Stephen King Month: Apt Pupil

5 Stars - Unnerving

Once more it is time to delve into the book Different Seasons, which is such a good collection of stories that only one out of the four novellas hasn't been made into a film. Today I look at Apt Pupil.

Apt Pupil is the story of Todd Bowden, a high school boy, who one day turns up on the front porch of an old German Man, Arthur Denker, stating that he knows who Denker really is, a Nazi called Kurt Dussander who was famed for his cruelty and evil. Threatened with blackmail Dussander gives into Todd's demands, to tell him everything about the holocaust he can remember, every sickening, vicious detail. The time Todd spends with Dussander starts to reveal dark parts of his own psyche, he becomes violent and distant, he starts to lose focus at school and he is falling apart. Dussander starts to get sucked back into his old ways, his murderous past becoming his present as he loses more of the fantasy he has hidden behind for so long.

The film is tremendous, both lead actors do a terrific job with what is a difficult subject matter and character relationship to play. Particular praise should be given to Ian McKellan for his vicious, icy cold and yet somehow understandable and almost sympathetic Dussander, who will unnerve you and make your skin crawl, until you smile along with his laughter.

As an adaptation it changes the ending of the book drastically, leaving out the section where Todd completely snaps and goes on a killing spree, however what it offers is instead a Todd who, whilst not a murderer, is as much as a manipulator and just as cruel as Dussander, which given the length of the film feels like a more realistic ending with the possibility for worse things to come down the line.

The Summer Of Corruption

In short, a very creepy and very enjoyable film