King Movies to Flicks?

[PackBacker]

Why does it seem that one of the master horror writers can pen such tremendous novels but the film adaptations, on the most part, suck so bad?

I think part of it is due to trying to make King fit for TV. He isn't. "IT" should have been a strong R rated feature length film. If memory serves they did "The Langoliers" and "The Stand" (surprisingly good) as a mini-series as well.

"Needful Things" was awful. "Salem's Lot" sucked in my opinion...others liked it. "Pet Semetary" was too childish compared to the novel. I just caught "Cujo" (or the second half of it) on cable and the second half was pretty good. "Misery" and "The Shining" seem to be the King books that became good films, although "The Shining" was actually pretty removed from the book.

Anyone have a guess (or different opinion on my take) to why this is? Same goes for Dean Koontz books into movies. Watchers, Whispers, Hideaway, and Phantoms were pretty bad compared to the novels.

[The Arrow]

The King writes great books that turn into OK films. Firestarter was alright, Cujo was alright, Christine was alright. I'm not really one to support the King to TV deal. THe Shining Tv movie sucked ass, "It" could've been so much better, Langoliers also sucked. At leasts the Stand worked, cause it was such a thick book and TV was the only way to go. Of the best movie adaptations I loved Pet Semetary...it's my fav King to movie. Dark Half and Misery were also pretty good.

Am I the only dude that secretly really liked Maximum Overdrive? (Kings only directorial effort)...

As for Dean Koontz, they should give up...they will never adapt one of his books properly...too bad

[PackBacker]

Yeah I secretly liked Maximum Overdrive, in fact I own it....of course I bought it for spare change when a local video place went out of business.

I agree with Firestarter...had forgotten that one. Never did see Christine. The other one I forgot was "The Green Mile" which was the absolute best transformation from novel to film (although not horror) that I have seen.

[yvonne]

i looooooved the stand, book and movie, i own it on dvd! i liked IT as a book so much better than movie, too much was left out----hello!!! she had sex with the "losers" where was that in the movie????

i am hoping Sole Survivior by Dean Koontz will be as good a mini series as it was a book....just cuz my fav actor Billy zane is the lead

[hornytony]

Yeah the only King book that was a turned into a great movie was the Stand. I know all of you are probably screaming at me The Shining. But I did not think it was that great of a movie. I'm not saying it sucked, but it was not great either.

[PackBacker]

My apologies on forgetting "Carrie" another great King flick. "Stand By Me" wasn't bad although it doesn't really fit into horror.

The local video store is running a special on King flicks this week and there were several I didn't recognize. "The Mangler" (I know the story), "The Night Flier" (sucked), Dolores Claiborne (yet to see it), something from "Nightshift", and then his "Creepshow" works (liked the first one).

[QUENTIN]

HERE ARE IN MY OPINION GOOD KING ADAPTIONS IN ORDER

1.THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
2.STAND BY ME
3.THE GREEN MILE
4.CARRIE
5.DOLORES CLAIBORNE
6.THE STAND
7.MISERY
8.CHRISTINE
9.CREEPSHOW
10.MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (I SECRETLY LIKED IT TO)

[QUENTIN]

WAIT I FOGOT THE SHINING WHICH WOULD BE NUMBER 4

[The Arrow]

We all forgot one, probaly one of the best...THE DEAD ZONE...with Christopher Walken, directed by David Croneberg...It rocked.

BTW The Mangler sucked, Night Flyer is worth a peek cause it's pretty weird, Graveyard Shift is kind of bland but has a good looking bat creature, How about Cat's Eye with Drew Barrymore that was some good shite too...later King fans.

[PackBacker]

I should have done more research before posting this thread /ubb/smile.gif

Here is his filmography:
http://us.imdb.com/Name?King,+Stephen

Others not mentioned so far include "Thinner" (not too bad), "Apt Pupil" (sucked compared to the short story), "Children of the Corn" (I enjoyed the first one), "The Running Man" (okay), "Sometimes They Come Back" (hated it), and "The Lawnmower Man" (did not even know this was somehow related to King).

I guess with King's books I get a set idea of how they should be in my mind and few films can live up to those expectations.

[QUENTIN]

YEAH WE ALL DID FORGET ABOUT THE DEAD ZONE THAT MOVIE RULES AND I GUESS RUNNING MAN WAS PRETTY GOOD

[leeloo]

Originally posted by QUENTIN:
HERE ARE IN MY OPINION GOOD KING ADAPTIONS IN ORDER

1.THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
2.STAND BY ME
3.THE GREEN MILE
4.CARRIE
5.DOLORES CLAIBORNE
6.THE STAND
7.MISERY
8.CHRISTINE
9.CREEPSHOW
10.MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (I SECRETLY LIKED IT TO)
I'd have to agree with most of those, I read 'The Green Mile' before I saw the movie-maybe a mistake, I thought the book was much better, but then books generally are /ubb/smile.gif

[leeloo]

O.K, so King is a king in the novel/movie universe, but what about other horror movies?What is the SCARIEST movie you've ever seen?(Not necessarily entertaining,just scary).Return of the Living Dead scared the crap out of me when I was little.Any offers?

[QUENTIN]

I'm being completely honest when I tell you that no horror film has ever scared me.

[ANTBond007]

The original Halloween scared the crap outta me when I first saw it. Other movies that freaked me out were A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Shining and Psycho.

[The Arrow]

The movies that freaked me out when I was a kid are: The Evil Dead, Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge and Poltergeist (that damn clown).

[leeloo]

Originally posted by The Arrow:

The movies that freaked me out when I was a kid are: The Evil Dead, Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge and Poltergeist (that damn clown).
Know what u mean-never looked at a clown in the same light since,infact I find it incredibly hard to believe they are a symbol of childhood happiness and joy!
Did u ever see "Prince of Darkness"?It was a crap film but scared the hell out of me.I still have to look up at the ceiling of as room to see if there's a puddle of green stuff.

[DarkLight]

Poltergeist was one freaky film for me when I first saw it. I really disliked the scene where the guy was taking his own face apart in front of the mirror. That brought on a shiver or two.

Halloween was really scary for me, but my all time scariest movie (since childhood) has got to be Salem's Lot. That blue meanie vampire was one scary beast. Not forgetting to mention the original Night of the Living Dead. Walking dead people still doesn't sit pretty in my stomach. Excuse me for a second while I...

DL

[DarkLight]

Yes, The Dead Zone was a masterpiece. Chronenberg has always been an genius when it comes to disturbance, along with his ol' buddy Clive Barker.

One film I loved the story for that the two were involved in was Nightbreed. It was slated quite badly but I thought is was a good horror movie, verging on horror-fantasy.
The make-up, design, acting... it was all good!

DL

[Sidney_Prescott7]

IT was a good scary ass film. King makes very good books. Some of them go into OK movies, some of them go into fabulous movies. IT was one of those that went into fabulous movies. It was scary and it gives you (or at least it gave me) an adreneline rush. Its like riding a roller coaster; its scary and then it calms down. In the first part of IT I'd consider making it rated R but the second part was not so bad. IT would've probably been rated R if it was in the theaters but it wasnt. Thats just how things go. The book was scary too. It takes you about a year to read but it's a good book. Firestarter was a great great book but the movie was just okay. I mean some of his movies made huge stars very popular. Look at Drew Barrymore. Firestarter was one of her first movies. Without that movie she might've not been the huge star she is now (she probably wouldn've be dating Tom Green either). I mean we have to think about these things. Storm Of The Century was good also. King combines scary as in "OMG WHERE TRAPPED INSIDE IN A HORRIBLE STORM" scary and "OMG THERES A GUY WALKING AROUND WITH A CANE MESMORIZIG OUR CHILDREN" scary. Hes a good writer. He should keep it up. Hey Carrie was good: book and movie right?

[PackBacker]

After reading "IT", I was convinced there was no way that it could be done (effectively) in mini-series format. I think I was right; the mini-series wasn't bad but it was a far cry from one of my favorite novels. King's work should be done in feature film formats....his plots are complex and a lot of his scenes need to be for more "mature" audiences than the US television audience.
The whole thing where Patrick is killed can't be done on tv. Even some of King's writing can't be done on (US) film. Too graphically sexual....but in many cases very key to the plot. You simply lose too much fitting it for a tv audience.

As for Drew Barrymore I think her success comes more from "E.T." than "Firestarter." /ubb/smile.gif

[leeloo]

Originally posted by DarkLight:
Yes, The Dead Zone was a masterpiece. Chronenberg has always been an genius when it comes to disturbance, along with his ol' buddy Clive Barker.

One film I loved the story for that the two were involved in was Nightbreed. It was slated quite badly but I thought is was a good horror movie, verging on horror-fantasy.
The make-up, design, acting... it was all good!

DL
"Nightbreed"??What's that film about?I'm sure I've seen it but can't remember.Driving me crazy....help...

[DarkLight]

leeloo,

I've come to the conclusion that you can't have seen 'Nightbreed' because everyone I know who's seen it can't forget it!

The story is basically a musician called Boone (played by Craig Sheffer) who sees a psychiatrist, Decker (played by Cronenberg). Boone tells him about the nightmares he's having where he kills a family. Well, Decker goes out and kills a family in the same style described by Boone and pins the blame on him.

The next part is hard to explain, but basically he makes his way to Meridian where the Nightbreed reside and he gets killed outside (thanks to Decker). In his undead form he helps out the Nightbreed. I liked it a lot. It's a good movie because it's got one of the better storylines! Alternatively if you're a fan of books, check it out. It's called 'Cabal.'

Hope this helps a little!

DL

[leeloo]

Uh..no, I have not seen Nightbreed.I think I got it mixed up with Nightstalkers which was a terrible B-movie I watched when I went through a phase of watching terrible B-movies!Nevermind,sounds good though.Thanks for the review,your kindness overwhelms me.
Supreme Being /ubb/biggrin.gif

[The Arrow]

I for one also loved Nightbreed and pray for a sequel. Croneberg is a chilling villain.

Leeloo: I actually liked Prince Of Darkness. It was by no means a masterpiece but I wouldn't call it crap either. It has a good story, decent acting, a few good tension scenes and a great score. At leasts it's original. John Carpenter is an uneven director but always puts out interesting flicks.

[leeloo]

Fair do's to the acting but the ending was SOOO poor. Effects were good, that's why it was so scary I spose /ubb/smile.gif but the whole giving birth to satan or whatever and the mirror scene at the end ruined the film.It had potential until that point. /ubb/frown.gif

[Tuukka]

The great King adaptations:

The shawshank redemption
The Shining

Good ones:

Dead zone
Misery
Stand By Me
Dolores Claiborne

Ok's

Christine

Poor's

The Running Man

...And actually I haven't seen any others.

[yvonne]

syd...i read IT in 2 weeks, but dont feel bad, i work graveyard shift at a gas station and had to fill 6 hours each night....the book rocked so much......yvonne

[kerryanne]

They need to get King on the Big Screen, and do a movie that follows the whole book-I mean think about it, while I was sitting there in my living room in BF Iowa @ 3 am reading Salem's Lot- I was complete terrified to turn off the lights, much less, got to sleep and not to mention even look out my window- Had the movie followed the book completely- that would have been great- nobody minds sitting there watching a movie- as long as it doesn't suck...

[yvonne]

i was just thinking about posting here....i saw langoliers (sp?) on sc-fi yesterday and i was NOT impressed....i have not read the book and for SK's sake i hope it didnt suck as much as the "movie" did....i am sorry.... i am a HUGE fan of SK but OMG! what the hell was he thinking when they made this movie??? They special effect sucked ass...those "things" looked like cartoons....they didnt frighten me at all...Bronson Pichot (sp) acted well in this "movie" though....I kow this sounds like a rant and dammit it is...I just dont understand why he chooses to be in the movies that are far from great....ok he was in sleepwalkers which i liked, but where was he in IT? Storm of the century was alright but dragged on and on . the one chilling part was when then picked the kid....enough said if u havent seen it. why does he choose to be in the movies that suck? yvonne

*whew* i feel better /ubb/smile.gif

[retardinAz]

Actually, I've liked pretty much all of Stephen King's book to TV/Movie's.
Excellent:
The Shawshank Redemption
The Green Mile
Stand By Me(The Body)
Misery

Good:
The Shining
The Stand
Maximum Overdrive
Pet Sematary
Carrie
Dolores Claiborne

[yvonne]

now i understand your name.....no i am sorry that is mean, we just dont share the same opinions of good movies...yvonne

[retardinAz]

"now i understand your name.....no i am sorry that is mean, we just dont share the same opinions of good movies...yvonne"

Were you talking to me, yvonne?

[Mr. Meat]

"You talking to me???" "YOU talking to me? Well I'm the only one here!" /ubb/wink.gif

[Rindy]

What is the name of the movie where the son and mother are cats and have sex with each other?

Wasn't that a Stephen King book? Maybe it was Carpenter, I don't know but it's driving me nuts.

[kerryanne]

The movie was Sleepwalkers. It wasn't a book at first, they made the movie first.

[This message has been edited by kerryanne (edited 07-18-2000).]

[yvonne]

Were you talking to me, yvonne?


yes retard in az, i was...but i apologize cuz even though we dont agree in movies i shouldnt bash your name...u chose it for a specific reason i am sure...sorry i was being a mean bitch...yvonne

[retardinAz]

No, you weren't being mean. I get a lot of crap from people about my name. I'm used to it by now.

[yvonne]

so why did u name yourself that? whats the story behind it?

[retardinAz]

I don't know exactly how I came up with it, it's just that I goof around and do so many crazy things that my friends always call me a retard. I was also thinking about calling myself Chocolate E, because my last name is Klaer. (Chocolate E. Klaer, get it?)

[yvonne]

you are so crazy......i think chocolate e klaer would have been cute! yvonne