You Can't Kill Stephen King On DVD

Can't wait for You Can't Kill Stephen King, you can buy a copy from Amazon UK.

www.amazon.co.uk

Pennywise Looking Stranger Than Ever

Did you get everything you want for Christmas?  EVERYTHING?  How about this Stephen King's It Pennywise Clown Pop! Vinyl Figure from www.ebay.com.


The ebay seller explains:

• Stephen King's Pennywise the clown from the horror movie It as a vinyl figure! 
• Stands 3 3/4-inches tall. 
• Features Tim Curry's Pennywise with his scary teeth, freaky eyebrows, and scary clown costume! 

The scariest clown in horror movie history has been given the Pop! Vinyl treatment with this Stephen King's It Pennywise Clown Pop! Vinyl Figure! The demented killer clown looks true to form with his scary teeth, freaky eyebrows, and scary clown costume. When you see just how cool the 3 3/4-inch tall Stephen King's It Pennywise Clown Pop! Vinyl Figure looks you'll want to collect the rest in the horror movie line from Funko! Ages 5 and up.

My favorite part, "Ages 5 and up." Yeah, kiddos, guess what was in the stocking this year!

The item sells for $13.35

Dedication To Doctor Sleep

Do you pay much attention to book dedications?  Sometimes I do.  But King often dedicates to people  that I have no idea who they are.  His dedication unfortunately does not stir any need on my part to rush out and discover who these people are.  I liked the dedication to Tabby at the beginning of The Stand.  And he once dedicated a story to his brother David, and I liked that.  But I am usually in such a hurry to get into the book that the dedication is just something to skim by.

Steve Newton at Vancouver'sstraight.com was pretty excited about the dedication to Warren Zevon in Doctor Sleep.

Newton wrote,

 I got a kick out of the horror master’s dedication of the book. He sent it out to singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, who I’ve always felt was one of the most underrated rockers of all time. 

How cool is that?

When I was playing my primitive brand of rhythm guitar with a group called the Rock Bottom Remainders, Warren Zevon used to gig with us. Warren loved gray t-shirts and movies like Kingdom of the Spiders. He insisted I sing lead on his signature tune, “Werewolves of London”, during the encore portion of our shows. I said I was not worthy. He insisted that I was. “Key of G,” Warren told me, “and howl like you mean it. Most important of all, play like Keith.” I’ll never be able to play like Keith Richards, but I always did my best, and with Warren beside me, matching me note for note and laughing his fool head off, I always had a blast. 

Warren, this howl is for you, wherever you are. I miss you, buddy.

Hopefully those goofs at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will take a tip from the King and induct Zevon soon.

Salem's Lot The Ultimate Terror

“Alone. Yes, that’s the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue. Murder doesn’t hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym.”
— Salem's Lot by Stephen King

Quigley Gives Us A Glimpse Of The King Universe 2014

Check out Kevin Quigley's article, "Overlooking 2014: Stephen King in the New Year" at www.fearnet.com.  Quigley doesn't claim to write with any authority -- but I will point out that I  found the article following a link suggested by Stephen King's official facebook page. So -- someone over there thinks Quigley is right on.

Here's some highlights -- the article is much better! 

We can expect Mr. Mercedes on June 3rd, 2014. Quigley notes: "It's rare for King to release novels in the summer – before 2013, the last non-series hardcover written under his own name to arrive in the summer was Rose Madder, way back in 1995 – but the unqualified success of this summer's Joyland must have been encouraging."

Quigley sees Mr. Mercedes being potentially in tune with the likes of Full Dark, No Stars and Blockade Billy. "It’s fascinating to watch King work his noir out – a little less Clive Barker, a little more Lawrence Block – and to see King challenge expectations while still delivering an exciting story."

We can also expect a film adaptation of "A Good Marriage," which Quigley says has been completed. 

On December 10th, King tweeted, “Have seen the completed film version of A GOOD MARRIAGE. I thought it was terrific. Of course… I wrote it!”

And, there is the upcoming novel Revival, though almost nothing is known about it.  Quigley quotes King's July 18th comments to columist Colin McEncore, 

"The main character [of Revival] is a kid who learns how to play guitar, and I can relate to this guy because he's not terribly good. He's just good enough to catch on with a number of bands and play for a lot of years. The song that he learns to play first is the song that I learned to play first, which was 'Cherry, Cherry' by Neil Diamond. One of the great rock progressions: E-A-D-A.

What seems really important from the fearnet article is Quigley's observation that just because we only now of two novels  on the horizon, don't think that means King doesn't have more up his sleeve.  He also notes, as others have recently, that we are "overdue" for a short story collection.  Quigley offers this possible list of stories (see the article.)

Check out Quigley's website at CharnelHouseSK.com
And see my interview with him at talkstephenking Quigley Interview

BROADWAY WORLD: Carrie Musical Releasing Vocal Selections

Broadway World announced that Hal Leonard Will release vocal selections from CARRIE THE MUSICAL.  The book is looking toward a release  date of January 20, 2014 at $16.99

Broadway World notes:

Hal Leonard's folio offers 18 songs from that revival: Alma Mater, And Eve Was Weak, Carrie, Carrie (Reprise), Do Me a Favor, Dreamer in Disguise, Epilogue, Evening Prayers, I Remember How Those Boys Could Dance, In, A Night We'll Never Forget, Once You See, Open Your Heart, Unsuspecting Hearts, When There's No One, Why Not Me?, The World According to Chris, and You Shine, plus unforgettable color photos.

And they give this  brief history of the musical: "Before becoming a musical, the novel Carrie was famously adapted for the screen in the 1976 Brian DePalma film of the same name starring Sissy Spacek. Since then, in its various incarnations, it has become an iconic pop culture brand all its own, making the Ghostlight Records release a highly-anticipated event."

The full article  is at www.broadwayworld.com

You Can't Kill Stephen King 2014 U.S. RELEASE

Monore Mann of You Can't Kill Stephen King, posted this today:

After being released in over 15 international territories and being called in Japan "The best B-movie I have ever seen!", I'm stoked to report that "You Can't Kill Stephen King" is in final negotiations for a United States distribution deal for 2014.  Yay!

Santa's Lot

What if Santa was. . . A VAMPIRE

photo  credit: HERE

thanks to Lee Gambin

The Shining: Assessing Strengths And Weaknesses

picture credit: HERE

The novel The Shining was written by a young writer.  Doctor Sleep was written by a much more mature  author.  About six months ago I went back and read a bit of The Shining.  I was not  surprised to find that there were points that I found dry.  The novel itself is strong, but there are these patches of  difficulty for the reader.

Sean Chumley does a nice job identifying both the strengths and weaknesses of the novel in his short review at examiner.com.

I'll break this down into a simple list form.  These are quotes from Chumley's article.

What king nails:

• The horror is often very effective
• the characters are very well defined.
• They're realistic people with believable problems.

Where King Wanders

• Sometimes King gets a little too detailed with the hotel's upkeep when all we really want is ghosts. (YES!)
• Everything has a purpose in the novel, but sometimes the payoff is delayed a bit too long to really excite.

This reminds me the Van  Hise review of THE SHINING in the Star Trek fanzine, Enterprise Incidents.  This was a special issue dedicated to Stephen King.  The effort expended for this project seems tremendous.  There is special artwork, reviews and articles.  The artwork is exceptional!

This is one of the earliest tributes to King I can think of.  Here’s what’s funny. . . reviewer James Van Hise doesn’t give positive reviews to a lot of King’s work (like The  Shining)– yet he seems to love Stephen King books.  Here’s what’s really fun –Van Hise isn’t afraid to have an opinion!  Oh, he has LOTS and LOTS!  But he shares them without apology.  He doesn’t spend a lot of time working around what he thinks, or building up to it – he just says it. That’s really refreshing!

VAN HISE REVIEW OF: THE SHINING

Mr. Van Hise likes The Shining, but complains that it has "too much characterization." While Salem’s Lot was a big novel with lots of characters, The Shining is a big novel with just a few characters.

In van Hise’s words:

"The complaint I’m making is that when writer has a finely conceived story, there is no reason to detour from it into subplots and extraneous discourses which have nothing to do with that plot. Characterization is fine, but let’s not overdo it, and this book certainly does overdo it, mostly with Jack Torrance. The book is about the Overlook Hotel and what it does to these people one winter. When the story stays here it’s great. What happened to Jack Torrance when he lsot his job is just a big rap which he wasn’t able to roll with. Drumming that fact into our heads time after time isn’t necessary. Certainly it was important to describe Jack Torrance ine nough back ground detail so that we can understand why his mental collapse is believable, but too much of this reached the point hwere it came across to me as just padding. I’m well aware that this is a terrible thing to say about a writer, and I’m not saying that this is what King did, but rather that this is the effect it achieved. Fortunately, the book’s strong points far overshadow its weak ones."

The reason Jack’s firing was so important to the book is that it was one of the catalyst for his drinking. Or return to drinking. I find all the background information does slow the story – but I can press on because I actually enjoy all these asides. If this was my first time reading The Shining, I think I too would be annoyed! "Where’s this going?" I would ask. But I already know where this is going, so I can take time to enjoy the greater depth King gives these characters.

Now, for an early commentary on the Kubrick film! Remember, please, Van Hise hasn’t had years of King and others griping about the film. It was met with generally good reviews, so it takes some perception. 

"The film is also an abortion from the standpoint of the fact that the movie ends before it even reaches the point in the book where the climax really gets rolling. Yes, the movie cuts out the climax of the book, which is the very facet of the story which insured its popularity, because unlike the film, the book is not anti-climactic. The book builds to such a wild, ever pritch that it remains a classic of the genre no matter how many other horror stories you’ve ever rad. Whereas Salem’s Lot is a better book on the whole, The Shining contains his finest climax from every standpoint, and especially for sheer power and imagination.   

Whatever else may be disappointing in the book, the climax is not! It delivers a one-two punch which carries the reader straight through to the conclusion with pile-driver intensity and in an extremely satisfying manner. This book cried out fo a powerful screen translation, rather than the commonplace treatment it received at the hands of Stanley Kubrick. Because of this, there are a lot of people out there who don’t understand why The Shining was a bestseller, or why it was even made into a film at all, and that’s criminal. Kubric has made King seem like an ordinary writer, and all because Kubric took excellent material and made an ordinary film. If there is anything The Shining is not, it’s ordinary."

I can hear the "experts" on Room 237 shouting, screaming, crying at this! "The Shining" a "ordinary" film? I love the way van Hise gives such credit to the book.

Doctor Sleep Journal #7: I'm Scared

Went running alone for the first time in quite a while.  It's hard to make myself run with no one accompanying me.  On the good side, I did have Doctor Sleep.  It's been a few days since I listened to Doctor Sleep, so  here are my thoughts:

This book is really scary at moments.  Out running as a dead body was uncovered was just down right creepy.  I was running past desert fields, no lights out here, just the moon and a King novel in my ears.  As that body was dug up I was actually pretty excited.  "Wow this is scary," I thought, looking out toward a dark field. 

Slow
Second observation is that the book moves slow at points.  So slow that characters  I thought were dead are still on their deathbed!  However, I accept that as part of reading a Stephen King novel.  I'm not sure I want him to write fast paced thrillers.  King takes his time telling a story, relishes the scenes and the careful build up.  It's worth the journey, even if there are moments I wish he'd drive a little faster.

NOOOO!
Grover Gardner, who read both audio versions of The Stand once noted that it seemed every character in the book had at least one time when they cried out, "noooooooo!"  When reading Doctor Sleep, I had a personal "noooooo!" moment.

There is a point when Danny tells what happened to him at the overlook.  I was totally excited to get a first person account of the terrors in that hotel from Dan's perspective.  The Shining was written thrid person, so to get to see it through Danny's eyes -- even for a few pages -- would be awesome.  But as soon as Dan begins telling his story, King cuts away then drops back in as Dan wraps things up.   It seems like it would have been an opportunity to add another layer to a story we already dearly love.

Darabont Goes After AMC

Frank Darabont -- known by King fans for his work on THE MIST and THE GREEN MILE -- is suing AMC, claiming that  they are withholding profits generated by his series, The Walking Dead. The series is in its fourth season, with each season progressively drawing a larger audience.

The Bangor  Daily News  reports:

Frank Darabont, who developed the TV show about a zombie apocalypse and was fired after the first season, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in a New York State Supreme Court.
Darabont said that the way AMC is calculating the show’s licensing fees is depriving him and other participants of tens of millions of dollars, the lawsuit stated.
AMC spokesman Jim Maiella declined to comment.

The full article is at: bangordailynews.com

GRAND CENTRAL Headed To Television

ABC's relationship with Stephen King seems alive and well these days.  The Hollywood Reporter shared news that a new series titled "Grand Central" will be coming soon.  The report noted:

Grand Central,” which is based on King’s short story “The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates” about a widow who receives phone calls from her deceased husband about future events which results in lives being saved.  The series writers are Sam Ernst and Jim Dunn the creators of the SyFy drama “Haven.”

Mr. Mercedes Looks Like A Thriller

I'm  really looking forward to Mr. Mercedes.  I find the line in Kings info about the book interesting, "from the master of suspense--"  Sounding pretty Hitchcockian there, Mr. King!

From King's Facebook page:

Mr. Mercedes, June 2014

In a mega-stakes, high-suspense race against time, three of the most unlikely and winning heroes Stephen King has ever created try to stop a lone killer from blowing up thousands.

In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging agai...n. Eight people are killed; fifteen are wounded. The killer escapes.

In another part of town, months later, a retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the “perk” and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy.

Brady Hartfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. He loved the feel of death under the wheels of the Mercedes, and he wants that rush again. Only Bill Hodges, with a couple of highly unlikely allies, can apprehend the killer before he strikes again. And they have no time to lose, because Brady’s next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim thousands.

Mr. Mercedes is a war between good and evil, from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable.

Books That Have Stayed With You

image: firewireblog.com

I like METACHAT's "Books That Have Stayed With You," as well as the many responses.  The discussion is framed this way, "Five books that have stayed with you.  They don't have to be best sellers or well known. Just books you read that for one reason or other you never forgot."

One person posted:
1. Watership Down.
2. Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry.
3. All of the James Herriot books (All Creatures Great and Small, etc.)
4. The Crimson Petal and The White. by Michael Faber
5. The Stand, by Stephen King.

Let's do the same thing, but make two lists.  First books in general, then just 5 King books that will stay with you.

Non-King list:
1. Pillars of the earth
2. Cold Sassy Tree
3. 1984
4. Great Expectations
5. The Martian Chronicles

Five Stephen King Books That Have Stayed With Me:
1. The Stand
2. IT
3. The Shining
4. 11.22.63
5. Dolores Claiborne

Mr. Mercedes Looks To Give Classic King Chills

If you're a King fan, then there's good news ahead!  I spotted this summery of Mr. Mercedes at Cemetery Dance, and it looks plenty scary!

The mind that gave you Christine and From a buick 8 is back behind the wheel. . .

In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging again. Eight people are killed; fifteen are wounded. The killer escapes. 

In another part of town, months later, a retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the "perk" and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy. 

Brady Hartfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. He loved the feel of death under the wheels of the Mercedes, and he wants that rush again. 

Only Bill Hodges, with a couple of highly unlikely allies, can apprehend the killer before he strikes again. And they have no time to lose, because Brady's next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim thousands. 

Mr. Mercedes is a war between good and evil, from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable.

Mr. Mercedes is scheduled  to be released June 3, 2014.

CARRIE, I Didn't Know That

In a one star review of the Carrie remake (not a remake -- remake), filmstalker shared something I had not put together.  Yes, I know this was everywhere, I just missed it.  

So, drum roll . . .

The screen writer for the 2013 Carrie is Lawrence D. Cohen, who co-wrote the 1979 script.  So it's not a remake, but it has the same screen writer?  Okay.  The article picks up on this, noting, "It seems odd then that if this is a new version of the novel and was clearly trying to distance itself from being a straight remake, that they would bring on board the screenwriter from the original film but let’s not be picky, the original Carrie was after all a very good film. The upside is also that since it was such a good film then perhaps the original writer would bring some of the talent he poured through the keyboard back then." www.filmstalker.co.uk

Cohen has links to several Stephen King projects, scripting things like The Tommyknockers, IT and he appeared in a short film titled, "Resurrecting Carrie."  He is also the author of the 1988 musical version of Carrie.  

Cohen has a special connection to Carrie, having written the musical twice and the movie twice -- it would seem he's written more about the kid than King has.  

Stephen King by the Box Office

Sky Movies has an interesting slide slow titled "Stephen King By The Box Office."  It looks at 34 of King's movies, and tells us how it did at the box office.  Each movie not only lists what it took in at the box office, but tries to adjust for inflation.

The site notes, "Box office figures from BoxOfficeMojo.com. Inflation calculated with the USInflationCalculator.com."

Here's the breakdown:

• $134,711 , Riding The Bullet. The article notes, "The film bombed at the box office after receiving a deserved critical panning and holds the unenviable record of the lowest grossing Stephen King adaptation to date"
• $125,397 , The Night Flier.  (Sky Movies adjusts for inflation, giving it $182,467)
• $1,781,383 , The Mangler
•  $8,863,193 , Apt Pupil
• $7,433,663 , Maximum Overdrive.  I like this from the article, "Picking up two Razzie nominations for King and the film’s star, Emilio Estevez, the film was universally panned. However, despite even King writing it off as “the worst adaptation of his work”, it managed to reclaim $7,433,663 of its $9 million budget- just under $16 million in today’s money."
• $10,611,160 , The Dark Half
• $11,582,891, Graveyard Shift
• $15,315,484, Thinner.  WAIT. . . Thinner made it this far up on the list?  "Thinner performed reasonably upon release, helped by the fact that it was attached to Michael Jackson’s short film, Ghosts, also co-written by King."  Oh, that explains it.
• $15,185,672, Needful Things
• $12,361,866, Silver Bullet "Silver Bullet divided opinion at the time but has slowly gained something of a cult following over the years."  count me in the cult.
• $13,086,297, Cats Eyes
• $14,568,989, Children of the Corn.  Don't we wish that had been the last dollar that franchise would make?
• $24,361,867, Dolores Claiborne.
• $17,080,167, Fire Starter
• $30,919,415, Hearts in Atlantis
• $28,341,469, The Shawhank Redemption
• $20,766,616, The Dead Zone
• $21,017,849, Christine
• £30,524,763, Sleepwalkers (say it ain't so!)
• $21,156,152, Cujo
• $21,028,755, Creepshow
• $32,100,816, The Lawnmower Man  "This sci-fi horror baffled audiences and divided critics at the time, but it still opened at number two in the box office behind Wayne’s World and spawned a sequel in the form of 1996’s Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace."  For the record, I really hated  this film.  I feel good about that.
• $38,122,105, The Running Man
• $59,006,619, Carrie 2013 "the film has already done decent business in the US and looks set to easily clear the $60 million mark."
• $57,293,715, The Mist
• $75, 715,436, Dreamcatcher.  No, I can't explain that.  "Even with a cast of names including Morgan Freeman, Damian Lewis and Jason Lee, the film dive-bombed at the American box office, although it did break even upon worldwide release."
• $57,469,467, Pet Sematary.
• $33,800,000, Carrie 1979
•  £61,276,872, Misery.
• $52,287,414, Stand By Me
• $92,913,171, Secret Window
• $44,017,374, The Shining
• $131,998,242, 1408.  This surprised me, since it's a film I really didn't think was very strong.  However,  it sure did make  strong showing at the box officer.
• $286,801,374, The Green Mile.

The full article is at skymovies.sky.com

Remember that photo. . .

Here are some old  photos making their rounds again. . .

On the set of The Green Mile. — with Frank Darabont and Tom Hanks.

This one is from Lilja's Library:

That's Not A Good End!

Ending a novel can gave a reader the euphoria of crossing the finish line after a hard run race.  Or it can be like running out of gas in the middle of no where.

Stephen King endings -- the thought alone can cause constant readers a little trauma.  It seems pretty well known that while Stephen King has given us some great stories, the endings sometimes leave the reader a little frustrated.

Sometimes King nails it!  He drives the story home with unusual skill.  He allows the characters and  plot to work together to bring about a breathtaking end.  Dolores Claiborne, The Shining and Salem's Lot all had what I considered  to be pretty satisfying endings.

There have also been times that King declined to really end a story.  The Mist is such an example.  King left the character driving into the mist, for the reader to choose their own adventure from there.  Also, the Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was a bit unclear at the end. I also liked the endings to the very dark stories in Full Dark No Stars.  The Green Mile played out nicely from beginning to end.  I think the pressure of having to write in serial was good for King.

Did Insomnia have an end?  I never got there.

Here are some endings I found weak:

Needful Things.  It ends with a video that Allan has to decide if he will watch or not.  The battle really isn't as big as we would think.  Polly takes on a pretty awesome spider, but it really doesn't pack the punch the rest of the novel did.  I liked it right up to the very end, it had played out so well, and then it just dropped off.

The Dark Tower.  I've gotten so therapeutic resolution over this from Bev  Vincnt, but the ending still troubles me.  My feelings run pretty deep on this not only because the books were so long -- and there were so many of them -- but they were so long in coming.  A little portion of my life was spent  thinking, "now when is the next Dark Tower book coming out?"  Then for it to end without the deep resolution I was hoping for left me disenchanted with the entire series for a while.  But there were  episodes I really loved!  I thinks some of King's best, and worst, writing appeared  in The Dark Tower  books.  The Wolves of the Calla was particularly delightful.

11/22/63.  Once again, loved the novel, hated the end.  We go a long ways with King waiting for the alternate history to play out -- but it never really does.  By the time King gives us a glimpse of what would have happened if Kennedy had lived, the events are marred by science fiction.  That is, we don't really get to see  the "what if" played out.  We have to put up with a strange world ripped apart by an overdose of time travel.  The giant earthquake changed everything, thus creating major events different from the timeline we are on now.  So the changes in political history really don't matter much, since nothing jives with our own timeline anyway.  Might as well be the history of Mars.

Cujo.  I liked the novel, but I liked the movie better because they changed the end.

Dreamcatcher.  I was really engaged with the first half of the novel, but when we began chasing aliens from point A to point B, I really got weary.

Thinner.  I don't think I should have to say more than that.

Firestarter.  Great book, but a troublesome ending.  I found it, as with others,  hollow  and even a little forced.  It did not have the tension I think King was looking for.

And in regard to the Talisman. . . that was a crazy way to end a book.

What is your favorite and least favorite endings to a Stephen King book?

Bev Vincent Hones In On YOU CAN'T KILL STEPHEN KING

Have you seen "You Can't Kill Stephen King" yet?  Yeah -- me either.  It seems the entire planet will get a peek before we lowly Americans.  To help those of us who just can't seem to get a copy, Bev Vincent has posted a great review at Fearnet.

My favorite quotes:

• I was pleasantly surprised. A Return to Salem’s Lot is a bad film. Creepshow 3 is a terrible film. You Can’t Kill Stephen King is fun. 
• The movie is littered with other King references, including: a disturbingly creepy clown (some things can never be un-seen); a boat named Christine; characters named Pangborn, Verrill, Dodd and Bachman; a host of quoted dialog from and references to Kubrick’s The Shining (Ronnie is reading the novel); and a tattoo in the shape of the Crimson King’s all-seeing eye.
• You Can’t Kill Stephen King has a wry sense of humor and it does an especially good job of building up false tension by relying on horror movie expectations.

Cheat Sheet Offers Their 5 Favorite SK Screen Adaptations

I like articles  that rank Stephen King works.  Not sure why -- except that I think it has something to do with the fact that this is completely subjective.  No one can actually say what the "best" are -- so everyone's opinion is good.

It's so random, list makers don't even have to be consistent with previous lists they've made.  That is my way of saying -- I'm sure I've listed what I think are the five best  adaptations, and so when I make the list again it might be different.

Wallstreet Cheat Sheet has a list of the 5 Best Stephen King Film Adaptations, by Thomas Mentel.  Yep, they choose five goodies!

5. Carrie.  

"In recent years, the film has continued to rank as one of the greatest horror movies of all time; director Quentin Tarantino has named the film among his favorites as recently as 2008. The consistent critical acclaim the film has received has led many to wonder why a second adaptation was necessary in the first place."   

Do we know why they remade it yet?  I'm still not sure.  I liked the remake -- but I'd rather they remake Needful Things.

4. Misery.  

"Bates would later go on to win both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Actress, while her turn as Wilkes placed the character at No. 17 on AFI’s list of the top 50 villains in the past 100 years. The scene in which Wilkes takes a sledgehammer to Sheldon’s ankles will forever be burned into the memories of moviegoers who were able to keep their eyes open."   

That's true, we will remember that moment forever.  However, the book was even better (of course.)  

This is from my MISERY Journal: (There are spoilers)

Now, for the worst part: The famous scene in which Annie breaks Paul's legs. . . that's not in the book.  No sir.  No leg breaking here.  It's worse -- fantastically worse.  Instead of breaking is legs,  she chops off his foot with an ax and cauterizes with a blowtorch.

What King is really good at is build up.  Annie doesn't just swing and ax and ouchie. . . Paul has a new boo-boo.  No, King builds  up to this.  It is painful as he watches Annie set up shop and prepare to do the deed.  More than that, there is a lot of dialogue here as Annie talks on and on.  And, she just happens to mention she gave him a pre-op shop.  As she rambles, the reader and Paul both wonder the same thing -- why did a serial killer just give Paul a pre-op shop?  What kind of operation is Mr. Sheldon in for? 

I would have thought so much talking without action would be a writing no-no. . . but it actually builds incredible suspense.  As a reader, you connect deeply with Paul because you are wondering, "Where's she going with this?  What's that crazy lady about to do?"
Once Annie has decided what she is going to do, and has explained to Paul why she's going to do it -- she drops into something like a trance.  She's no longer just crazy Annie, she is now deadly Annie. "he understood that when this was over, she would have only the vaguest memories of what she had done, as she had only the vaguest memories of killing the children and the old people and the terminal patients and Andrew Pomeroy."

3. Stand  By Me

"Stand By Me has garnered universal critical acclaim in the years since its release, and it was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 1986 Academy Awards. The film has notably left a sizable pop culture imprint, with references in all manners of entertainment, including an episode in The Simpsons in which Homer discovers a dead body."

 2. The Shawshank Redemption

"Although The Shawshank Redemption now firmly holds a spot in movie history, the film was not always the success it is today. Despite highly favorable reviews from critics and a slew of Oscar nominations — including Best Picture, Best Actor (Freeman), and Best Adapted Screenplay — the film’s box office performance of $28 million barely recouped the film’s budget, leading the film to be labeled a financial disappointment at the time of release. However, The Shawshank Redemption experienced an impressive resurgence on home video. Cable television, VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray have consistency lead to the film being one of the highest performers at home."

1. The Shining

Part of me sighs deeply at this point.  Does every list of Stephen King movies have to place the Shining on top?  Is it really the best of the best?  And do we always have to talk about King's dislike for this particular film?  You all tell me -- is The Shining the best?  Really?  I actually like the film a lot, but I don't find it terrifying.  

My five favorite:
1. Pet Sematary
2. Cujo
3. Carrie
4. The Green Mile
5. Stand By Me
And an honorable mention to The Shining.  But let's face it, it wasn't really much of an "adaptation" of the King novel.

Your turn. . .