Walpuski's Typewriter
Frank Darabont
Cemetery Dance, 2005, $25.00, 108 pp.
ISBN: 1587670593

Hollywood writer Howard Walpuski dreams of one day becoming a household name, but so far even he recognizes the litter box junk he writes. When his IBM Selectric II suddenly spits smoke and has one last death rattle, he panics because he needs that machine, even to hack out rubbish, because five dollars will not buy much. He finds the typewriter repair shop owned by elderly Cyril Pratt who greets his tragic story like an undertaker at a funeral. Pratt agrees that major repairs are in order for a down payment of five dollars, after screaming at Walpuski for typing rubbish as bad as a monkey.

When he gets his typewriter back, Walpuski quickly learns all he has to do is feed it paper and the machine does all the work. Soon Walpuski becomes the instant King of bestsellers, but the typewriter wants blood, sweat and tears from the author, and plans to collect once the third tale is written.

This amusing satirical modernizing of Faust is a terrific tongue in cheek tale that will have the audience wondering how horror can be humorous, even without Leslie Neilson, and when making a pact with the devil. The zany plot never takes itself seriously yet the audience will accept that WALPUSKI'S TYPEWRITER has a life of its own, needing feed me nourishment. Fans of wacky tales will appreciate Frank Darabont's weird but fun thriller, while wondering what type of typewriter he used.