 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2024) |
| "Weeds" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Stephen King | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Horror short story |
| Publication | |
| Publisher | Cavalier |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Publication date | May 1976 |
"Weeds" (also known as "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill") is a darkly humorous short story by Stephen King. It was first published in Cavalier magazine in May 1976. [1]
On Independence Day, a backwoods hick farmer in New Hampshire named Jordy Verrill thinks his newfound discovery of a meteorite will provide enough riches to pay off the remaining $200 of his bank loan, but instead finds himself overcome by a rapidly spreading plant-like organism that arrives in the meteorite when he ends up coming in contact with it. It is mentioned that Jordy doesn't have much good luck.
After a rainstorm, Jordy sees that the organism has grown roundish grass around where the meteorite struck. Not only are the plants growing on anything he touches that is wet, but there are also plants growing on his fingers, his left eye, his penis, and his tongue, where he starts to get itchy. He can't go to his usual doctor, who is out of town on a fishing trip. Upon hearing the words "cold water" in his mind, Jordy gives in to the temptation and takes a bath to relieve the itching caused by the growing plants; however, the water only serves to accelerate the plants' growth on his body.
The next day, Jordy now resembles a plant creature with a roundish head with no visible neck and round shoulders. He can even hear the plants (that are now on his property) talking. Loading his shotgun, Jordy kills himself, saying he's "lucky at last". The grass continues to grow across his property and is making its way into the nearby town.
The story was adapted into the second segment of the anthology film Creepshow in 1982. The segment was titled "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", a reference to the Bob Dylan song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll". Stephen King himself plays Verrill in the adaptation, and the location of Verrill's farm is changed to Maine. The story includes Verrill's humorous daydreams about trying to sell the meteor to an imagined "Department of Meteors" at the community college and his decision not to seek medical attention, as he fears a doctor (portrayed by Bingo O'Malley) would amputate his fingers. Plant growth affects everything Jordy touches. As Jordy prepares a bath to soothe his itchy skin, the plants are covering his hands, jawline, chest, back, and an area that causes Jordy to declare, "Oh no, not there!" He is then visited by the ghost of his father (also portrayed by Bingo O'Malley), who appears in his mirror and warns him not to get in the tub as it is the water that the plants want. Believing he is doomed anyway, Jordy gives in. Over several hours, Jordy is transformed into a plant creature. He kills himself with a shotgun. A radio forecaster predicts long periods of rain and sunshine as the camera pans across Jordy's farm, now overrun with monstrous vegetation as some of it is starting to go down the road.
A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are distinguished as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than meteoroids are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust. Many are fragments from comets or asteroids, whereas others are collision impact debris ejected from bodies such as the Moon or Mars.
The great chain of being is a hierarchical structure of all matter and life, thought by medieval Christianity to have been decreed by God. The chain begins with God and descends through angels, humans, animals and plants to minerals.
Vandar Adg of the Blood Tribe, more widely known as Vandal Savage, is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is said to be a Cro-Magnon warrior who gained immortality and advanced healing abilities after encountering a strange meteorite during prehistoric times. For over 50,000 years, he plagues the Earth as a villain and occasional conqueror, sometimes using different names but most often calling himself Vandal Savage. He is a brilliant and sadistic tactician with immense knowledge in various sciences and forms of combat, able to fight effectively despite not having any superhuman powers beyond his ability to survive and heal from lethal wounds. Throughout history, his most frequent enemies are immortal or reincarnating heroes such as Immortal Man, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Resurrection Man. He is also a recurring foe of the Justice Society and the Justice League and occasionally works as a member of super-villain organizations such as the Injustice Society and the Legion of Doom.
Creepshow is a 1982 American horror comedy anthology film directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King, making this film his screenwriting debut. The film's ensemble cast includes Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Carrie Nye, E. G. Marshall, and Viveca Lindfors, Ted Danson and Ed Harris, as well as King himself. The film was primarily shot on location in Pittsburgh and its suburbs, including Monroeville, where Romero leased an old boys' academy to build extensive sets for the film.
Castle Rock is a fictional town appearing in Stephen King's fictional Maine topography, providing the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. Castle Rock first appeared in King's 1979 novel The Dead Zone and has since been referred to or used as the primary setting in many other works by King.
Star jelly is a gelatinous substance sometimes found on grass and less commonly on the branches of trees. According to folklore, it is deposited on the Earth during meteor showers. It is described as a translucent or grayish-white gelatin that tends to evaporate shortly after having "fallen". Explanations have ranged from it being the remains of frogs, toads, or worms, to the byproducts of cyanobacteria, to being the fruiting bodies of jelly fungi or masses of amoeba called slime molds. Nonbiological origins proposed for instances of "star jelly" have included byproducts from industrial production or waste management. Reports of the substance date back to the 14th century and have continued to the present.
The Monolith Monsters is a 1957 American black-and-white science fiction film from Universal-International, produced by Howard Christie, directed by John Sherwood, and starring Grant Williams and Lola Albright. The film is based on a story by Jack Arnold and Robert M. Fresco, with a screenplay by Fresco and Norman Jolley.
Shinzo, known as Mushrambo in Japan, is an anime television series produced by TV Asahi, Toei Advertising, and Toei Animation. It was directed by Tetsuo Imazawa, with Mayori Sekijima handling series scripts, Sachiko Kamimura designing the characters and Katsumi Horii composing the music. In the series, genetically-altered creatures known as Enterrans take over Earth and rename it in their own image called Enterra. Now three Enterrans have to protect the last human in order to find the hidden sanctuary called Shinzo and restore the human race. The anime focuses primarily on the adventures they undergo while working to accomplish this task, though battle action becomes the main focus in the middle of the series. Due in part to the popularity of Hunter × Hunter in some areas in the competing timeslot, the series struggled with an average viewership of 3.5%, and was cancelled. In the United States, the anime was licensed and dubbed by Saban Entertainment & Buena Vista Television.
Hector Hammond is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics who is primarily an enemy of Green Lantern.
King-Size Canary is an animated cartoon short that debuted in movie theaters in 1947. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Tex Avery. The canary in this short was a primary inspiration for the design of Maurice, a character from The Wacky World of Tex Avery.
Pandalian is a Japanese-Canadian animated television series produced by Studio Kuma, Planet Entertainment and Nelvana, based on the characters created by Taiwanese company TVbean. It was directed by Hideaki Ohba with Hideki Sonoda and Robert Tinkler as series writers. The series first broadcast 19 December 2004 on TTV Main Channel. Its first Japanese broadcast started on Animax on 8 January 2005, followed by Tokyo MX in April 2005. The series premiered in Canada on YTV on 5 July 2006 and is part of the KidSuite package in 2016. Funimation and Nelvana holds the series rights outside Asia, until Funimation's buyout by Sony and the merger with Crunchyroll in 2021 resulting Nelvana to fully handle the series's rights after.
The Meteor Man is a 1993 American superhero comedy film written, directed, co-produced and starring Robert Townsend with supporting roles by Marla Gibbs, Eddie Griffin, Robert Guillaume, James Earl Jones, Bill Cosby, and Another Bad Creation. The film also features special appearances by Luther Vandross, Sinbad, Naughty by Nature, Cypress Hill, and Big Daddy Kane. Townsend stars as a mild-mannered schoolteacher who becomes a superhero after his neighborhood in Washington, D.C. is terrorized by street gangs.
Track of the Moon Beast is a 1976 horror film directed by Richard Ashe and written by Bill Finger and Charles Sinclair. It concerns a mineralogist who is hit in the head by a meteor, which subsequently turns him in to a vicious, reptilian creature during the full moon.
The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 19 January 1984.
In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk is a legendary reptile reputed to be a serpent king, who causes death to those who look into its eyes. According to the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder, the basilisk of Cyrene is a small snake, "being not more than twelve inches in length", that is so venomous, it leaves a wide trail of deadly venom in its wake, and its gaze is likewise lethal.
Die, Monster, Die! is a 1965 science fiction horror film directed by Daniel Haller, and starring Boris Karloff, Nick Adams, Freda Jackson and Suzan Farmer. A loose adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's story "The Colour Out of Space", its plot follows an American man who, while visiting his English fiancee's familial estate, uncovers a series of bizarre occurrences.
In the Tall Grass is a horror novella by American writers Stephen King and his son Joe Hill. It was originally published in two parts in the June/July and August 2012 issues of Esquire magazine. This is King and Hill's second collaboration, following 2009's Throttle. On October 9, 2012, In the Tall Grass was released in e-book and audiobook formats, the latter read by Stephen Lang. It has also been published in Full Throttle, a 2019 collection of short fiction by Hill.
In the Tall Grass is a 2019 Canadian supernatural horror drama film written and directed by Vincenzo Natali. It is based on Stephen King and Joe Hill's 2012 novella of the same name. It stars Harrison Gilbertson, Laysla De Oliveira, Avery Whitted, Will Buie Jr., Rachel Wilson, and Patrick Wilson.
D.N. Ace is a Canadian animated television series created by Matthew Wexler and produced by Nelvana for Teletoon. The series focuses on the life of Ace Ripley, a 12-year-old boy who gains the power to create DNA by using the Dscram to manipulate the Scrammers, alongside his lovable best friend Sloane Plunderman and an immortal squirrel named Mendel.
Gaia is a 2021 South African horror thriller film produced and directed by Jaco Bouwer from a screenplay by Tertius Kapp. It stars Monique Rockman, Carel Nel, Alex van Dyk, and Anthony Oseyemi.
| Films |
|
|---|---|
| Television |
|
| Related |
|
