List of cultural references to Stephen King

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Main article: Stephen King

Stephen King is one of the best selling novelists in the world, and his influence on popular culture and public consciousness is large and wide-ranging. Since the publication of his first novel, Carrie, public awareness of King is as high as any horror genre icon since the Universal Studios horror classics of the 1930s, the films of Alfred Hitchcock, or The Twilight Zone.

Below is a list of references to Stephen King, his literary works, and the films based on his writing, most of them from Western popular culture.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Apart from sometimes giving away plot details, the descriptions may also spoil the fun of discovering the references for oneself.

Contents

[edit] Television

[edit] Family Guy

  • When Brian runs over a person with a truck, he stops and says, "Oh, my God! Are you Stephen King?" The man replies, "No, I'm Dean Koontz." Brian gets back into his truck and drives backwards, running over Koontz again (and then repeating the action seven times).
  • While the Griffin family is at an amusement park, Stewie sees a toy clown, which is one of the prizes at a shooting game. He says, "How deliciously evil, like something out of Stephen King!", a reference to Pennywise in It.
  • In that same episode, just after Stewie mocks the toy clown, the episode moves into the following cut-scene: King's editor is shown asking King for a summary for his 307th novel. King invents a story on the spot about a couple who are attacked by a lamp monster, then grabs the lamp from the editor's desk and waves it around making strange noises. The editor sighs and says, "You're not even trying anymore, are you?" and then says, "When can I have it?"
  • In one of the "flashbacks", Meg recalls on the time the band Hanson came to the Griffin's house asking if they could use the phone. Peter takes out a shotgun and kills them, shouting "Holy crap! It's the Children of the Corn!"
  • In a more recent episode, Stewie Griffin is riding his tricycle through a home (in a parody of Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of The Shining) and turns a corner to find two ghostly twins. He then proceeds to nearly run them over. The twins also appeared in the second season episode Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater.
  • In another episode, Stewie Griffin uses his letter blocks to spell out Redrum, from The Shining.
  • In "Untitled Griffin Family History," Peter tells a story about a family member, Nate Griffin, whose real name was "Richard Bachman".
  • In another episode Stewie explores his vast new home; when he turns a corner and comes face to face with the ghostly twins from The Shining, they say "come play with us Stewie" (much like their lines in the movie). Stewie replies that all work and no play make him a dull boy (another of the movies lines), and then shoots them with a rocket launcher.

[edit] Futurama

  • Fry walks in a library and passes a room titled "Stephen King, volumes A through Aardvark".
  • In another episode, King is referenced on an episode related to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Fry (the temporary Scarecrow) unsuccessfully attempts to scare away some crows by reading excerpts from Christine.
  • In The Honking, a series of zeroes and ones forms on a wall in the mansion from blood. Bender says the numbers are gibberish, but then catches sight of them in a mirror and runs, screaming, from the room.

[edit] The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

  • In the episode Tricycle of Terror, Billy gets a haunted tricycle from a haunted outhouse that leads to another dimension. After Billy gets mocked by his peers, the tricycle, which Billy calls "Trykie," goes a killing spree across the town, leaving nasty tire marks, likely inspired by Christine.
  • In another episode, Billy and Mandy go to a winter camp where the camp counselor is named John "Jack" Daniel Torrance, which was the full name of the main character in The Shining
  • In the episode Test of Time, Billy takes out a book for his report by an author named Stephen Hawkwing, a parody of Stephen Hawking. He states that the book "must be a horror story."

[edit] The Simpsons

  • In the episode Insane Clown Poppy King has a small cameo as himself. While sitting at a book fair, Marge asks King if he has been writing any new horror. King says no: "I'm working on a biography of Benjamin Franklin. He's a fascinating man. He discovered electricity, and used it to torture small animals and innocent babies--And that key he tied to the end of a kite? It opened the gates of Hell!" Marge asks him to contact her when he gets back to horror, and he writes a note to himself: "Call Marge, re: horror."
  • In the episode titled The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson, at the start when deciding who would be the designated driver amogst the bar flies at Moe's, they had to pick pickled eggs, and the one who picked the black pickled egg would be the designated driver, similar to the Storm of the Century, where the parent who picked the black stone would lose their child to become Andre Linoge's heir.
  • In another episode, in which Lisa becomes the President of the United States, Bart has a conversation with the ghost of Billy Carter, a direct homage to The Shining, where Nicholson is sitting at the hotel bar, talking to the ghost of the previous caretaker.
  • The episode The Joy of Sect starts with Bart and Homer walking through the airport to watch the arrival of Springfield's football team; they pass a books store called "Just King and Crichton Bookstore", inside Hans Moleman is asking if the store carries any Robert Ludlum books.
  • The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror V" includes a parody of The Shining called "The Shinning."
    Bart: "Don't you mean The Shining?
    Groundskeeper Willy: "Shh, boy! Do you wanna get sued?"
    Later in the episode, Homer sits at a bar and has a conversation with an imaginary Moe (most likely the ghost of a previous caretaker). Near the end of the segment, Homer begins repeating "No TV and no beer maker Homer go crazy," a reference to the repetitions of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," on Jack Torrance's typed pages.
    There was also a recent "Treehouse of Horror" parody called "The Ned Zone" in which Ned Flanders can see people's death if he touches them. This is a parody of the King novel The Dead Zone.
  • The Springfield Files, an episode-long X-Files crossover, contained a nod to The Shining: the X-Files trademark typewritten scene introductions at the bottom of the screen begin repeating "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".
  • In Brother from the Same Planet, Bart tries to communicate telepathically to Homer the message "Pick up Bart." Milhouse goes into a trance and says "Trab pu kcip!" moving his finger the way Danny Torrance did in the 1980 film adaptation of The Shining when saying "Redrum!"
  • In an older episode of The Simpsons, Marge becomes a real estate agent, and sells the Flanders' a mansion in which the owners met to an untimely demise. When Marge, out of guilty conscious (she was told the house was cursed by a senior real estate agent, but continued to sell the house anyways), Rod and Tod being repeating "Red Rum"—an obvious reference to The Shining—and then point to a room in the house, saying "Over there", parodying the supposed mystery of the meaning in the original book and film.

[edit] Spaced

In Season 1, Episode 1 (Beginnings)of Spaced:

  • Tim and Daisy open a cupboard to find two twins who say the lines "It took forever, and ever, and ever" in a creepy tone (a reference to "The Shining"
  • When Tim and Daisy are being shown around the flat, Daisy describes one of the bedrooms as "very...homey", a line taken from The Shining.

In Season 2, Episode 5 (Gone):

  • When Tim and Daisy return home, they realise neither of them have their keys, and so huddle together to keep warm. The scene then cuts to them sometime later, cold and tired, their faces in a similar contortion to that of Jack Nicholson's character at the end of The Shining.

[edit] Martin Mystery

  • A parody of King, named Even Prince was featured on the paranormal mystery cartoon Martin Mystery.

[edit] Rocko's Modern Life

  • An episode of Rocko's Modern Life in which Heffer becomes a security guard contains a visual quote of the ghostly twins from The Shining.

[edit] Quantum Leap

  • A 1990 episode of Quantum Leap titled The Boogieman involved Sam Beckett becoming a hack 1960s horror writer with a teenaged friend named Stevie. At the end of the episode, Sam discovers the kid's last name (which is "King") and realizes that he may have helped inspire Christine, Cujo, The Dark Half, and other early King novels.

[edit] South Park

  • Cartman's Incredible Gift, a 2004 episode of South Park, involves Cartman suffering head trauma and claiming that he can now use his psychic abilities to solve murders. A man in a yellow raincoat with blood on it is seen at every murder scene, but Cartman is unable to connect the clues. The situation and Cartman's cane parody The Dead Zone, and a finale in which Kyle demonstrates telekinesis is a reference to Carrie.
  • The Wacky Molestation Adventure has the adults of South Park being thrown in prison after being accused of molestation. Afterwards, the children of South Park worship a statue of John Elway and sacrifice other children to it. Two adults discover this while driving through, which is an homage to Children of the Corn.
  • Butters' Very Own Episode, the old man Butters meets on the road in the woods is a take off the Jud Crandall character in Pet Sematary. The same character returns in "Asspen" and most recently in "Marjorine", where he is a near-carbon copy of the original Crandall character.

[edit] Aqua Teen Hunger Force

  • In the episode "The Meat Zone" of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Meatwad eats silicon caulk he finds in Frylock's room, and thinks he can predict people's futures by touching their hands, a parody of The Dead Zone.

[edit] Chappelle's Show

  • In 2004, King made an appearance on Comedy Central's hit television show Chappelle's Show, in a segment called "Ask a Black Dude", featuring comedian Paul Mooney. It was a frequent segment in the show, in which random people (including the occasional celebrities including Twisted Sister's Dee Snider), would ask Mooney their various questions about the African-American culture. King's question in particular was whether or not Black individuals had felt comfortable going to White undertakers. Mooney was nonetheless baffled at the question.

[edit] Just Shoot Me

  • In an episode of Just Shoot Me!, Nina Van Horn (Wendie Malick) mentions being banned from Maine because she ran over Stephen King. In another episode, Nina describes a situation ending with a reference to being covered in pig's blood. A co-worker tells her "Nina, that is the ending to Carrie."

[edit] Home Movies

  • In the Home Movies episode "Camp", Coach McGuirk runs through a forest hallucinating. For a brief moment the image of Walter and Perry can be seen in a bloody hallway with "reccos" written behind them, a reference to the clue "REDRUM" in The Shining.

[edit] House (TV series)

In the 21st Episode of the 1st Season a farmer gets bitten by his dog. The dog suffers from rabies and is even called Cujo by Dr House, a reference to Stephen King's novel Cujo.

[edit] Celebrity Deathmatch

[edit] Friends

  • When Joey and Rachel read each other's favorite books, Rachel has to read The Shining.
  • In the same episode Joey, scared of The Shining, puts the book in his freezer.
  • In another episode, Joey recommends the movie Cujo to Rachel; towards the end of the show, Joey ends up comforting a scared Rachel as she watches the movie.

[edit] That 70's Show

  • In the "Prom Night" episode in season one, Hyde (Danny Masterson) is told by his mother as he leaves the house for the prom "They're all gonna laugh at you!", which is a reference to Piper Laurie's character in Carrie."
  • In the "Halloween" episode in season one, the characters bury their elementary school permanent records in the ground. As the end credits roll, Hyde goes back to the grave and a hand comes up out of the ground holding the records. This is a reference to Sue Snell's dream at the end of the film version of Carrie.

[edit] Lost

  • In the "Maternity Leave" Season 2 episode, Henry Gale asks John Locke if he has any Stephen King books to which Locke replies that there isn't any because the library in the hatch was "a little outdated".
  • In the "A Tale of Two Cities" Season 3 episode, Juliet hosts a book club where she discusses Carrie with the neighbors. Adam, one of the guests, makes mention that "Ben" would dislike the book (Which would soon be discovered that Ben is the supposive "Henry Gale", when after the upcoming plane crash scene, he sees Juliet holding the book and says "I guess I'm out of the book club"). In irony, Ben seems to hold an interest for Stephen King in an earlier episode from Season 2, "Maternity Leave".

[edit] Daria

  • In one episode, school principal Ms. Li makes an announcement over the intercom about the heightened security at the upcoming school dance, adding "So for anyone who planned to rig a prank with a bucket of pig's blood, you can just forget it!" (This is a reference to the end of Carrie.) Daria comments in her typical sarcastic way: "Darn, there goes my weekend."

[edit] Film

[edit] For Richer or Poorer

[edit] Big Bully

  • In the 1996 film Big Bully, Rick Moranis' character tires of people entering the bookstore at which he is signing his book and asking for the location of the newest Stephen King novel. He lies to a customer that his own book features characters that die and are buried at an ancient Indian burial ground. The customer comments that the book sounds like Pet Sematary (to which Moranis agrees) and purchases the title.

[edit] Donnie Darko

  • In the 2001 movie Donnie Darko, Donnie's mom is reading It as Donnie comes home from school. In another scene Donnie's father is reading The Tommyknockers while in bed, although the cover to the book is missing.

[edit] K-9

  • In the 1989 movie K-9, Detective Dooley (James Belushi) admonishes his misbehaving canine partner, saying "you're going to wind up in a Pet Sematary!"

[edit] Mr. Deeds

  • In the 2002 movie Mr. Deeds, Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler) mentions that when King stopped for gas in his hometown, the gas station attendant made eye contact with him and lost two-hundred pounds that night a reference toThinner.

[edit] Casper

  • In the 1995 live action film spawned from the animated series a characters mentions that a particular house is not bad, if you're Stephen King.

[edit] In the Mouth of Madness

  • In the 1994 film In the Mouth of Madness Stephen King is mentioned in the context of being a widely read author for the purposes of comparison with the author in the movie, Sutter Cane.

[edit] Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

  • The 8th installment of this series of films shows the giving of a pen as a gift that Stephen King supposedly used while in high school. A camera shot shows the pen in closeup after around 12 minutes and 20 seconds. Later the pen is stuck into Jason's eye.

[edit] Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star

  • A water wiggle is noted to be like something out of a Stephen King movie in this cinematic offering.

[edit] "UHF""

  • Before the karate students leap out of the supply closet, the word "Redrum" is heard several times, a reference to The Shining.

[edit] Music

[edit] Pennywise

  • The band's name is a reference to the character Pennywise from the novel It.

[edit] Ramones

  • The Ramones song "It's Not My Place (in the 9 to 5 World)" from the albums Pleasant Dreams (1981) contains the lyric: "Roger Corman's on a talk show/With Allan Arkush and Stephen King, you know." The band also recorded the song "Pet Sematary" for the 1989 film adaptation soundtrack. King wrote the liner notes for We're A Happy Family: A Tribute To The Ramones.

[edit] Nirvana

  • The Nirvana song "Serve the Servants" from the album In Utero (1993) contains the lyric: "If she floats then she is not a witch like we thought; a down payment on another one at 'Salem's Lot".

[edit] Eminem

  • Eminem references one of Stephen King's novels in his song "Lose Yourself" for the 8 Mile soundtrack. He says "Mom, I love you but this trailer's got to go, I cannot grow old in Salem's Lot"

[edit] Anthrax

  • The Anthrax song "Among the Living," found on the 1987 album of the same name, is based on King's The Stand. King returned the favor and made a passing reference to the group in The Waste Lands.
  • The song "Misery Love Company" from the State of Euphoria album is based on the book Misery, by Stephen King.
  • "Skeletons in the Closet" was based on the Stephen King story "Apt Pupil".
  • The song "Safe Home" on the 2003 Anthrax album We've Come For You All contains the lyric "My whole world has moved on", an homage to the oft expressed sentiment in the Dark Tower series "The world has moved on". It can also be said that "Safe Home", after reading the end of Book VII, can be considered Roland's (The Gunslinger) or even Jake's theme.

[edit] Blind Guardian

  • A number of songs by Blind Guardian are inspired by the works of Stephen King. These songs include "Somewhere Far Beyond", "Tommyknockers", "Altair 4".

[edit] Demons & Wizards

[edit] Black Sabbath

[edit] The Alarm

  • The 1980s Welsh Alternative Rock band The Alarm recorded a song entitled "The Stand" based upon King's novel.

[edit] Porn On Beta

  • Electronic rock band Porn On Beta released a song called "Needful Things" in tribute to King's novel on their 2004 album Brand New Road To Nowhere.

[edit] Beastie Boys

  • "He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts" (from It - used in "B-boy Bouillabaisse" on the album Paul's Boutique.

[edit] Violent J

[edit] Fear Before the March of Flames

  • The song 237, featured on the soundtrack to the television series Masters Of Horror,is about The Shining

[edit] ABBA

[edit] Comics

[edit] Ultimate X-Men

  • In Ultimate X-Men issue 54, Longshot is forced to play a game closely resembling the plot of The Running Man. Later in the issue, Dazzler says that the game is such an obvious rip-off that "Stephen King and Richard Bachman should sue."

[edit] Sandman

  • In Neil Gaiman's Sandman, issue #1 "The Sleep of the Just", page 25, the watchman named Paul is seen reading a paperback copy of It as he guards Dream's cell.

[edit] League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

  • In Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volume two, in the backup feature The New Traveller's Almanac, issue #3's chapter "The Americas" includes the passage "... the town of Jerusalem's Lot has developed an evil reputation..."

[edit] Books

[edit] The Disunited States of America

  • In Harry Turtledove's novel The Disunited States of America, character Justin Monroe thinks some scary thoughts about a town that might let strangers in but not let them out, and then thinks that once he starts "stephenkinging" that it is hard to stop.
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