{"id":1661654,"date":"2026-08-13T16:53:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cFhRpsA6dVtoFAmP7fkYTL"},"modified":"2026-08-13T16:53:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:53:17","slug":"how-stephen-king-watching-a-train-hit-a-kid-led-to-kiefer-sutherland-making-his-videogame-horse-crap-on-command-a-pc-gamer-causality-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/how-stephen-king-watching-a-train-hit-a-kid-led-to-kiefer-sutherland-making-his-videogame-horse-crap-on-command-a-pc-gamer-causality-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"How Stephen King watching a train hit a kid led to Kiefer Sutherland making his videogame horse crap on command: A PC Gamer Causality Chain\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Causality Chain is a series at PC Gamer exploring the unlikely links between history, culture, and videogames.<\/em><\/p>\n

Humanity has witnessed countless tragedies\u2014but occasionally, through the alchemy of passing time, moments of singular woe can serve as a foundation for future wonders. Depending, in this case, on how broad your definition of wonder is.<\/p>\n

Today, we once again chart the curious contours of cause and effect, tracing how a haunting moment in an American horrormeister’s early years can ultimately lead to an internationally renowned actor participating in an unconventional form of simulated equine combat.<\/p>\n

Join us, as we tip the dominoes once again:<\/p>\n

Stephen King witnessing a childhood tragedy \ud83d\udd17 Kiefer Sutherland’s combat horseshit command<\/h2>\n

A tragic early chapter<\/span><\/h3>\n
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\"A<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Stephen King)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\ud83e\uddf5 Unspool \ud83e\uddf5<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

1951:<\/strong> At “barely four” years old, Stephen King experiences a harrowing episode he’d later share in his 1981 non-fiction book on the horror genre, Danse Macabre1<\/sup>\u2014an episode he himself doesn’t remember, but which was later related to him by his mother. One day, he suddenly returned home from playing with a neighbor who lived near the railroad line. He was “white as a ghost,” his mother said, and refused to speak until the next day.<\/p>\n

“It turned out that the kid I had been playing with had been run over by a freight train while playing on or crossing the tracks,” King writes.<\/p>\n

He goes on to insist in the book that, however horrifying it might have been, the incident had no bearing on his interests or habits as an author, as becoming a writer is “a direct result of conscious will” and not something “born or created out of dreams of childhood trauma.”<\/p>\n

However\u2026<\/p>\n

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\"Noto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Phantom pains<\/span><\/h3>\n
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\"First<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Viking Press)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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1982:<\/strong> Viking Press publishes Different Seasons2<\/sup>, a Stephen King collection consisting of four novellas. In the third story, The Body, narrator Gordon Lachance\u2014a fiction author\u2014recalls the conflict he and his childhood friends once entered with a gang of greasers over the discovery of the dead body of a neighborhood boy who’d been hit by a train.<\/p>\n

Any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental, I’m sure.<\/p>\n

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\"Noto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Adaptation<\/span><\/h3>\n
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\"A<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Columbia Pictures)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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August 22, 1986:<\/strong> Stand by Me3<\/sup>, a coming-of-age drama based on The Body, releases in American theaters. A critical and commercial success, the film cast Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O’Connell as its four lead boys.<\/p>\n

It will also contribute to the rising fame of a young Kiefer Sutherland, who plays antagonist gang leader Ace Merrill.<\/p>\n

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\"Noto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Proliferation<\/span><\/h3>\n
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\"Part<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Boxart for the CINEX release of Stand by Me, intended to assist viewers in learning English. <\/span>(Image credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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April 18, 1987: <\/strong>Stand by Me is released in theaters in Japan, where it goes on to become a beloved classic. It’s referenced in Mother (renamed Earthbound Beginnings in the US) and the Gen 1 Pok\u00e9mon games4<\/sup>. Stand By Me receives VHS editions intended to help viewers learn English5<\/sup>. It will still be rebroadcast on Japanese TV to sate viewer demand6<\/sup> almost 40 years after release.<\/p>\n

Every year it draws Japanese tourists7<\/sup> on a pilgrimage to the Oregon town where it was filmed.<\/p>\n

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\"Noto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Tactical espionage action, of a sort<\/span><\/h3>\n
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\"Kiefer<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Fox)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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November 6, 2001: <\/strong>25 years after the release of Stand by Me, the first episode of Fox’s action thriller 24 airs on American television, starring Kiefer Sutherland in the lead role as counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer. The show is a massive success\u2014and, as the quintessential post-9\/11 program, often a controversial one\u2014drawing more than 17 million viewers8<\/sup> for the premier of its fifth season.<\/p>\n

During its nine-season run, 24 also achieves international popularity, thanks in part to the successful distribution of its seasonal DVD box sets.<\/p>\n

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\"Noto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Militaires sans fronti\u00e8res<\/span><\/h3>\n
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\"A<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

A screenshot of the archived webpage for the 24-themed Calorie Mate promotional campaign. <\/span>(Image credit: Otsuka Pharmaceutical)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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2005:<\/strong> Kiefer Sutherland appears as Jack Bauer in a series of 24-themed Japanese commercials for CalorieMate energy products9<\/sup>. Aided by a massive marketing campaign for the 2003 Japanese release VHS and DVD releases of the show’s first season, 24 quickly became a huge phenomenon in Japan10<\/sup>\u2014particularly among binge-watching rental store patrons, who contribute to an initial word-of-mouth reputation for being in such high demand it’s impossible to find.<\/p>\n

24 even sees a Japanese remake in 202011<\/sup>, though it only achieves a middling reception. Sutherland, meanwhile, gains lasting recognition in Japan: At a 2012 press conference12<\/sup> in Tokyo, Sutherland says “I am where I am today thanks to everyone in Japan.”<\/p>\n

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\"Noto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Snake eater<\/span><\/h3>\n
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\"Hideo<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Konami)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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June 2013:<\/strong> Infamous action thriller enthusiast Hideo Kojima announces that, in place of the expected performance from David Hayter, Kiefer Sutherland has been cast13<\/sup> to provide facial capture and English voice acting for Snake in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Kojima says he was seeking a “more subdued performance” to match the “much darker tone” of MGS5, and his Hollywood producer friend Avi Arad suggested Sutherland. “I was like, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?'” Kojima recalls saying.<\/p>\n

While Kojima hasn’t mentioned 24 as an inspiration in interviews, a surviving fan transcription14<\/sup> of a director commentary track included in the Japan-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 3: Extreme DVD Box Set has Kojima directly citing 24 as the model for some of the game’s presentational flourishes. The game was released in 24’s prime.<\/p>\n

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\"Noto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Do it<\/span><\/h3>\n
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