Well, this is a pleasant surprise.
The MTV Video Music Awards aren’t usually worth your time but tonight eagle-eyed viewers received an unexpected gift for watching the annual event: a first look at the hotly-anticipated limited series adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand.
The first teaser for the show is above and it doesn’t reveal too much. However, it does confirm one major thing: CBS All Access wants this to look theatrical. Long gone are the network television limitations of the original 90s mini-series. While brief, the glimpses we see above definitely feel polished and well-financed. It still looks like TV but modern TV. This thing ain’t cheap. Phew.
The teaser also suggests that the show will definitely be pitched as horror with a capital H. That makes sense because The Stand is definitely a horror book but it also contains a lot of adventure and action as well. Some have wondered (worried?) if The Stand would really feel scary or would rather feel like a big epic adventure that just happens to have some horror in it. The entire vibe of the teaser feels like a horror movie. There is some creepy imagery (I am particularly fond of Harold Lauder beating himself while he looks in the mirror as well as Stu Redman making his way through an abandoned hospital) so you can bet the series will not shy away from the horror.
Like I said, we don’t get much in this teaser. Fans hoping for a good taste of Randall Flagg will walk away disappointed. But you do get one good look at the Walkin’ Dude and he is appropriately haunting. This teaser is exactly that: a major tease with brief flashes of a whole lot more. A whole lot more that I want right damn now.
All in all, this is a very promising teaser trailer. I think King fans are sighing relief after this first look. Did CBS All Access actually pull this thing off?
I’ve been doing some digging on The Stand and will have some more news on it this week so stay tuned to Trouble City for all your post-apocalyptic goodness.