# Stephen King stories that should be movies... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 16, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706 "2003-05-16T16:08:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![minega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@minega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minega)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/1 "2003-05-16T16:08:25Z")
I just heard that King’s short story 'secret window,secret garden" is being turned into a movie starring Johnny Depp. It got me to thinking of all the other great King stories that aint moves yet and my fave would be the short story called ‘The mist’ (skeleton crew)about some guys trapped in a supermarket and hunted by some mysterious creatures during a mist. It would make a great flick as would his 1998 novel ‘Bag of bones’. However it will be very intriguing to see what they will do with ‘secret window,secret garden’ since it seemed unfilmable to me on reading it. Any other King stories/bovels that would meke great films. ---
**Author:** ![minega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@minega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minega)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/2 "2003-05-16T16:12:27Z")
typo there…i meant 'novels" as opposed to ‘bovels’. Blame it on the heat… ---
**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/3 "2003-05-16T16:46:23Z")
_The Long Walk_. That would make a good double-feature with _They Shoot Horses, Don’t They_. I’ve always thought the Dark Tower books would make a good TV series, as long as it’s given to somebody like HBO (please not ABC). _Eyes of the Dragon_ - somehow I think that would be better as an animated movie, don’t you think? Wish I had some heat here to blame my typos on. It’s been a dismal May up here. ---
**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/4 "2003-05-16T16:47:56Z")
_Speaking **of typos…** _… ARGH!!! ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/5 "2003-05-16T22:24:50Z")
It has been years since I read the first three Dark Tower books, but I’d love to see them as an HBO miniseries, either live or animated. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/6 "2003-05-16T22:54:22Z")
I always thought that _Insomnia_ would make a good movie. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/7 "2003-05-16T23:39:07Z")
_The End of the Whole Mess_, a short story about a young genius who believes to find the key to world peace by altering drinking water. Of course there’s a twist in the ending to what happens to people who drink this water and how they become so peaceful. It’s in the POV of the genius’ older brother. Of course most of King’s short stories would be good **Twilight Zone** episodes. As for novels, I agree that _The Long Walk_ would make a great movie. Directed by Rob Reiner, of course, since he makes the best King movies so far. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/8 "2003-05-16T23:46:31Z")
I second _The Mist_ and a Dark Tower miniseries. I’d like to see a film of _The Running Man_ that follows the book. The Arnold flick used the basic premise (being hunted on a game show), but that was about it. The format of the show was completely different. Unfortunatly, I can’t see Hollywood using the book’s ending in this post-9/11 world: The novel ends with the main character intentionally crashing an plane into the villian’s office ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/9 "2003-05-17T00:03:31Z")
You mean, there are still some Stephen King books that _haven’t_ been made into movies yet?! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/10 "2003-05-17T02:08:15Z")
The original short story “Jerusalem’s Lot” (not to be confused with"'Salem’s Lot") really, really creeped me out. I’d love to see it done. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Dracul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vlad\_Dracul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Dracul)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/11 "2003-05-17T06:27:19Z")
“The Mist” was a very good story, and would make a good movie IF done right… but doing it right would require going against all the current trends in movie-making. The story was all about how people react when their ordinary lives are disrupted by The Unknown. The monsters HAVE to stay unseen… the people HAVE to stay relatively helpless… and the ending HAS to avoid large-scale resolution. Hollywood won’t do this. They’ll have a bunch of cute 20-something actors who spend half their time blasting 40-foot animatronic critters, and the other half auditioning for “Friends”. At the end, everything will be returned to normal. Converted into another action/horror movie, the story will lose ALL the characteristics that made it interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/12 "2003-05-17T06:49:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Vlad Dracul \* > \*\*“The Mist” was a very good story, and would make a good movie IF done right… but doing it right would require going against all the current trends in movie-making. > > The story was all about how people react when their ordinary lives are disrupted by The Unknown. The monsters HAVE to stay unseen… the people HAVE to stay relatively helpless… and the ending HAS to avoid large-scale resolution. > > Hollywood won’t do this. They’ll have a bunch of cute 20-something actors who spend half their time blasting 40-foot animatronic critters, and the other half auditioning for “Friends”. At the end, everything will be returned to normal. > > Converted into another action/horror movie, the story will lose ALL the characteristics that made it interesting. \*\* Sounds like _Signs_. ---
**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:** [May 17, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/13 "2003-05-17T12:50:49Z")
“Do the Dead Sing?” The fact that this short story hasn’t been made into a movie is a crime. And “Survivor Type” to be done by George Romero. SHUDDER! ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/14 "2003-05-17T13:30:51Z")
> [@](#): > > The original short story “Jerusalem’s Lot” (not to be confused with"'Salem’s Lot") really, really creeped me out. I’d love to see it done. I’m suprised, I’ve heard that it was one of the worst storys King’s ever written. I gotta go read it now 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/15 "2003-05-17T13:38:08Z")
I’m almost positive I read somewhere (I thought [IMDB.com](http://IMDB.com)) that _The Mist_ was going to be made into a movie in a few years. With Frank Darabont(Green Mile,Adventures of Young Indian Jones) directing. He was going to do it after Fahrenheit 451. There is nothing on IMDB about it now, so either I’m crazy or I read it somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![TelcontarStorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@TelcontarStorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TelcontarStorm)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/16 "2003-05-17T16:37:44Z")
Not a full length film, but the story about the Toy Teeth would make a great short. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/17 "2003-05-17T17:43:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Splanky \* > \*\*I’m suprised, I’ve heard that it was one of the worst storys King’s ever written. I gotta go read it now 🙂 \*\* If you’re a fan of Lovecraft, you’ll probably enjoy it. I actually started reading Lovecraft after I read “Jerusalem’s Lot”. ---
**Author:** ![sians\_mom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@sians\_mom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sians_mom)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/18 "2003-05-17T19:38:08Z")
Most of the evil things in King books defy true visualization - “Our minds just grasp the closest object/animal/insect we can see without going crazy instantly.”(The Stand, IT, The Mist, The Langoliers, etc.). In my opinion, that makes it truly difficult to transfer his books to celluloid. King himself has overlooked this several times in the past, much to his detriment - definitely proving the theory that writers can rarely interpret their own work. That being said, I would like to see the following stories: - The Running Man (I agree that it should follow the story very closely) - The Mist (Skeleton Crew is one of my favorite re-reads) - The Eyes of the Dragon - The Talisman - Rose Madder (Above all, I think this story would transfer very well to screen) Now I will have to go and dig through my King books to find out the names of some other stories!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/19 "2003-05-17T21:04:17Z")
I guess it’s being talked about already, but I’d like to see “Dolan’s Cadillac” in the theaters, and SOON. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706/20 "2003-05-18T05:04:10Z")
Theyve got a Hell of a Band. Funny, horrifying. Just delicious. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-stories-that-should-be-movies/175706.md?page=2)