# Stephen King adaptions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418 "2008-08-09T16:25:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/1 "2008-08-09T16:25:52Z")
I am a Stephen King fan… _ducks abuse from more “intellectual” posters_ …and I just realised that despite the fact that many of his novels, novella, and short stories have been made into films, only two that I have seen were any good (Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile). The rest just kinda sucked (not that I have seen even nearly all of them). Why do you think this is? Is it that King’s brand of horror doesn’t translate to film very well, especially if you consider that alot of his work involves narratives that can’t really be shown on the big screen? Or is it that whenever a Stephen King movie is made, they know that people will see it, so they don’t try that hard to make it good? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/2 "2008-08-09T16:36:32Z")
There have been some good adaptations of his work. De Palma’s _Carrie_, Kubrick’s _The Shining_, Cronenberg’s _The Dead Zone_ and Rob Reiner’s adaptations of _Stand By Me_ and _Misery_ all come to mind. A handful of others have at least been passable (_Secret Window_, _Christine_, _Dolores Claiborne_), and a bunch of them have sucked. I’m guessing it has to do with the sheer number of works he’s had made into movies, Hollywood’s penchant for screwing up adapations, and the variable quality of King’s own work. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/3 "2008-08-09T16:37:15Z")
What about “The Shining”? That was creepier than the book, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/4 "2008-08-09T16:40:36Z")
:smack: Forgot about the Shining, and to a (far) lesser extent Misery. Carrie could have been worse too I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/5 "2008-08-09T17:24:47Z")
What, no love for _Maximum Overdrive_ ? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/6 "2008-08-09T17:33:56Z")
Good King miniseries include _It_ and _The Stand_. And I love the TV Series of _The Dead Zone_ ---
**Author:** ![Mumio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@Mumio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mumio)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/7 "2008-08-09T18:28:44Z")
The Stand-my favorite book. I liked the miniseries too and also watch that a couple of times a year. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/8 "2008-08-09T18:38:18Z")
I’d lump Kubrick’s Shining with the films that suck list, personally. Cat’s Eye, which adapted 2 King short stories (from Night Shift), plus an original story, was quite good. I’ve heard good things about 1408, but I’ve yet to see it myself. Pet Semetary was actually not bad. I think a lot of King’s problem with film is he does primarily short stories and very long novels, so anything you adapt is going to need to be either cut down (severely), or expanded (a lot). It and The Stand benefited by being done as miniseries for that reason (and The Stand still cut a LOT), and the format of Cat’s Eye made the rather simple stories The Ledge and Quitters, Inc filmable. Nightmares and Dreamscapes also benefits from being an anthology TV series, so the stories only need to run for ~ an hour. (Oddly, only 5/8 of the stories used in Nightmares and Dreamscapes were published in Nightmares and Dreamscapes…2 (Autopsy Room Four and The Road Virus Heads North) were in Everything’s Eventual, the other (Battleground) in Night Shift, which I think may be his most filmed collection\*, if only by virtue of being his first.) As an example of what I mean…Trucks, which became Maximum Overdrive is less than 20 pages long, and a lot of it is description - of the cars, of their victims, of what the narrator imagines the world must be like, now. Maximum Overdrive was 97 minutes long, so…a lot of expanding was needed. Similar for Graveyard Shift. Then there’s the Lawnmower Man debacle. But the less said about that, the better. - Off the top of my head: Jerusalem’s Lot is the prequel to/was conceptually expanded into 'Salem’s Lot, which was filmed. Graveyard Shift was turned into a movie. I suspect Night Surf has a similar relationship to The Stand as Jerusalem’s Lot to 'Salem’s Lot. And it was one of the ‘[Dollar Babies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_Baby)’ short films. The Mangler was made into an amusing Tobe Hooper film featuring Robert Englund. Battleground was used in Nightmares and Dreamscapes. Trucks became Maximum Overdrive. And was apparently made into a TV movie, which I do not know anything about. The Ledge and Quitters Inc were made into Cat’s Eye. The Lawnmower Man was nominally made into that weird VR movie, and there also exists a Dollar Baby version. Children of the Corn was made into a film franchise, as well as being the source of the Dollar Baby Disciples of the Crow. Sometimes They Come Back was made into a TV movie. Other Dollar Babies from the collection: The Boogeyman. The Woman in the Room. The Last Rung on the Ladder. I Know What You Need Strawberry Spring The Man Who Loved Flowers has been optioned, but has yet to be filmed. 2 other stories from the collection also have not been filmed - Grey Matter, and One for the Road. That makes 17/20 of the stories in the collection filmed in some form or another. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/9 "2008-08-09T18:41:28Z")
I’ve read \*Christine \*over 100 times and seen the movie once. \*Christine \*the movie and _Sum of All Fears_ by Tom Clancy are the two worst adaptions of books I’ve liked. I know the James Bond movies have nothing in common with the books. But, I think the movies are better. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/10 "2008-08-09T19:40:49Z")
I thought _Dolores Claiborne_ was quite well done, and _Misery_ was pretty decent. Didn’t care for _Carrie_ or _Salem’s Lot_ on film, thought _The Shining_ was beyond suckitude and into downright sacrilege (it’s by far his best book)… _The Stand_ was a decent miniseries. _It_ was fairly decent too. It’s definitely been hit-or-miss at best. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanTigerTamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@SuntanTigerTamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanTigerTamer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/11 "2008-08-09T20:02:01Z")
I actually enjoyed _The Mist_. It was the odd horror movie that got less cheesy as it progressed. _1408_, not so much. Then again, they were trying to make a horror movie in which the creepiest part was the voice on the telephone and the subtly changing paintings. Epic fail. I am, however, PUMPED for any news regarding J.J. Abrams’ take on _The Dark Tower_. It will be on HBO, with hour long episodes. Abrams has said that each season will be one book. I can’t wait. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/12 "2008-08-09T20:31:51Z")
I think King’s works do better when they are psychological thrillers…_Misery_, _Shawshank Redemption_, etc. _It_ was good, but the monster (post-Tim Curry) was just laughable, and they way they destroyed it in the movie was nothing like how they did it in the book. Oh… **Stand by Me** , based on **The Body**. Very very good adaptation as well. The monsters on the screen are hard put to beat the monsters you come up with in your head. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/13 "2008-08-09T20:55:30Z")
The one I’ve always wanted to see is The Talisman, his collaboration with Peter Straub. “Osh-Kosh. By gosh!”, I’ve just found **[this](http://uk.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A1f4cfsxAp5IqS8AjTZLBQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByNGxmazk4BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2lyZAR2dGlkAw--/SIG=11o1hualj/EXP=1218401201/**http%3A//www.imdb.com/title/tt0384580/)**. ---
**Author:** ![Capcha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Capcha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capcha)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/14 "2008-08-09T21:04:34Z")
Ooh! I cannot wait for the _Dark Tower_ and _The Talisman_! I can’t seem to recall correctly, but wasn’t _The langoliers_ (spl?) A King’s book too? I liked the movie. ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/15 "2008-08-09T22:22:27Z")
Yes, I believe The Langoliers was a King Book. What a fantastic story, such an original concept. Just going on my memory of the story, it was about what happens to the the physical world that is left behind as time passes. The Langoliers were the critters with big sharp teeth that ate up the world that was left in the “past”. Kind of hard to explain, but definately worth a read/watch. Another vote for The Shining and Stand by Me as some of the best adaptations. Also I liked Needful Things. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/16 "2008-08-09T22:22:34Z")
I forgot _The Langoliers_. It’s very very faithful to the short story, and hence a rather long movie. (I don’t think they left _anything_ out!). A little bit _too_ long but well done, well cast, and entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/17 "2008-08-09T22:48:03Z")
The adaptation of _Langoliers_ was agonizingly long. By the fourth hour, I saw it as a test of will. It could’ve been cut to 90 minutes, easy. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/18 "2008-08-09T23:26:02Z")
**Laudenum** , you’re in good company here - there are many posters here who are big Stephen King fans (me included) with no apologies. I just finished “Duma Key” and I loved it! I think I sort of look at his books as one thing, and his movies as something else. The thing about King (for me) is that his magic is his descriptive abilities and his ability to put me right in the story - if an adaptation doesn’t do the magic things that King does with his writing, it simply won’t be able to compare. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/19 "2008-08-10T00:25:22Z")
He’s done a lot of made for TV miniseries: The Langoliers The Stand ( a Sci Fi Channel favorite) Storm of the Century IT Sometimes They Come Back No mention of: Thinner Children of the Corn Creepshow Nightmares and Dreamscapes And we can probably pass on: Dreamcatcher Sleepwalkers The Lawnmower Man Graveyard Shift ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418/20 "2008-08-10T01:11:54Z")
Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption are two of my favorite movies. And I guess many others agree, seeing that Shawshank is ranked #2 on IMDB’s top 250 list, while Stand By Me is ranked #161. > **[The Shawshank Redemption (1994) ⭐ 9.3 | Drama](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/)** > > 2h 22m | R > **[Stand by Me (1986) ⭐ 8.1 | Adventure, Comedy, Drama](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092005/)** > > 1h 29m | R [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-adaptions/459418.md?page=2)