Although Castle Rock is based on King’s work, it is not a literal screen adaptation. The ten episodes of the first season create a closed, new story using only certain characters, tropes and motifs that appear in the novels and short stories set in the title town, such as The Shop with Dreams , The Pet Smęar , or even the Green Mile .

We follow the fate of Henry Deaver (Andre Holland) – a lawyer who returns to his hometown after many years. Probably he would not be there, because the inhabitants of Castle Rock, to put it mildly, did not accept him warmly, if not for an unusual client. A mysterious young man called Kid (Bill Skarsgård) was found in Shawshank Prison. The situation is not improved by the fact that the prisoner is silent by saying only the name of the lawyer in question.

A large part of the series is devoted to attempts to discover the origin and true identity of the newcomer. However, as is usually the case in stories created by Stephen King, supernatural forces are involved. So we have the components of a psychological thriller, horror and criminal history.

An imperfect saga

Castle Rock is a multi-threaded series and the farther into the forest, the more important the stories of supporting characters, seemingly detached from the main plot. So we have, for example, the real estate agent Molly Strand. The heroine played by Melanie Lynskey struggles with internal voices. Initially, its episodes seem to be mere building blocks for the mythology of the world, but quickly turn out to be crucial for understanding Henry Deaver’s past.

Henry, on the other hand, has to face his mother (Sissy Spacek), who is under the influence of Alan Pangborn (Scott Glenn) – a former sheriff, well known to us from the novel Sklepik z dreamy . In theory, all the stories are meant to portray Castle Rock as a city torn between light and dark.

Unfortunately, however, this concept does not work. Somewhere in the middle of the series, there is a certain saturation of threads, and the mystery related to the origin of the prisoner recedes into the background. At the end, however, some pages of these side stories remain blank. The creators again focus on the theme of the demonic Kid found in Shawshank.

I got the impression that the writers had ideas for a good few more episodes, but some restrictions were imposed on them. As a result, the last two episodes reaching the finale clearly stand out from the rest.

The monsters we create ourselves are the worst

However, the aforementioned scenario ills do not mean that Castle Rock is not worth seeing . It is a great series on many levels. As in King’s novels, moral elements shine here. It is the interpersonal relations that at times seem to be more interesting than the demonic forces focusing on the town.

The image of Castle Rock as a city is captivating. The creators of the series skillfully dose the tension, creating an expressive atmosphere of hug. They play a subtle game with the viewer, in which there is no room for the jump-scares I hate . Of course, it would not have been possible without beautiful photos, play of lights and skillfully used special effects.

But the greatest part in creating the atmosphere of the world is played by the inhabitants. Sometimes it is the smartly dressed neighbor that may turn out to be a monster more formidable than the actual demons.

Staying on the subject of people, how the phenomenal cast they managed to gather deserves special recognition. While watching Castle Rock , we can often admire the acting skills. I am talking not only about the first and second, but even the third plan. Virtually every character appearing in the series has “that something” in them. I won’t be too original if I say that Bill Skarsgård showed himself masterfully. The Swedish actor seems to be even made to play dark characters in horror movies. Here, thanks to a slightly grotesque posture and face, it evokes associations with classic film vampires.

The same is true of Ruth Deaver played by Sissy Spacek. The main character’s mother is a pretext to raise the problems related to old age and mental disorders, which can also be terrifying. It is very good that the entire seventh episode is dedicated to Ruth and I must admit that it is the most expressive episode of the entire series.

To buy or not to buy – that is the question

Unfortunately, mixed feelings aroused in me the DVD edition, which was released in Poland by the Galapagos company. Yes, there was room for a bit of extras – each episode was accompanied by behind-the-scenes material in which producers commented on the latest events. The problem, however, is that each of these materials was published every week on the social media of the Hulu service, along with the premiere of subsequent episodes. So the only new materials turned out to be only two video reportages from the production – Blood on Paper and Anatomy of Horror . The first of them is almost twenty minutes of bringing the process of transferring various threads from King’s prose to the new, serial story. The second is just a few minutes to cover the various writer styles linking up Castle Rock.

It is a pity that none of the bonus materials has been translated into Polish. As there wasn’t much of it, I doubt there was more than laziness behind the decision. Staying with the languages, of course, we will find a Polish 2.0 lector and subtitles. Original 5.1 soundtrack and English subtitles for deaf people are available. There is also room for several other European language versions.

The medium itself also speaks against the boxed edition of Castle Rock . The series was released only on DVD, and although I still use the slightly archaic one myself? technology, it is strange that Blu-Ray, not to mention 4K, was not decided either. Remember that the entire first season is available on the HBO GO service. So I see no reason why someone should pay extra for a set of inferior quality discs. Blu-Ray with a better bit rate than streaming recordings could be an argument. I can recommend the DVD release only to big fans of the series or Stephen King who want to have this item on the shelf. It must be admitted that approx. PLN 65 will not be a big expense then. For the rest, my advice is just to check out Castle Rockthanks to HBO because it’s a really successful horror series. I will definitely be looking forward to the second season (although it has a completely different story to tell).