I think this surface documentary was an excuse to tell the world how King felt about Donald Trump, and serves as his coming out as a hardcore Liberal, if your reading of his work hasn't told you that. The writer is rich enough not to care about losing fans.
Any fan, or former fan, knows the biographical basics of his upbringing in Maine, before scoring his first hit novel Carrie. The film makers use old, readily-available online interview footage as King covers his best, early works. Clips from his filmed novel adaptations are shown to appease horror fans, but it was nice to see some love for George Romero's underrated version of The Dark Half. Any writer would kill for the success and productivity of King, but the film only covers his successes. He mentions his dislike of religion, Republicans, and guns, without mentioning the number of works where a convenient cache of firearms appears out of nowhere. He mocks the "common" American reader who gave him his success in the first place.
I read every King book I could find when I was younger, until I stopped halfway through the ironically-titled Insomnia. I tried again, but gave up on the child-hating Doctor Sleep. I've read On Writing twice, something I don't normally do. His hatred of Trump and us right-wing kooks is well-known thanks to social media. The documentary meanders through grainy C-SPAN speeches and Today interviews (where his first name is misspelled), and you learn nothing new- "He's written seventyish books, and here's a half dozen of his really good ones!"
"Stephen King: A Necessary Evil" is unnecessary to watch.
Stats:
(2020) 53 min. (2/10)
-Written and Directed by Julien Dupuy
-Featuring: Stephen King
-(Not Rated)- Some physical violence, some gun violence, some gore, profanity, adult situations, tobacco and alcohol use
-Media Viewed: Streaming
