Duke of the dark arts

Horror writer Stephen King has written 49 books and sold 350m copies since his debut, Carrie, 40 years ago. Now the cult classic is being remade. King’s name is a byword for sinister, says John Daly.

HORROR writer Stephen King has been scaring us for four decades. Carrie, the novel with the infamous bucket of blood toppled over a teenage girl at the high school prom, was published in 1973, and was the breakthrough for one of the most prolific of writers.

King’s debut, the tale of a girl who unleashed her telekinetic powers upon her tormentors, was made into the Oscar-nominated 1976 film of the same name, starring the blood-splattered Sissy Spacek. Later this year, a new screen version of Carrie will be released, starring Chloe Grace Moretz, with Julianne Moore playing her religious-zealot mother, Margaret White. A new generation will be as scared as their parents were by Carrie.