Critic Reviews

Shaw, Thomason, Abrams & Co. really nail the core concepts of King’s storytelling here. Each character gets a good amount of screen time to focus on introspection. ... Castle Rock is a can’t-miss series for Stephen King fans and a must-watch horror show for fans of dark, thrilling, character-focused mysteries.

Though most characters are new (Scott Glenn’s Alan Pangborn, a sheriff who appeared in Needful Things and The Dark Half, is one exception), for King fans the world of Castle Rock will be inescapably familiar. Spending time here feels, in many ways, like coming home--with all of the excitement and dread such a visit entails.

Castle Rock looks to be one of the best King things in years.

What follows is a propulsive story that encompasses not only Annie Wilkes’ origins, but a haunted burial ground, the Battle of Mogadishu, reanimated corpses, and Tim Robbins growling through a sharp-cheddar Maine accent as Ace’s cancer-stricken father, Pop Merrill. ... Every revelation about the character feels both urgent and canon-correct. ... [Lizzy Caplan] does a remarkable job portraying Castle Rock’s reimagined Annie. Her performance is masterfully physical.

Castle Rock, especially in the early going, unfurls its tentacles slowly, but their grip is eerily strong; over the three episodes I watched, I was never tempted to look away.

Smart, fun scares; deeply felt, well-founded characters; layers of story to decipher, along with the references--what more could you want in a new piece of the Stephen King library?

Castle Rock shows a tremendous investment of time and creativity. It’s worth your walk on the dark side.

Though its eerie aesthetics are far from daring, it delivers routinely suspenseful revelations and set pieces even as it takes its creeping-death time developing its characters and scenario, all in order to build toward some greater horror.

Castle Rock rises to the occasion; some of its creepier moments have one wishing it were on a big screen, the better for skin to crawl.

King’s work is at its most frightening when its monsters are more familiar than abstract, reminiscent of the darkness we might encounter every day in others and in ourselves. Castle Rock manages to capture the fear that comes from recognizing that darkness, and as long as the show doesn’t get too preoccupied with the more conventional horrors lurking just offscreen, it may just become the scariest series on TV.