‘Castle Rock’ Review: Hulu’s Excellent New Horror Series Is Inspired by Stephen King, But Oh So Original (Spoiler-Free)

To say much of anything about “Castle Rock” teeters on the precipice of spoiler territory, since so much of the Hulu anthology series is inspired by preexisting properties, each with their own devoted fandom.

Within the first few scenes of the premiere, there are enough references to Stephen King’s oeuvre to keep Jack Torrance typing “all work and no play” until the homicidal maniac actually becomes a dull boy.

Said references will go unidentified in this review, but known characters, events, and most prominently, settings, keep coming back up throughout four utterly absorbing episodes.So it should be doubly encouraging to know what’s best about Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason’s follow-up to “Manhattan” is what’s new.

The original stories told within Castle Rock — King’s oft-visited Maine town from novels like “The Dead Zone,” “Cujo,” and “Needful Things” — are mysterious and haunting; they can be unsettling

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