Stephen King stories or books made into actual GOOD movies:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

Poll question: Stephen King stories or books made into actual GOOD movies:

I pretty much didn't care for the film versions of any of the others, including "The Shining" even though I mostly love Kubrick otherwise.

Always felt sad that TWO crappy movies have been made out of 'Salem's Lot, which still has the potential to be a GREAT vampire movie.

MANY short stories of his have serious great movie potential.

[CanuckAmok]

1. I liked "Quitter's Inc.", as one of the stories in "Cat's Eye".

The Stand was a pretty watchable movie, too.

EXCEPT....

Everybody's dying of the plague, right, and basically dropping dead after a few days' illness?

So, where are you going to spend your last few, agonising, fever-dreaming hours?

In bed.

Not, and I repeat, NOT in a Tilt-a-Whirl at the local carny.

I know it made for a sexy montage, but sick people generally don't go on amusement park junkets in the terminal stages of their ilness.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

5. I thought "Quitters, Inc" was better as the original short story than the

Cat's Eye version. If I recall, James Woods played the smoker and I usually love him. Just liked the way the original short story was written better.

I actually thought "Apt Pupil" was stronger in the movie version, some of the unnecessary excess from the story was trimmed. Good acting too.

[Tom Kitten]

2. Dolores Clairbone, The Stand

I did like the Shining myself because I thought it was creepy and I never read the book anyways...In fact the only King book I've read was the short story collection, was it called Night Zone? Whatever, there were some excellent stories there...

[Melodybe]

3. Gotta be Shawkshank but all were pretty faithful adaptations of the books

I never really dug Salem's Lot, but the book was still a hell of a lot better than the POS movie.

I also didn't really like the Shining, they took out all the story and made it into a crazy Jack piece.

I must say I completely agree with you though, on all counts.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. Yeah, Jack Nicholson was a bad choice for Jack Torrance... dude

was supposed to have an inner conflict with his alcoholism and other demons that he eventually loses (helped by the ghosts of the Overlook), not be all batshit crazy from the very beginning like Nicholson looked.

[CanuckAmok]

13. The TV movie was more faithful...

The one with Rebecca DeMornay, and the guy from "Wings". It was very close to the book, and had animated topiary, which is always a plus in my book.

I likes the Kubrick version of the Shining, though, just because I'm a Kubrick fan, and because it's just so damned creepy.

Although it's far less creepy now that the Simpsons parody is permanently etched into my brain:

"No TV and no beer make Homer...something, something..."

"Go crazy?"

"Don't mind if I do!!"

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

14. Ahhh, "The Shinnin'". "Urge to kill... rising..."

[XemaSab]

4. Shawshank

was changed a lot from the book.

I thought The Shining was the shit, for what it's worth...

[Melodybe]

6. What was different in the book? I remember them being mostly the same

except the gang rape scenes were graphically described in the book.

[RoyGBiv]

10. Among other things ...

"Red" was Irish and had red hair.

It wasn't so much changed as reinterpreted, which is probably the same thing, but I think of it more as a telling of the same story with various alterations.

[XemaSab]

16. I thought "Red"

was totally changed. Freeman sort of played the character as the "typical" sage black guy ("typical" because it's almost a film cliche--the black guy who is somehow a lot smarter and more put together than all the white people, and acts as a sort of mentor to the whites), while Red in the book is a much more conflicted character. I thought changing Red was a pretty big plot change, like they couldn't handle King's story on its own terms. Sort of "hollywoodized" it.

[RoyGBiv]

20. Yes ...

It wasn't just a physical change, although the physical change led to the change in the character himself. And, you're right. With how important Red is to the plot, changing him is a very important plot change.

[Melodybe]

17. Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that. I love Freeman in that role

He was so good that he made me forget that he wasn't the first Red, plus I saw the movie first. He was ROBBED for best supporting oscar that year, so was Robbins for that matter.

I gotta disagree with the DeMornay in the Shining, her casting was a bad choice, she is just creepy even though she fits the pretty blond description much better than Shelly Duvall.

Stephen King might be kinda washed up now, but he is one writer that will be remembered for hundreds of years. He may not be Poe but I don't think that saying his horror stories do approach that level of timelessness, is a stretch.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

22. A lot of great stuff, a lot not so great. I thought his early years ROCKED

He became such a legend and such a huge entity in publishing (remember this is before Tom Clancy, JK Rowling, Grisham etc.) that he was his own law and I think people were afraid or unwilling to edit him anymore.

One of the reasons I posted this is that I see many who have seen some of these movies, and some of the crappy ones, have never read anything he wrote, and might associate many of the cheezy movies with his books.

People deserve to read "Children of the Corn" independently of the B movie series it spawned.

And some of his best stuff is not even "horror" or supernatural, like "The Body" which became "Stand By Me".

I never saw the movie of "Firestarter" which was one of my favorite novels of his, or else I would have considered having it on the list.

[Melodybe]

26. Agreed you have to read the books or you are just missing out

I wish that they would redo IT. While I liked the casting in the TV movie, Tim Curry was PERFECT!!! That mini series just sucked!

Did King write Children of the Corn? I've seen the movie a million times.

I agree, once King got to be who he is noone would touch his first drafts. But then again he wrote all of his best stuff on coke so what can you do?

[RoyGBiv]

31. IT

Since I've mentioned it in almost every post I've made on this thread, I suppose I should just go ahead and say this is my favorite King novel. I read this book in four days during my sophomore year of college while working 40 hours a week, which considering the length is no small accomplishment. I mostly read it in the college library, which was an old building with strange twists and turns in the stairs, almost secret rooms, and sounds that just didn't seem natural. I was, to be blunt, freaked right the hell out by it.

But what got to me, more than the supernatural horror aspects, was how real it was in every other way. I identified heavily with the character Mike, the historian who stayed home and was the first to remember. At the time, I was the one among my group of friends who had "stayed home," and I was a budding historian, and I had dug up in my spare time all kinds of nasty little secrets about the small town in which we had come to know each other. It was so personal to me and that is what scared me.

Tim Curry was the perfect Pennywise, and the casting in general wasn't bad. But the story, as told in the movie, was just plain bad. I identified with no one. I felt nothing. In short, I was bored.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

32. There's a lot in 'Salem's Lot about small towns and their secrets too.

The town is in a sense the main character of the story.

[Melodybe]

36. Hands down IT is my favorite King novel, I also read it in college.

I thought that the kids in the movie were perfect but the adults seemed miscast.

Tim Curry isn't that old and he would be in heavy makeup anyway, if they wanted to they could remake it and use him again.

They could release it in the theatres Kill Bill style, in 2 pieces.

Gotta agree with ya though, they gutted the story for the TV version.

[RoyGBiv]

28. I totally agree ...

I have the exact same thoughts.

Regarding your comments on "The Body," etc., I view this in a larger context. I think many of his stories, horror or not, are of a similar type. Some simply have the horror elements that firmly attach them to that genre. It's what sold those short stories and novels, but the real stories he wanted to write were of the weird, yet genuine things that go on in our lives and how horrific they are. Again I refer to _It_. Yeah, it's a story about a killer clown, but deep down, it's a story about willful ignorance, bigotry, and the bonds of friendship.

[Melodybe]

30. It is the scariest book I have ever read!

Never in all my life have I been more terrifed of turning the page.

I get shivers just thinking about Bev looking down the sink :scared:

Horrifying, simply horrifying.

[RoyGBiv]

38. Ohgod ...

I just got chills *reading* you saying "Bev looking down the sink."

Geezus, it's too late at night for this. Then again, maybe it's just right. :-)

[Melodybe]

43. I read it in a day in a half, I only put it down to eat. There was no

sleeping for me that night and it was about this time of night when I read that sceen.

Horror novels during the moonlite hours is how they are suppose to be read.

Damn they need to remake IT.

[RoyGBiv]

42. Random comment ...

Have you read _Dreamcatcher_?

I enjoyed it, but wasn't just overwhelmed. However, there's one part of the book that terrified me, further indicating just how deeply _It_ affected me.

The main character is in Maine, battling with the alien presence trying to get into his mind's inner rooms, and they're heading to a place where the water supply can be "infected" with the red bloom. I'm thinking all this time that this is not good ... they're in bad territory. And then I see the word "standpipe," which makes my blood run cold, and finally, there it is, written on the top of the page, describing something the main character sees but doesn't understand ...

Pennywise Lives

I just about lost my cookies.

[Melodybe]

47. Didn't read Dream Catcher but King has said that all his books are

connected. Damn Pennywise, you knew that his ass wasn't really dead. Scary!

I guess they just chased him out of town, I mean can you ever really kill bigotry and hatred? As long as they survive I guess Pennywise will too.

[RoyGBiv]

49. Excellent point ...

I'm all covered with goosebumps now. I know I should try to sleep, but I have this feeling a clown with razor sharp teeth is just waiting outside my door. :-)

[Melodybe]

50. NO! Stop it! I'm thinking of Tim Curry in Oscar with Stallone!

Dip thongs DIP THONGS!! Hel-lo!

As I said IT is the scariest book ever, King totally has his place with the horror masters.

[RoyGBiv]

51. Tim Curry ...

I'm maintaining by thinking of Spamalot. This is a total tangent (sorry) but he played King Arthur in Spamalot, and I was lucky enough to get tickets to this show for my birthday.

That play was hilarious, one of the funniest things I have ever seen. But, in the back of my mind, I saw Pennywise as he battle the black knight. He was quite good in _It,_ and it's a shame the movie as a whole didn't do his performance justice.

[Melodybe]

52. Lucky bastard! I hear there were new songs and Python members

in cameos.

Curry is Pennywise, that happens sometimes. Just like that kid who played Nepolean Dynomite, he's never living that one down. It's a great movie BTW.

Just one of those instances where the actor and the role perfectly fit.

[CanuckAmok]

8. I never read "The Green Mile", but I thought the movie was good.

Clever story, emotional performances.

[ghostsofgiants]

9. The Shining

I've never read the book (or any King book for that atter) so I wouldn't be able to make the decision based on that. All I know is that The Shining remains one of my all time favourite films.

[RoyGBiv]

11. The movie is totally different ...

They are only barely the same story. I like both the movie and the book, but I don't think of them as the same thing.

[XemaSab]

18. they're more similar

than a lot of King's books/movies.

A lot of the back story and plot details are missing, but the "feeling" is similar, IMHO.

[RoyGBiv]

24. I think I understand ...

I think I can understand where you're coming from. At the very least, Kubrick held true the pyschological horror aspects of the novel, which is not the case with most of his novels-turned-movies.

But, I can't get past the fact that the ending isn't even the same. And I just don't like the animated hedges being reinterpreted into a hedge maze. And as you said, the backstory is missing to a large extent, and in my view, without the backstory, the "current" story is entirely different.

[XemaSab]

29. this is true

Frankly, I can't fathom why filmmakers decide to make a film out of a book, and change things like, well, the ending.

[Melodybe]

23. You really can't, Kubrick's movie is about cabin fever, while the book

is about ghosts.

I did think that Apt pupil was a pretty good adaptation, both McKellan and Renfro were super scary.

I also like the movie ending better with Apt Pupil, it left more to the imagination.

King books not to be missed are IT, the Stand, Misery, Carrie, Different Seasons, and the Shining. I never read the Bachman books but I have friends that swear by them.

The Tommyknockers was a scary but then ended poorly.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

25. "Thinner" (Bachman) is a damned good story. Didn't read the others

("Running Man?")

[Systematic Chaos]

12. Impossible to pick just one off that list

"The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption" are both incredible.

"Misery" is, too, and Kathy Bates deserved that oscar.

The TV mini-series of "The Stand" was very good, but they probably could have made it an 8- or 10-day event just to include sooooo many things that had to be left out of the version they did make, and it would not have gotten boring at all.

The TV version of "The Shining" is also stellar. As for the first movie, a good friend of mine and I agree that it's better to treat that one as a whole separate event and try not to make any comparisons to the book. It's watchable that way, at least. Otherwise it's absolute trash.

"Pet Sematary" wasn't too awfully bad, as I recall.

On edit: I seem to remember watching a remake of "Carrie" on TV a year or so ago, that had a happier ending. I thought it was pretty good considering the liberties that were taken with it, and the original is also.

[bridgit]

15. other ~ needful things

[Melodybe]

27. True that both the movie and the book were good.

Max Von Sidow was great as the shop owner/devil.

[RoyGBiv]

19. Shawshank and The Body ...

Both were good movies. I think it's not coincidental that his stories that don't fit perfectly within the horror genre make the best movies.

King's talent is partly the way he draws the reader into the story through very personal identification with the characters, and this does not come through in the movies. The example I generally use is _It_. The scene where Georgie dies is typical television horror, which is to say predictable and boring and lacking the genuine human elements. In the book, it's an emotional drama that strings you along until you're just as traumatized as all the kids eventually were.

Another rather subtle scene from _It_, which I think makes the book, actually shows up in the movie but not in a way that makes any impact. The point of the scene is that this small, idyllic town has dirty secrects that no one wants to acknowledge, and that lack of acknowledgement has deadly consequences. The specifics involve a kid being attacked by Pennywise, an elderly person sitting on the porch and witnessing it, after which the witness just goes inside and locks the door. Hey, as long as he isn't after me, I'm not getting involved. The movie doesn't explore that. It's just shock horror.

[Kire]

21. Graveyard Shift

NOT!

[Placebo]

33. Why is 'Apt Pupil' on there???

This poll is just like the Oscars, Stanley Kubrick still gets no love.

THE SHINING all the way.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

34. Cause it's my poll and I didn't like the Kubrick "Shining." Even though

it's a memorable film, he essentially took the framework of the King story and did his own thing entirely with it.

[Placebo]

35. 'Carrie' and 'Stand By Me' over 'THE SHINING'?

:wow:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

37. Um yes.

[Placebo]

40. Um no.

:hi:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

44. chacun a son gout...

[Melodybe]

39. Different strokes yo, but Sissy Spacek for Carrie was an aweful choice

Carrie is suppose to be fat with zits.

Stand By me is a classic, as is the movie the Shining, but it is NOT a faithful adaptation of the book so I'll agree that you have to look at them as 2 different stories.

[Placebo]

41. Even so.

Visually and story wise, even 'The Shining' the film blows some of these others out of the water.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

45. That's the funny thing about taste, it's not an absolute thing...

[terrya]

46. "The Dead Zone" was decent.

David Cronenberg directed, with Christopher Walken starting in the title role. Good adaptation of the book.

[Melodybe]

48. Haven't read or seen the movie but Walken is creepy

I can see him fitting in a king character.