The Stephen King Story That is More About Life Than Death

Mike Flanagan and Stephen King are two names always associated with the horror genre. Why these two people thought of deviating from their usual comfort zones and genres that they generally worked on and made a hypnotic pièce de résistance.

One Stephen King story that is more about life than death is “The Life of Chuck”. Stephen King’s name is synonymous with horror and death, yet he gives us a story, amidst death, about resilience and the desire to ‘live’. 

Mike Flanagan, best known for The Haunting of Hill House and Doctor Sleep, is a director who specializes in emotionally intelligent horror storytelling. It was a pleasant surprise when he teamed up with King for a life-affirming story. 

It came out even more unexpectedly when The Life of Chuck broke the records on IMDb with a striking rating of 7.7 and earned an impressive 82 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. And that too, distributed by the house of horrors, Neon, whose The Monkey (also written by Stephen King) and upcoming flick Together are making waves on the internet.

Let’s highlight how the story departs from typical horror themes and what it says about King’s evolution. 

Plot details of The Life of Chuck

The Life of Chuck is a novella of the same name by the author, published in the 2020 compilation ‘If It Bleeds’. It makes use of reverse chronology for Chuck’s story. It starts from Chuck’s death to his childhood. Three acts, starting from his collapse, reveal his personal legacy and quiet significance. 

The first one is Act III, where we can see the world ending, a plague taking over the world, the internet crashed, the ocean taking over California, and sinkholes appearing on the planet. With such a backdrop of destruction, a lively billboard starts appearing everywhere, which baffles Marty Anderson, a school teacher.

The billboard shows a message from Chuck Krantz, “39 great years! Thanks, Chuck!” It becomes a nagging obsession for Anderson.

In Act II, Chuck is seen dancing with a street busker and enjoying the streets. He is vibrant and full of vitality in all moments he is having. 

Act I is about his childhood when he was raised by his grandparents. He developed a fear of locked cupola and found his first crush- even took dance classes. However, he culminated in a vision of his own death at the age of 39 in a hospital bed.

We came to know that he would die of a brain tumor at the age of 39. But what changes his life is the realization that rather than staying terrified of death for the rest of his days, he needs to enjoy every minute of his remaining days. 

The world collapsing around him in the beginning is not the physical world that caused his death. It was a metaphor for the shutting down of Chuck’s body and mind, and anyone who existed in his memories.

It doesn’t mean that his people weren’t important to him. It showed how meaningful they were to him that when they started to disappear, they left big craters in his mind and heart. They made his life eventful, implying an emotional resonance and surreal tone for the narrative. 

Themes that defy horror tropes

We are all going to die, whether it’s because of monsters, trauma, tragedies, or even because of a disease. Tom Hiddleston’s The Life of Chuck is about legacy and memory. The impact one person’s life can have on others is the essence of the story. 

Some ordinary moments, just as Chuck dancing on the streets with the busker, could give a new thought or meaning to the busker herself. Those ordinary moments become personal connections, transforming into little miracles for someone.  

The story rests upon the idea that accepting mortality is the real hardiness. The emotional honesty that King exhibits through this story is about the fact that the world is full of terrors and pain, but would you face death without fear?

A new kind of horror: The terror of time passing

The unconventional narrative structure of The Life of Chuck helps the audience understand his life, and the pieces that fit together shape him accordingly. The interconnectedness of his life experiences highlights the greatest fear ever- the passing of time.

Each second passing in our lives brings us closer to our death. It doesn’t mean that we go to our beds and soak our pillows with tears because we are going to die at any moment. NO!

The film unfolds backward, emphasizing more on the insignificant moments. The quiet end of our lives is going to happen one way or the other. Despite tapping into deeper fears, Chuck lives his life. He made the most out of his present moments and influenced the lives of those around him. And that’s what matters the most. 

Why Mike Flanagan is the ideal director

We said it was a surprise that Mike Flanagan teamed up with King on this special story. Mike Flanagan has worked on several adaptations of Stephen King before, such as Gerald’s Game (2017) and Doctor Sleep (2019). Currently, he is working on a series adaptation of The Dark Tower and a TV series on Carrie. 

Why The Life of Chuck is different is the unique inclination that both King and Flanagan collaborated upon. It matches perfectly with Flanagan’s signature directorial style: emotionally layered horror, as we have seen in The Haunting of Hill House (2018) and Midnight Mass (2021). 

Do you remember the bent-neck lady in The Haunting of Hill House? It was a manifestation of Nell (Eleanor Crain) herself- a future version of herself who hangs herself in the house due to mental health struggles and experiences in the house.

Why I mention it here is that the hardships the character had to go through and its connection to the house’s horror are deeply unsettling and emotional at the same time. She came screaming at Nell’s young version with sleep paralysis, showing a symbol of Nell’s hopeless and inevitable fate by making sure that we get the creeps of our lives. 

The same direction style is seen in The Life of Chuck, where deep explorations of grief, memory, and existential dread are overpowering. Flanagan’s touch helps bridge horror and heart, which is a brilliant coupling for The Life of Chuck’s surreal emotional narrative. 

According to World of Reel, Flanagan emailed the author after reading his book and said, 

“If I could have a crack at this story, it might be the best movie I’ll ever make.” [Source]

The dance was one of the first things that they shot, and four days in, he knew some magic was happening. He disclosed that he loved whatever he was watching on his monitor. 

 

 

 

 

 

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The evolution of King and Flanagan

Some of the unfilmable King’s masterpieces are adapted by Flanagan, showing his dexterity in growing filmography. There has been a shift in King’s storytelling towards more intimate and reflective stories in recent years, which Flanagan capitalizes on quite well. 

The director’s career has moved beyond jump scares and demonstrated an entry into spiritual and philosophical territories. This serves as a tangent point for their evolving careers. 

Why is The Life of Chuck considered the Stephen King story that is more about life than death?

First and foremost, it has cultural relevance. The post-pandemic audiences might feel connected with the story, reflecting on mortality and the purpose of life. 

Secondly, it has the factor of anticipation. There is a growing appetite for genre-bending content where emotions are blended with supernatural elements. Of course, there is no supernatural stuff in The Life of Chuck, but King’s writing with a deeply humane central thesis gives a greater understanding of monsters and the sacrifices that one makes to fight them.  

Wrapping up…

A lot of horror comes only from the idea of facing your fears. What will happen if death comes? What will happen if cancer consumes all of your body, knowing that it’s already inside you? What will happen if the clown in the sewer, as in Stephen King’s famed novel, It, grows on your fear and processes what you can’t with any level of sanity?

The Life of Chuck is a powerful testament to the evolving paths of the two horror legends, Stephen King and Mike Flanagan. The film is a digression from their usual horror genre as they invite us to explore the beauty of life.

Rather than residing in haunted houses where one of the possessed humans faces the camera and bites off his own arm, giving terrifying memories of our lives, The Life of Chuck is a clear manifestation of the quiet dignity of dying while creating beautiful memories in life.  

Today, we see a plethora of films focusing on the end of the world and AI. This collaboration offered us a celebration of life despite the certitude of mortality. The film is uplifting, asking us not to fear death but to embrace life. 

Rather than sinking into dread, King and Flanagan crafted something rare and mesmeric, making life worth remembering.

 Have you watched The Life of Chuck yet? How many tissue boxes did you empty? Share your thoughts.