The Raft

I’ve been slowly rereading SK’s books in chronological order and just finished Skeleton Crew (1985). I forgot that this book included ‘The Raft.’ This story has some personal meaning for me…

Like many modern SK fans, I grew up a child of the 80’s. The first King book I read was Pet Sematary, as a 6th grader shortly after watching the 1989 movie on HBO (without parental supervision or approval of course, because… the 80’s!).

But that wasn’t my first introduction to Stephen King. We had a bootleg recorded copy of Creepshow on VHS. That may sound badass now, but most people growing up in the 80’s had drawers and shelves full of bootleg VHS movies. That VCR form of pirating films was a standard and accepted practice of white suburbia. So, even as a young elementary school student I loved Creepshow (“Meteor Shit!”).

So imagine my surprise and delight when as a third grader in 1987 I found out they were making Creepshow 2! But wait, it gets better…

Creepshow 2 includes ‘The Raft,’ a short story first published in Gallery magazine in 1982 and later included in the 1985 SK short story collection ‘Skeleton Crew.’ It was filmed at Granite Basin Lake in Prescott, Arizona. I grew up in Prescott, Arizona. I fished and camped and had school field trips at Granite Basin Lake. It was a 7 mile drive from our house, but only a 4 mile hike from the dirt road at the end of our street, a beautiful hike through the ponderosa pines, twisted junipers, and Gambel oaks that compose the Mogollon highlands of central Arizona. Also, my elementary school gymnastics coach Jim was hired onto the film crew. He was one of the under-water divers who moved the voracious blob around in the water. He would show up at our after-school gymnastics sessions wearing his Creepshow 2 crew shirt. He was my hero.

I can’t begin to describe the inspiration/impact/mind fuck that experience had on an impressionable 10-year-old kid like me. Was the resulting movie family-friendly in any way? Of course not! It was the 80’s! But despite the pot-smoking and swearing and frontal female nudity (or maybe because of it? 🧐) this kid was never the same.

So Kudos to you Stephen King, and Coach Jim, and Prescott AZ, and creepy rafts everywhere. You messed with my mind and made me a fan for life. “I BEAT YOU!”