Stephen King books that made good movies

[OVP]

Im a big fan of Stephen King's literature. Well, since he's been around since the 70's (pushing close to 40 years now ... an amazing effort when you think about it), lets just say i was a big fan up and to including the Green Mile. I havent bought a book of his in over ten years now. But he's wriiten just so many books, but out of the hundreds that have made it to tv or the movies, what are some of the better movies/tv shows from his books over the years ?

Honestly, i dont rate many movies that have been made from his pen ... Hollywood geniuss miss an incredible amount when it comes to translating his books to the big/small screen.

The best two imo are The Shawshank Redemption, and of course The Green Mile. Both efforts from Hollywood were the best jobs anyone EVER did from his books.

But there were a few others i enjoyed over the years.

The movie Stand by Me was taken from the same book of Short Novella's that Shawshank was from, Different Seasons. The novella was called "The Body". IT too was a very good movie. Probably the best "buddy" movie ive seen.

Other movies i can think of include The Dead Zone (the TV series sucked arse tho). Any movie with Martin Sheen and Christopher Walken you can seriously expect quality. And thats exactly what you got.

"It" was good because of Tim Curry and "John Boy" Walton.

The Shining also, with the truly great Jack. Great stuff and very close to the book as well

The only movie that scared the crap out of me when i was a kid (when i look at it now, its just unearthly creepy, but not terrifying like back when i was about 10) :lol: ... Good old 'Salems Lot. It was a TV movie but it really scared the pants off me when i was 10. I must see this again, but i re-read the book just recently and its nowhere near as scary as it was for me the first time i read it, but its still a great read ... depressing, but, great. I used to love the fact Stephen King's hero's always died :lol:

Other than those movies, i really dont understand why Hollywood is so stupid it cant translate his work very well. Maybe its because they are mostly vacuous gits

Can you guys/girls think of any other books that have turned out well on a screen, big or small ?

 

[Mixmasterreece]

I liked Pet Cemetery I must admit.

Cell - if done right - will be the jewel in his crown...

 

[Mong]

I used to love his books.. The only one i couldn't get into was The Tommyknockers but for some reason i liked the movie.

Otherwise the books have generally always been way better.

IT was the best book i read but i recall being disapointed with the movie..

When they stuck to the story line like the green mile and shawshank they were pretty good but others like the running man were crap.

The likes of Firestarter, Christine and Cujo are hard to judge simply because of how old the movies are and look... Christine was an awesome book though.

Someone told me the mist is now a movie, that was one of his better short stories, possibly from the skeleton crew book , i'd be interestedin seeing that.

The long walk was a good read, not sure how it would turn out as a movie, wouldn't imagine it would be to hard to make though

 

[carcharias]

The long walk was a good read

yep.

Carrie wasn't bad in its day.

and Kristine was kind of alright ...although I havent seen either for a long time so they could be shyte.

Another short story he did called smokers anonymous was pretty good.

 

[Phil McGrawhan]

1408 was very different to the book .
Another short story (of revenge )i would love to see made into a movie is Dolan's Cadillac.

Alot of his other short stories were changed so much they were unrecognizable.or were very poorly made......the Lawnmower Man,Children of the Corn,Apt Pupil,Sometimes They Come Back.The Running Man.etc.I did see on telly that The Langoliers had been made into a movie

Secret Garden secret window wasn't too badly done,but i didn't rate it as one of his better stories.
I remember reading that he had had enough of directors altering his stories so now he has input into his movies..hence the brilliant productions of Shawshank Redemption & The Green Mile.

 

[Mong]

Apt Pupil was a brilliant story, did not know it was also a movie..

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Misery, the Shawshank Redeption, The Shining, The Green Mile, and Stand by Me were all great flicks. In general I'd say his non-horor stuff adapts better to the screen than his horror work.

 

[bulldog]

I enjoyed The Running Man movie, but as usual it was nowhere near the book and it would be awesome to see someone make the movie as dark as the book. Didn't enjoy Cell all that much. I would kill to see The Gunslinger saga make it to the screen in some form. Agree on Dolans Cadillac as well, brilliant short story on revenge. Stand By Me, Shawshank and The Green Mile definitely stand out as the best of his recent book to film translations.

 

[HevyDevy]

Generally agree with the sentiments here.

IT was one of the great books but I reckon it's under-rated as a movie.

You've got to admit the clown is pretty freaky - "Hiya Georgie."

I just bought two more King books the other day actually - Duma Key and Everything's Eventual - as well as the Joey and Slash autobiographies.

Some of my favourite King books are - Dolores Claiborne, Rose Madder, Insomnia, It and Needful Things.

 

[Mong]

Insomnia was one i forgot.. Great book as well.. As with IT, i struggled to put it down...

 

[weasel]

I watched this one movie in a hotel room in Thailand. Riding the Bullet. Terrible movie, but better than a night out in that hive of scum and villainy Patong Beach.

I actually really enjoyed the Stand teleseries, despite being relatively B-grade. I haven't really read many of his books, though. Just the dark tower series and a few short stories.

 

[Shorty]

I've read a few of his.
'It' is a creepy,creepy movie and is a reason why I dislike clowns.

Stand By Me is a classic and also The Shining...I don't read enough of his books.

 

[HevyDevy]

I've been inspired now. I'm going to buy It - the movie - online now I think.

 

[hineyrulz]

I think i have read just about every stephen King book he has ever written, The best movie adaptation would have to be Shawshank redemption. But nothing beats his dark tower series, an absolute amazing series of books.

 

[Big Pete]

I really enjoyed "Secret Window" starring Johnny Depp as Mort.

Interesting story, great ending.

 

[AILD]

what, no "children of the corn"??? lol

Secret window is pretty good, shawshank redemtion is the best movie ever made IMO and the book is awesome too.

carrie is also good. but the shining has got to be up there with shawshank.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

i've never read shawshank redemption but it's one of the greatest movies ever, as stated

i haven't read too many king novels but i have read IT and i love it. haven't read it since i was in high school though. maybe it's because i read IT before i saw it but i wasn't into the movie

 

[alien]

I like the langoliers

 

[Eskimo Sharkie]

Misery, the Shawshank Redeption, The Shining, The Green Mile, and Stand by Me were all great flicks. In general I'd say his non-horor stuff adapts better to the screen than his horror work.

I'll agree with this. Add the telemovie Storm of the Century to this. I did like Cujo and Christine as well. The Langoliers was reasonably well done and I quite enjoyed Hearts in Atlantis (as well as about the first half of The Stand - kicker of a sound track too).

Complete and utter turkeys in my view are Pet Sematary, Firestarter, The Running Man and The Lawnmower Man. Cell will be awful on the big screen - has already been done to death with the likes of 28 Days Later and I Am Legend (the remake) covering similar ground. CGI would ruin it.

From A Buick 8 would be an interesting translation to the screen. One of his best novels in my opinion.

 

[PJ]

One of my all time favourite books, and my favourite of his, is THe Stand and thought they did a pretty goodjob of putting it on the small screen.

I still think it would be awesome with a decent budget on the big screen.

The worst movie I have seen of his is The Mangler.

If someone tried making a few of his horror stories into movies but kept the characters as they are from the books I think they would be onto something, as his characters are believeable in unbelieveable situations. You really can feel for them. UNfortunately producers and directors hear the word horror and drop into brain dead mode.

Other good movies I didn't see listed include The Dark Half and Thinner.

I really enjoyed Apt Pupil, THe Shining, Night Flier, Carrie, Dead Zone, Silver Bullet, Pet Sematary, Misery, 1408 and Salems Lot.

Thought the Green Mile was OK, could have been better

Shawshank is far and away the best, and for mine the only one that has really followed the story.

Crap ones are many but the top are Children of the Corn, any sequel like return to salems lot, Maximum Overdrive, Running Man, Sometimes they Come Back, Dreamcatcher and Riding the Bullet
Could be some good news for any King fans in Orlando around October as well.