Creepshow

The ceiling at the Canon Theatre, now renamed Ed Mirvish Theatre.

Rain, fog and creepy tales. What a night to go see Stephen King in conversation with David Cronenberg at the Canon Theatre!

Last night’s packed house quieted down long enough for the King of creepy fiction to read a selection from his new book Under the Dome. He uses something he calls “mutual observables” and lengthy rambling to draw you in so that by the time the really weird stuff happens, you’re 100% prepared to buy it.  King looked frail but was lively, quickwitted and very, very funny. “Plot is pernicious. Does your life have a plot? Mine doesn’t have a plot. Sh*t just happens.”

And though I’ve never been able to watch earlier films by the King of Venereal Horror, director and Toronto native David Cronenberg, all the way through (too anxiety producing!) I really liked the more recent Eastern Promises and was impressed by the curating and catalogue he did for the Andy Warhol Supernova show at the AGO a few years ago. King and Cronenberg have known each other for years, having worked together on The Dead Zone.

The Canon Theatre (formerly the Pantages vaudeville and motion picture palace and now renamed Ed Mirvish Theatre) was the perfect event venue, its aged beauty adding delicious atmosphere to the event. Though I didn’t actually see any ghosts, I shivered as I headed back out through the fog and dark to the subway.