Stephen King books that made good movies

[Misanthrope]

Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me, and Green Mile obviously stand out. It's no surprise that these came from non horror focussed stories, and ones that were clearly more about friendship and the dynamics between friends.

The Stand TV miniseries was quite well done, I thought. It's a difficult (and epic) story to translate, and they did it fairly well.

Aside from that, most tend to disappoint me. Dreamcatcher could have been tremendous b but they shifted away from the book's focus (of friendship) and onto the gore and horror of the aliens, which is somewhat secondary in the book. Ditto It - which is one of my favourites by him.

I'd love to see his Dark Tower series made into a mini series or movie (and apparently JJ Abrams of Lost fame is interested in directing), and Bag of Bones could also make a decent movie.

Was disappointed with most everything else his work has inspired. Pet Semetary was ok. The Mist looked ordinary. Tommyknockers didn't impress me. Hearts in Atlantis was boring...

 

[OVP]

Keep it up lads. There's been some great stuff to re-watch or watch for the first time.

p.s. did ANYONE see Firestarter 2 ? That was probably one of the worst movies EVER. But it was so bad, it made me laugh

 

[2 True Blues]

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.

Carrie is a 1980's comedy these days mate.

 

[2 True Blues]

My daughter is fearful of IT. She farkin hates clowns.

 

[alien]

My daughter is fearful of IT. She farkin hates clowns.

It's ok. IT scares me too

 

[2 True Blues]

Clowns are creepy .

 

[alien]

Clowns are creepy .

Especially Pennywize the Klown

 

[OVP]

My daughter is fearful of IT. She farkin hates clowns.

She isnt alone :lol:

http://www.ihateclowns.net/

http://www.clownz.com/

 

[2 True Blues]

Lets just say, that if "Crackers " the clown snuck up behind her, he would have a little more than a sore back to contend with.

He would be more than likely taking up a tippy toed stance, whilst grabbing for his nether region, and singing jingle bells.

Me Crackers !!!!

 

[Phillips]

while on the topic of stephen king.. just finished the long walk last night..

also the running man (book) is much better than the movie version

 

[St. Brett]

Penny wise the clown aka Bob Grey?

The book sh*ts on the movie.

The ending in the movie was stupid with that dumb spider.

I've been to Beaver Lake in Canada where they filmed IT.

My favorite scene is at the chinese eatery. It was so comfortable.
(John Hughes movies focus on homely comfort too)
The book leading up to the chinese eat out is my favorite read too as the taxi driver hocks a loogey and says 'guy who catches that won't need bubble gum for a week.'
In the book they leave the resturant and go for walks after that meal around town.
The book rocks.

My fav is The Langoliers.
Craigy waiggy.
Underrated classic.
The book and the movie take you on an adventure.
You can't enjoy this movie unless you've actually been on a plane yourself.
I love it.
I want to go to Bangor one day and see where they filmed it.

Oh, if you're going to buy the DVD IT make sure you get the U.S. copy as there's about 27 more minutes extra than the Aussie version.

Some good bits are chopped from our version.

The doberman dog in the clown suit barking and Henry talking to Belch under the bed.
The stories told by the fire.
Bill arriving in town so on and so on.
Georgey going down the staircase to get the glue. P'p'parafene. Parafine?

Here's a link where I took photo's of that famous bridge in IT and X-files.
http://au.geocities.com/brett_gaddes4/ITbridge.html
I took a piece of wood off that bridge and got it through customs here in Australia.

My next adventure will take me to a little place called Loleta in CA where they filmed Halloween 3:Season of the witch.
I'm currently reading the book watching the movie and listening to the CD score.
All I need to make my collection complete is Fangoria issue #22 and #23.

 

[PJ]

From Darkhorizons

There's an idea coming up that we're exploring so we'll see... Drew Goddard, the writer and Matt Reeves the director have sort of cooked something up" says J.J. Abrams about a potential Cloverfield sequel. He also confirms that he and "Lost" runner Damon Lindelof are still only in very early stages of adapting Stephen King's "Dark Tower" into a series

 

[HevyDevy]

I've just started reading "Everything's Eventual" - short stories - and have The Duma Key waiting for me afterwards.

Yep, this thread inspired me to start reading King again!

 

[perverse]

2 words.

The Shining.

 

[Misanthrope]

early stages of adapting Stephen King's "Dark Tower" into a series

A few years ago this news would have terrified me. I'm glad that television has, through the shows such as Friends and Lost and Prison Break and the like, become a viable alternative to mainstream cinema.

A big budget, well cast Dark Tower mini-series would be a far better option than a big budget, poorly cast - and likely shorter in terms of overall content series of Hollywood blockbusters.

 

[HevyDevy]

I really should read The Dark Tower again - read it years ago and don't remember too much other than it was good.

Has anyone read The Duma Key?

 

[hineyrulz]

A few years ago this news would have terrified me. I'm glad that television has, through the shows such as Friends and Lost and Prison Break and the like, become a viable alternative to mainstream cinema.

A big budget, well cast Dark Tower mini-series would be a far better option than a big budget, poorly cast - and likely shorter in terms of overall content series of Hollywood blockbusters.

I wonder who will they get to play Roland, a younger Clint Eastwood would have been perfect.

 

[Sheros los Deros]

I think that films of Kings work struggle with some of the fantasy and supernatural elements in his stories. The more mainstream works are easy to capture on film.


It- loved most of the book. Thought the mini series was garbage. A lot of Lovecraftian ideas such as the turtle and the deadlights are very hard to capture on film. It is the cosmic dark fiction in It that impressed me.

The Langoliers. Liked both the novella and the tele movie. The mini series lived up to my expectations of the Langoliers. The sound of the appraoching Langoliers as the stranded passgengers wait in the deserted terminal was brilliant.

Shawkshank Redpemtion- thought that the movie, one of my favourites of all time, was better than the novella. Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins did an outstanding job.

Stand by Me- I liked the film better, never even finished the novella. The music and the actors really brought it to life.

Dead Zone. I enjoyed the film, but struggled with the novel.

Dolores Clairborne- A great film. I struggled through the novel.

The Stand. Didn't like the mini series or the novel. My least favourite work by King.

I read several other King stories that I proably wouldn't bother catching if they had been made into films. Like the Tommyknockers, Rose Madder, Bag of Bones, Dreamcatcher,

I'd like to see what they could do with Insomnia on film. The little bald doctors would be interesting.

 

[Misanthrope]

Stand by Me- I liked the film better, never even finished the novella. The music and the actors really brought it to life.

Ditto. The short story has too many tangents about the narrator's writing.

A lot of what is also difficult about translating King to film is that so many of his books have outlandish concepts that really can't be described with images or dialogue. "It", for example, reads so much more plausible and terrifying than it could ever been done on screen.

 

[HevyDevy]

Tried to find It at JB Hi-Fi today but they didn't have it. Might have to order it on e-bay.