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Did You Know Stephen King Created a G.I. Joe Toy in the ’80s?!
Stephen King was everywhere in the 1980s. His charisma and spooky nature made him just as big of a star as his wild and legendary creations. We’re talking movies, TV, and even credit card commercials. You name it, he was a part of it!
But one King creation has slipped under the radar over the years.
See the guy above? That’s Crystal Ball from the GI Joe toyline. In 1987, he was introduced along with other insane creations as Raptor (a guy who dresses like an Eagle), Croc Master (a crocodile wrestler) and Big Boa (a boxer, created after Hasbro lost the Rocky license). He didn’t do a lot for the line and was a lousy seller.
But Crystal Ball’s biggest contribution to GI Joe, and yes, horror history? His origin story!
While comic writer Larry Hama handled mostly all other GI Joe characters and origins, this one was handled by the most unlikely of people. The creator of the Vincent Price-inspired Crystal Ball, who subsequently appeared in comic books?
The master of horror himself… Stephen King!
As it’s told, Crystal Ball was pitched to Hasbro by Stephen because his young son Owen was such a huge fan of the line. He apparently pitched the character’s origin and even wrote his file card. It’s later been disputed that his son Owen was the one who came up with the character and suggested it to his dad to pitch. Either way, the name King will always be responsible for this character. Which makes sense seeing as it’s one of the most creative yet bizarre characters… even if he was the most maligned.
As an interesting (and related) side note, Owen King was himself blessed with a character in his likeness and name. Sneak Peek was also released in 1987, with an origin of Bangor, Maine and his file name being listed as Owen King. That figure is rumored to be part of an agreement between the King family and Hasbro as a thank you/payment for Crystal Ball.
So next time you see a Crystal Ball figure at your local flea market, maybe pick him up for your horror shelf. After all, he is a creation from the mind of Stephen King!
Let’s start with the good news. Lockbox looks far better than its misleading marketing materials suggest, a supernatural horror movie so darkly lit and color graded that you’ll have to squint your way through jump scares. It’s also anchored by reliable genre performers. That’s also about where the good news ends with this rote adaptation of Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop.”
The empathetic Carla Gugino gives her all as Ellen, a saint of a woman with boundless patience who takes on life’s hard luck with a kind smile. After giving up her career as a fashion designer to become caretaker for a dying mother, she’s then forced to reinvent herself once more when her caretaker role ends. That catches us up to the events of Lockbox, where Ellen is asked to take in a cousin she hasn’t seen in quite some time who’s dealing with severe PTSD.
Just as Ellen finally establishes a real connection with Winthrop (Lou Taylor Pucci), it’s interrupted by the arrival of peculiar neighbor Vahna (Katharine Isabelle), who spells clear trouble. When Vahna shows up dead, it sets in motion a supernatural battle of possession.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
Director Daniel Stamm (The Last Exorcism, Prey for the Devil) and screenwriter Justin Yoffe approach Lockbox in the broadest of brushstrokes, dooming it from the start with clunky storytelling and woefully underdeveloped themes of heady topics like PTSD. Winthrop is a character that comes loaded with emotional baggage and trauma that’s piled on throughout his tragic life, but much like its title, his interiority and history are treated like a tightly guarded secret meant to prolong the supernatural mystery.
The problem here, though, is that Lockbox is too sparse to sustain mystery at all, and it instead robs Winthrop of characterization. It winds up trapping the talented Pucci without anywhere to go, toggling between wounded animal and mentally disoriented.
From there, Lockbox bounds through plot developments without any sense of stakes or purpose, peppered by a smattering of haphazard paint-by-numbers jump scares. The only unwavering constant is Ellen’s resolute faith, and Stamm seems to leave it entirely to Gugino to guide confused audiences through this inconsequential story right up until its supernatural climax.
Image Credit: Aura entertainment
To give more credit, Lockbox at least injects an unconventional exorcism here; just don’t expect much in the way of explanation. When the film finally reveals the meaning behind its title, it dangles a fascinating carrot it has zero interest in delivering. More than a severe lack of fleshing out its characters beyond plot drivers or devices, this faith-based flick also seems terrified to offer any worldbuilding whatsoever.
Yoffe’s script stretches the short story beyond its means instead of fleshing it out, and Stamm fills out the gaps with cheap CGI scares and overwrought performances; Isabelle’s Vahna is beyond cartoonish in her villainy. It’s also pretty nonsensical, treating only Ellen’s faith with the utmost sincerity and largely squandering its typically reliable talent. So much so that the final imagery, pure sunkissed saccharine sentimentality, leaves you with the feeling that this horror movie might be better suited as an entry in Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Lockbox releases in select theaters on July 3, 2026.
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