Castle Rock: HULU's first trailer for the horror series is a Stephen King fan's wet dream
The first full trailer for Stephen King and J.J. Abrams' anthology series is out and it's going to leave fans of the King of Horror hysterical.
The show is set in the multiverse of Stephen King's works and the two-minute trailer is chock full of references to several of his works including 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption', 'Cujo' and 'It'. The cast of the show includes some iconic actors from previous King adaptations including Sissy Spacek, who was in 'Carrie', Melanie Lynskey from the King miniseries 'Rose Red', and Terry O’Quinn from 'Silver Bullet'. But of course, at the center of all attention in the trailer is Bill Skarsgård, who we see without the menacing makeup of Pennywise the Clown, but still flaunting that same demented 'I can eat your soul with my mind' look.
Shawshank Prison plays a crucial role in the new series, when death-row attorney Henry Deaver (André Holland) is called back to his hometown to investigate the freak appearance of an unaccounted-for inmate (Skarsgård). Skarsgård's character raises a lot of questions in the latest teaser to the show. How did he get inside the prison if he has no record? What is his purpose there, and what are his plans? Is he or isn’t he Pennywise, the killer clown he portrayed in 2017's hit King adaptation 'It'?
The trailer has a generous helping of haunting jump cuts set to an even more haunting soundtrack as we flit through a series of creepy scenes befitting a Stephen King tale. There's blood draining through a bathtub, a woman jumping off a bridge, a strange cult-like gathering in papier mache masks and a healthy dose of mini jump scares. There are also some great easter eggs buried in the two-minutes (can we expect anything else from lord of the nerds J.J. Abrams?) including a brief shot of Juniper Hill Asylum, an oft-mentioned haunt in Maine that’s been featured in everything from IT to Gerald’s Game to 11/22/63.
Castle Rock, created by Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason ('Manhattan') and executive-produced by King and J.J. Abrams, premieres July 25 on Hulu.