Stephen King

Stephen King is a hugely popular and critically acclaimed American author whose name is synonymous with horror and dark fantasy. He has written over 60 novels and 200 short stories, many of which have been adapted into movies and TV series. The influence of his works permeates Supernatural—from inspiration for monsters to visual references and quotes from Dean.

The bar scene from The Shining, and the bar scene from "Playthings."

Carrie

"Carrie" is about teen Carrie White who is raised in an abusive home and gets bullied at school. She eventually exacts revenge using her telekinetic powers.

1.02 Wendigo

In Sam's nightmare, the visual of the hand coming up out of Jessica's grave and snatching his wrist calls to mind the end of the 1976 movie adaptation of Carrie.

3.16 No Rest for the Wicked

In a reference to Sam's Carrie-like telekinetic powers, when discussing how they're going to defeat Lilith:

Dean: What, are you gonna give her the Carrie-stare and Lilith goes poof?

8.12 As Time Goes By

When Abaddon enters the comic book store which used to be a Men of Letters clubhouse, the cashier comments on her blood-stained dress, telling her that the screening of Carrie isn't until Sunday. This is a reference to the scene where Carrie gets doused in pig's blood by her classmates at prom.

The Shining

In "The Shining", Jack Torrance takes his family to an isolated inn so he can finish his novel. His young son, Danny, has creepy visions of past and future evil events at the hotel. Jack becomes influenced by a supernatural presence and descends into madness, eventually turning on his family in a murderous rage.

1.09 Home

• Characters in the novel refer to their psychic "gift" as the Shining, hence the title. Dean plays on this when Sam first reveals he is having psychic visions:

Dean: I mean, first you tell me that you’ve got the Shining? And then you tell me that I’ve gotta go back home?

• Dean hacking away at the front door with an axe and then peering inside the hole is reminiscent of the famous Jack Nicholson scene from the 1980 Stanley Kubrick adaptation, albeit without the catchphrase.

1.10 Asylum

Dean theorizes about what happens to people who spend time in the haunted Roosevelt Asylum:

Dean: Spirits driving them insane. Kind of like my man Jack in The Shining.

1.18 Something Wicked

The old woman in the hospital is in Room 237. In the 1980 movie, Room 237 is the mystery-shrouded room where Jack encounters the ghost of a young woman that turns into an old woman.

2.01 In My Time of Dying

Over the hospital P.A., Dean hears an announcement calling "Dr. Kripke to Room 237" for a code blue. He races to the room to see a reaper take the soul of a young girl.

2.07 The Usual Suspects

• When looking at a printout page of the word "danashulps" written over and over, Dean makes a reference to a phrase Jack Torrance typed for hundreds of pages in the 1980 movie.

Dean: Well, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

• After getting the cops' attention by pretending to confess to the crimes, Dean explains his theory on what actually caused the deaths of a lawyer and his wife. He explains the anagram appearing everywhere by referencing the scene where REDRUM is written by Danny, Jack's son, on a door and seen in a mirror as MURDER:

Dean: Tony Giles saw it. I'll bet you cash money Karen did too. But see, the interesting thing is the word it leaves behind. For some reason it's trying to tell us something. But communicating across the vale, it ain't easy. You know, sometimes the spirits, they, they get things jumbled. You remember "REDRUM." Same concept. You know, it's, uh, maybe word fragments... other times, it's anagrams. See, at first we thought this was a name, Dana Shulps. But now we think it's a street. Ashland. Whatever's going on, I'll bet you it started there.

2.09 Croatoan

The doctor tells Dean that the nearest town, forty miles away, is Sidewinder. In The Shining, the events occur in the Overlook Hotel which is 40 miles from Sidewinder.

Doctor: It's about forty miles down to Sidewinder.

2.11 Playthings

There are multiple references to The Shining throughout the episode:

• Dean and Sam stay in Room 237.
• The twin girls. A reference to the Grady sisters, the twin girls from the 1980 movie.
• The low tracking shots throughout the inn's halls are redolent of similar cinematography from the Stanley Kubrick adaptation.
• The scene in which Dean wanders into the inn bar to talk to Sherwin is reminiscent of a scene in the film.
• Maggie Thompson's dialogue is reminiscent of the twins' famously creepy line in the 1980 movie, "Come and play with us Danny. Forever and ever and ever."

Maggie: We can have lots of tea parties. Forever and ever and ever.

3.01 The Magnificent Seven

Pride: Here’s Johnny!

As he chops through a door with an axe whilst terrorising his family in the 1980 movie, Jack Torrance says this in a mocking interpretation of the introduction of late night show host Johnny Carson.

3.03 Bad Day at Black Rock

The hunter Kubrick is possibly named after Stanley Kubrick, director of the 1980 film adaptation.

3.11 Mystery Spot

Sam hacking away at the wall with the axe is somewhat similar to the [famous scene axe scene from the movie.

4.14 Sex and Violence

Sam and Dean discussing a murder:

Dean: Sounds like Ozzie and Harriet.

Sam: More like The Shining.

6.05 Live Free or Twihard

When the Alpha Vampire gives the rest of the vampires a vision, two little vampire girls in blue dresses can be seen holding hands. This is a reference to the Grady sisters, the twin girls from the 1980 movie.

6.11 Appointment in Samarra

Bobby: Don't say, 'Here's Johnny.'

As he chops through a door with an axe whilst terrorising his family in the 1980 movie, Jack Torrance says this in a mocking interpretation of the introduction of late night show host Johnny Carson.

7.20 The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo

Charlie Bradbury's apartment is #237.

8.11 LARP and the Real Girl

While explaining away the uncharacteristically early arrival of the "FBI", Dean makes another reference to the phrase "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy":

Dean: Well, the FBI is all work... no play.

10.03 Soul Survivor

The scene of Dean breaking down the door to the bunker's electrical room is an homage to the famous axe scene in the 1980 film.

11.05 Thin Lizzie

When staying at the creepy Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast, a girl likens it to the Overlook Hotel:

Wendy: And... now we're in The Shining.

13.14 Good Intentions

After Donatello Redfield has been corrupted by the demon tablet, and locked in the bunker's dungeon, Dean makes yet another reference to the phrase Jack Torrance typed for hundreds of pages in the 1980 movie:

Dean: All right. What else do we know besides all work and no play makes Donatello a homicidal boy?

13.19 Funeralia

Sam: Rowena, are you at a... party or something?

Rowena: I am, but I'm surprised you recognize the sounds of a party, seeing as how you're all work and no play.

The Lawnmower Man

The 1992 film "Lawnmower Man" was adapted from the merging of a 1975 short story by Stephen King with an original screenplay entitled "CyberGod". In the film, a man with an intellectual disability becomes the unknowing subject of an experiment using drugs and virtual reality. The experiment increases IQ but also causes murderous rage.

10.13 Halt & Catch Fire

Dean: Alright, so how the hell are we gonna deal with the Lawnmower Man?

IT

In "IT", a group of children are terrorised by an evil creature that appears as the things of which they are most afraid.

2.02 Everybody Loves a Clown

The Rakshasa is similar to the creature in Stephen King's novel It, a monster that also hibernates for a stretch of time and appears as a clown.

7.14 Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie

The name "Pennywhistle" may be a parody of Pennywise, the evil fanged clown in Stephen King's novel (and subsequent movie) It.

Pet Semetary

In "Pet Semetary", a grieving father forgets the lesson that what's dead should stay dead. But, to be fair, so did the Winchesters.

2.04 Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things

Dean: What you brought back isn't even your daughter anymore. These things are vicious, they're violent, they're so nasty they rot the ground around them. I mean, come on, haven't you seen "Pet Sematary"?

A reference to the Stephen King novel Pet Sematary in which a grieving father buries his young son's body in an ancient Indian burial ground and it comes back as a zombie.

Cujo

Cujo is a novel about a family's pet that is bitten by a rabid bat and goes on a killing rampage.

2.17 Heart

Dean: I'd say Kurt's looking more and more like our Cujo.

5.06 I Believe the Children Are Our Future

The babysitter Amber is watching the 1983 horror film Cujo.

7.04 Defending Your Life

Dean: So what, he causes so much misery that some dog goes Cujo on him from beyond the grave?

12.15 Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

Dean: All right, Crowley and I are gonna hit the woods, see if we can't track down Cujo. You stick with Sam. He'll keep you safe.

2.17 Heart

Dean: I’d say Kurt’s looking more and more like our Cujo.

7.04 Defending Your Life

Dean: So what, he causes so much misery that some dog goes Cujo on him from beyond the grave?
Bob Singer, who directed this episode, was a producer on the movie Cujo. This may be a double reference to Stephen King - Misery and Cujo were the names of two of his novels. A third novel by Stephen King, Christine, was also referenced in the episode.

11.11 Into the Mystic

Dee Wallace, who played Mildred Baker, is a legendary genre actress who starred in the 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's Cujo which was produced by Robert Singer.

12.15 Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

Dean: All right, Crowley and I are gonna hit the woods, see if we can't track down Cujo. You stick with Sam. He'll keep you safe.

The Dead Zone

3.02 The Kids Are Alright

Anthony Michael Hall played Johnny Smith in The Dead Zone, a man who became psychic after being in a coma for six years and uses his new abilities to solve crimes. The show is based on a novel by the same name by Stephen King.
Ruby: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Ding-dong, the demon's dead. Good job with that. It doesn't change the fact that you're special ... in that Anthony Michael Hall E.S.P. visions kind of way.

Misery

Writer Paul Sheldon is held captive, tortured and forced to write for his 'number one fan' Annie Wilkes.

4.18 The Monster at the End of This Book

Chuck: Is this some kind of Misery thing? Ah, it is, isn't it? It's a "Misery" thing!

Chuck when Dam and Dean track him down.

7.08 Season Seven, Time for a Wedding!

The scene where Becky has Sam held captive and tied to the bed references what Annie does to Paul Sheldon (minus the torture).

Christine

The story about a car, Christine, which is possessed by supernatural forces and kills people.

1.01 Pilot

At one point, the woman in white possesses the Impala.

1.13 Route 666

People are killed by a Racist Truck possessed by the ghost of Cyrus Dorian.

5.05 Fallen Idols

Sam: Is this like Christine?
Christine is a novel about a possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury.

6.14 Mannequin 3: The Reckoning

Although it is not explicitly mentioned in the episode, the scene where the Impala is possessed and attacks Dean, parallels the plot of the Stephen King novel Christine. The car in that story was a 1958 Plymouth Fury.

7.04 Defending Your Life

Sam: It could be Christine-like.

10.13 Halt & Catch Fire

Janet: You're Gen X. Right.
Dean: Okay so, Trini and everything else in the truck went all "Christine."
Janet: Who's Christine?
Dean: It's a Gen X thing.

The Shawshank Redemption

"Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" is novella about a man's time in prison and eventual escape.

6.10 Caged Heat

Dean: Alright, alright. Shawshank’s a great flick, but let’s skip the shower scene, huh?
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American prison drama film adapted from the Stephen King novella.

12.22 Who We Are

Sam: So wait a second. We're just gonna...
Dean: Straight Shawshank this bitch.

As Dean suggests to Sam that they chip their way out of the Bunker, he references how Andy Dufresne slowly chips a hole in his prison cell in the Shawshank prison over many years.

Creepshow

Creepshow is a 1982 comedy horror anthology film written by Stephen King and directed by George A. Romero.

2.18 Hollywood Babylon

Dean: Hey, you know this is where they filmed "Creepshow"?

Maximum Overdrive

"Maximum Overdrive" is a story in which machines become animate and try to kill people.

8.17 Goodbye Stranger

Dean: So, chupacabra. What do we got? Power tools gone rogue? Wait -- are we talking a-a Maximum Overdrive situation here?

Thinner

"Thinner" is a Stephen King novel, written under the pseudonym Richard Bachmann, and later made into a movie, about a man who is cursed by an elderly Romani man to lose weight until he dies.

9.13 The Purge

Dean: I mean, what do we got ourselves? A "Thinner" sitch here?

The Monkey

1.09 Home

The cymbal-banging toy monkey seen in the nursery could be an homage to the evil toy monkey in the Stephen King short story The Monkey.

The Things We Left Behind

10.09 The Things We Left Behind

The title "The Things We Left Behind" is likely a reference to the Stephen King short story "The Things They Left Behind" which is about a man suffering survivor's guilt following the attacks of 9/11.

Children of the Corn

"Children of the Corn" is a story by Stephen King (and subsequent movie franchise) about a town where children kill their peers on their 19th birthdays as a sacrifice to an evil deity who lives in the cornfields.

12.04 American Nightmare

Dean: Weird creepy off-the-grid Children of the Corn people? Yeah, I'm in.

The Dark Tower (series)

"The Dark Tower" series tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World's last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World's post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower.

4.18 The Monster at the End of This Book

The plot of the episode is quite similar to the plot of The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, the seventh and final book in The Dark Tower series where, in his quest to find the Dark Tower, Roland and his Ka-tet meet Stephen King in Maine, who is writing a book about Roland and his Ka-tet's quest to find the Dark Tower. Dean is even hit by a van much like the book version of King is prophesized to die by (and the one the real life King was actually hit by) in the story.

Charlie Bradbury's aliases

According to writer Robbie Thompson, each of Charlie's aliases are made up of the name of a Stephen King character for her first name and the surname of a famous science fiction writer.

• Charlene "Charlie" Bradbury (Charlene McGee from Firestarter, and author Ray Bradbury)
• Carrie Heinlein (Carrie from Carrie, and author Robert A. Heinlein)
• Christine Le Guin (The car in the novel Christine, and writer Ursula Le Guin)
• Annie Tolkien (Annie Wilkes from Misery and author J.R.R. Tolkien)
• Susan Asimov (Susan from Salem's Lot, and author Isaac Asimov)
• Carrie Asimov (Carrie from Carrie, and author Isaac Asimov)

Trivia

• The film adaptation of Cujo was produced by Supernatural executive producer / showrunner Robert Singer.
• in 11.13 Love Hurts a copy of Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill can be seen on the coffee table as Staci goes to sit and watch TV. Joe Hill is Stephen King's son.

Links

• Redrum
• Cujo
• Stephen King's Website
• Stephen King's Twitter
• Sammy's Drunken Letters to Stephen King by eight-horizon. A fan creation which creates drunken letters from Sam Winchester to Stephen King.