As a fan of Stephen King and of indie horror film, I was excited to hear about a project underway to turn King’s story “Rainy Season” into a film. First published in Midnight Graffiti in 1989, “Rainy Season” also appears in King’s third collection of short fiction, Nightmares and Dreamscapes (Pocket Books, 1993).
The story is a kind of surreal piece of American Gothic. Evocative of the earlier “Children of the Corn” (1977), and yet much more uncanny, it follows a couple (John and Elise Graham) who have driven across the country to spend the summer in the small town of Willow, Maine. Arriving at the strangely deserted town center, they are warned away by two residents because for one night every seven years, it pours toads in Willow. Needless to say, John and Elise don’t heed the locals’ warning, and the story follows them on their first eventful night in the town.
