HallowScream - The Stand (2020)

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, today for HallowScream, I thought it would be fun to return to the world of Stephen King with the 2020 miniseries adaptation of his book The Stand. A book that, for all intents and purposes, is a Lord of the Rings esque epic, The Stand was previously adapted into a television miniseries in 1994. However, with today's technology, as well as the openness of being aired on the streaming service CBS All Access (now Paramount+), how does the new adaptation fair? Let's find out as we take a look at the 2020 version of The Stand. 

        The miniseries starts off with the reveal that a massive plague, referred to as Captain Trips, has wiped out most of the American population, with the survivors traveling either to Boulder, Colorado or Las Vegas, Nevada. Among the survivors, we meet Harold Lauder and his former babysitter Fran Goldsmith, both from Ogunquit, Maine. The two decide to travel westward to find someone with possible answers. We also meet Stu Redman, who hails from a small town called Arnette, Texas. Redman was present at the death of Charles Campion, a military base guard who, while attempting to get his family to safety, became Patient Zero for Captain Trips, and so far is the only one brought from Arnette to a CDC facility in East Texas that is immune to the disease. So, Stu is brought to another CDC facility in Stovington, Vermont, and again is the only one to not get sick. The facility's commanding officer, General Starkey, lets Stu go free and kills himself, revealing that Captain Trips was part of a military experiment to test the resolve of the soldiers.  

          We also meet New York City based rock musician Larry Underwood, who loses his mother to Captain Trips, and meets a woman named Rita Blakemoor, who escapes from New York with him, but tragically kills herself. In Arizona, we meet a criminal named Lloyd Henreid, who is set free from his cell by a mysterious individual named Randall Flagg, who makes Lloyd his second-in-command. Larry, meanwhile, meets a woman named Nadine Cross, who is looking after a child named Joe, and the three journey westward towards Boulder. After a brief encounter with Fran and Harold, Stu goes on to meet with a former teacher named Glen Bateman and his dog Kojak. Stu questions Glen about a painting of an individual that both men, as well as Fran, Larry, and others had dreamt of: Abigail Freemantle, also known as Mother Abigail. So ,the two decide to head to Boulder to find Mother Abigail, and en route they rescue Harold and Fran, along with a woman named Dayna Jurgens, from a trucker who planned to use Fran for, well, I think you get the idea. 

       Meanwhile, in Arkansas, a young deaf man named Nick Andros is beaten up by a man whose beer Nick inadvertently spilled. Nick winds up in the hospital, where he tends to his assailant who is dying of Captain Trips. Nick later meets Tom Cullen, a gentle giant with a learning disability, and the two go together to find Mother Abigail. On the way, they meet a young woman named Julie Lawry, who insults Tom and pisses Nick off thoroughly. The two leave her behind, and she starts shooting at them. Jeez, talk about the prom princess from Hell. Anyway, they see a sign for a retirement facility called Hemingford Home, and they go there to meet Mother Abigail, and more individuals follow suit, including Stu's group, Larry's group, and so forth. Harold, along with his newfound friend Teddy Weizak, are put on a crew to clear out bodies of those who've died from Captain Trips, in an effort to get the city of Boulder back to a genuine functioning community. The leaders of the Boulder Community are Stu, Larry, Nick, Fran, and Glen, while Nick and a Native American woman named Ray Brentner are the only two that regularly speak directly to Mother Abigail. After a strange arrival comes from the west, the five leaders decide to send three scouts to Las Vegas to learn about what Flagg and his people are up to. The three chosen are Dayna, Tom, and a former judge named Judge Farris, who despite her older age is quite clever. 

      Meanwhile, Vegas has become a haven for debauchery and freedom from inhibitions, with a crazed woman named the Rat Woman as the head of entertainment. Lloyd and Julie are an item, and Lloyd is the one with direct access to Flagg's penthouse. Things start to go south when Flagg reveals to Dayna, who'd been asking questions, that he knows about her and the other two scouts. However, he is unable to identify the third: Tom. Dayna, unwilling to betray his identity, kills herself with a broken beer bottle. Meanwhile, a border guard named Bobby Terry accidentally kills the judge, and Flagg kills him for it. Tom, meanwhile, makes a clean escape. Flagg, meanwhile, draws in his most deranged follower, a pyromaniac named Trashcan Man. Flagg sends Trash out to an abandoned military base to fetch an atomic bomb, which Trash does and brings it straight to Flagg. 

        Back in Boulder, Harold and Nadine have teamed up to rid the town of the five leaders, on the orders of Flagg. Mother Abigail goes missing, journeying on to find some answers from God, who she has made everyone believe drew them to her. Meanwhile, Harold and Nadine plant a bomb in Mother Abigail's house, which kills Nick and severely injures others. Fran wakes up in the hospital, where Mother Abigail was brought after she was found by Joe, and Mother Abigail tells Stu, Ray, Glen, and Larry that the four of them must venture to Vegas, one of the four would fall on the journey, and the others would be taken. Their job is to confront Flagg and make their stand. Now, while I've talked about a lot of the plot, I'm going to stop here, because I don't want to ruin the ending. 

         So, the tone of The Stand is very dark in a lot of ways, and a bit brighter in others. The storytelling doesn't offer much that book fans and fans of the original miniseries from 1994 don't already know, and the nine episodes really make it seem stretched a bit too thin. Heck, one of the best episodes is a coda written just for this version of The Stand by Stephen King himself. Cool. 

       Easily, the strongest part of the miniseries is the cast. James Marsden, Odessa Young, Amber Heard, Jovan Adepo, Henry Zaga, Irene Bedard, Greg Kinnear, and Owen Teague are all really great, and both Whoopi Goldberg and Alexander Skarsgard are terrific as Mother Abigail and Randall Flagg. The four biggest surprises to me were the excellent, albeit extremely over the top, performances of Nat Wolff as Lloyd, Kat McNamara as Julie, Fiona Dourif as Rat Woman, and Ezra Miller as Trashcan Man. I also enjoyed the guest appearances of Heather Graham as Rita Blakemoor and J.K. Simmons as General Starkey. 

       Overall, while not a perfect adaptation of Stephen King's book, Josh Boone and the producers did a really good job with The Stand. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and am glad to have added it to my collection of Stephen King titles on Blu-ray. I'm giving the 2020 version of The Stand a rating of 4.25/5. Now, there's a lot of adult language in this version, so don't let the kids watch this one. Anyway, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time as HallowScream rolls on.