Warner Bros.Nobody does scary quite like Stephen King, with his masterfully imaginative novels possessing the almost supernatural ability to devour your lazy afternoons whole.
I for one have many happy – yet bloodcurdling – memories of being curled up with a thick wedge of a King novel during school summer holidays; fingers twitching a little as the terror built and built.
I lay awake all night after reading Pet Sematary; completely stricken and disgusted and enthralled as only a teenager introduced to King for the first time can be. When it came to The Shining, my heart almost thudded clean out of my chest.
Warner Bros. PicturesTherefore, I have been genuinely pleased to witness the Stephen King renaissance over the last few years; heightened by phenomenal success of the It remakes.
The world of King is at once nostalgic and eerie; akin to ghost stories told round a campfire or the rickety old abandoned house which fascinated you as a kid. But it’s also deeply, brutally scary in a way few writers have achieved before or since.
With Halloween creeping around the corner, it’s the ideal time to binge through some of the greatest cinematic adaptions of King’s writing; perfectly suited for chilly Autumn evenings in.
Even better, you can now get paid for being frightened out of your wits by the master of horror, with one steely-nerved fan about to be paid a very decent $1,300 for simply watching 13 King adaptions before Halloween.
Paramount PicturesSadly, I will be unable to apply for this as you have to either be a US citizen or a permanent resident to be deemed eligible.
However, if this is you – and you are over 18 years of age – then by all means ‘float’ your application over to USDish.com, and let know why you’d be the ‘perfect victim’ and what you would hope to get out of the experience.
There is a long list of movie adaptions to choose from, which USDish.com have narrowed down to a – hopefully lucky – 13: Carrie, Children of the Corn, Christine, Creepshow, Cujo, Dreamcatcher, It, The Mist, Pet Sematary, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, Thinner and Misery.
According to USDish.com, they will want to hear ‘everything’ about your spooky binge fest:
You will track your heart rate and jump scares. You’ll let us know who joined in on the scares with you.
You’ll let us know what you thought before watching certain movies, and if your feelings changed after you completed them.
You’ll even log your sleep — if you can sleep. We want to know all this and more! We’ll provide a worksheet to help guide you along the way, but you’re not limited to what we give you—feel free to share your thoughts, like a journal, and give us all the frightening deets!
United ArtistsShould you dare to do so, you may begin your application here.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.