The Stephen King Thread

[squeekness]

Really? I rather liked it even if it did end a little weakly.

 

[Rocketman]

Not sure where I read it, but I've heard that The Tommyknockers is pretty much the most hated book of his career, among fans. King also hates the book. I've never read it myself... but the movie wasn't so bad. It definitely makes me curious to read it, though, if nothing else than to see the quality of his coked-up writing.

Speaking of which, those "god-awful made-for-TV movies" that everyone hates? I rather like all of them. And call me crazy, but Mick Garris isn't that bad. I think his adaptations of "The Stand" and "The Shining" were rather good.

"Rose Red"
"Storm of the Century"
"It"
"The Langoliers"

All of these movies were good, regardless if they strayed from the source material. King himself endorsed "The Stand" Miniseries, and even wrote the screenplay for it. He even liked it. So I think the hate is unjustified.

 

[Victarion]

The Stand is watchable, and I enjoyed Rose Red. I understand there's a character in Storm of the Century who may be Walter O'Dim?

After reading IT, the movie is honestly underwhemling.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I loved The Stand and The Langoliers. I don't think I've seen any of the other made-for-TV adaptations.

 

[StrainedEyes]

I thought The Shining miniseries was pretty good. The CGI hedge animals are terrible, but the rest is pretty well done for a tv movie.

 

[Superman]

The Shining TV movie was much closer to the book than the old Shining movie. Still not as good as the book but it was closer.

 

[GoblinWhirlwind]

Honestly the only King movie I've watched is The Mist. I watched part of IT, and some of The Langoliers on SyFy once, but the little girl annoyed me so I stopped. I like the story though, it's in Four Past Midnight with several other good stories. I'd love to see The Library Policeman adapted, after how great TWD is, King stories really need to get tv miniseries.

Sure doesn't seem like we'll be seeing any on the big screen

 

[Superman]

Honestly the only King movie I've watched is The Mist. I watched part of IT, and some of The Langoliers on SyFy once, but the little girl annoyed me so I stopped. I like the story though, it's in Four Past Midnight with several other good stories. I'd love to see The Library Policeman adapted, after how great TWD is, King stories really need to get tv miniseries.

Sure doesn't seem like we'll be seeing any on the big screen

Ummm You do know that most of King's early books have been made into big screen movies, Right???

In fact almost all of King's major books have been made into movies, Either made for TV and/or big screen.

 

[Rocketman]

Most of King's work hasn't made it to the big screen (or little screen).
I bolded the ones that (I feel) should be adapted ASAP:

Rage
Roadwork
The Long Walk
"The Breathing Method" (From Different Seasons)
"The Library Policeman" (From Four Past Midnight)
"The Sun Dog" (From Four Past Midnight)
Gerald's Game
The Regulators
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Rose Madder
Insomnia
From a Buick 8
Cell
Lisey's Story
Blaze
Duma Key
Under the Dome
11-22-63
The Talisman
Black House
The Eyes of the Dragon
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower

 

[:eek:]

Cool version of The Shining:

http://www.thedarktower.org/?page=theshiningproject

 

[GoblinWhirlwind]

I want The Dark Tower, IT, The Stand, From a Buick 8, The Sun Dog, The Library Policeman and Salem's Lot. It'd be awesome if they could get a King cinematic universe going. If they can churn out a Twilight movie every year, they can damn well adapt some good books to movies with ease.

 

[rnewbz]

There's a special coming on tonight on TCM

http://www.tcm.com/horror/

 

[childeroland]

Most of King's work hasn't made it to the big screen (or little screen).
I bolded the ones that (I feel) should be adapted ASAP:

Rage
Roadwork
The Long Walk
"The Breathing Method" (From Different Seasons)
"The Library Policeman" (From Four Past Midnight)
"The Sun Dog" (From Four Past Midnight)
Gerald's Game
The Regulators
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Rose Madder
Insomnia
From a Buick 8
Cell
Lisey's Story
Blaze
Duma Key
Under the Dome
11-22-63
The Talisman
Black House
The Eyes of the Dragon
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower

Under the Dome is being made into a miniseries, I think, with Spielberg. Eli Roth was supposed to be doing Cell, but I think he dropped it. Is Darabont still developing The Long Walk? I'd love to see that too, along with The Running Man. I could have sworn I heard somewhere that someone was doing Tom Gordon.

 

[squeekness]

^^ Any of those you bolded would be a joy to watch.

 

[Rocketman]

Gerald's Game never being a movie is one that really surprises me, because it's such an original, odd, creepy scenario. And regardless of the main backbone of

Spoiler

The whole novel is basically in the wife's head

... It would still be a crazy movie.

A husband and wife of 20 years decide to get a little kinky in the bedroom, and the husband handcuffs the wife to the bed. The wife then discovers that her husband of 20 years is actually a psychotic sex animal who she feels physically threatened by, so she defends herself by kicking him. He has a heart attack, dies on the bedroom floor, and the wife is stuck handcuffed to the bed, and no one is able to save her at all. She has to survive without going crazy, and random flashbacks of her life creep into her head. She's all alone in a secluded cabin where they were going to spend the weekend, and presumably, nobody knew they went out there.

I mean, that's horror.

To me, horror isn't about a killer in a mask chasing you with a knife. That's for teenagers to cuddle and laugh while texting in the theater. That's not horror. That's popcorn BS. Horror is when you're a woman who just discovered that your husband of 20 years is a sexual deviant, and you accidentally killed him by defending yourself, and now you're stuck handcuffed to a bed with no one to help you.

 

[Secret Fawful]

No studio would back a project like that, sadly.

 

[Rocketman]

No studio would back a project like that, sadly.

Hence, why it's never happened.

 

[:eek:]

I want The Dark Tower, IT, The Stand, From a Buick 8, The Sun Dog, The Library Policeman and Salem's Lot. It'd be awesome if they could get a King cinematic universe going. If they can churn out a Twilight movie every year, they can damn well adapt some good books to movies with ease.

Well, honestly, it's all about money. If Hollywood has to choose between adapting an extremely popular novel or something more critically acclaimed you can bet they go with the first one most of the times. Sure Stephen King is a popular writer. But he hardly has the fanatic fans that young adult stories like Harry Potter and Twilight has.

 

[GoblinWhirlwind]

Yeah, I mean I wouldn't expect even single story to break records as a movie, but something like the Dark Tower? That could be huge. Get solid talent into it, great direction... hell, see if they could get Clint Eastwood to direct a part.

Personally, I'm just sick of boy wizards and sad excuses for vampires seeming like the only books that can get adapted. There are more books in the world than stuff in the "young adult" section. Let's get a gunslinger on the big screen.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'd love to see Rage as a movie. I don't know how it'd ever get past the MPAA or distributed or even funded, but I'd love to see it.

 

[Lighthouse]

I'd love to see Rage as a movie. I don't know how it'd ever get past the MPAA or distributed or even funded, but I'd love to see it.

If I remember correctly, King hates that book too.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, that's silly. It's pretty good.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

He doesn't hate it, he just grew uncomfortable with the thought that it might inspire more school shootings and preferred to let it go out of print.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Eh, I can understand that. Which is also why I doubt we'll ever see a movie of it. But I liked the story and the questions it raised.

 

[Rocketman]

On the topic of King being uncomfortable with Rage, if you notice, King never writes any "realistic" horror situations, only realistic characters. In other words, real people in unreal circumstances (most of the time). It, Carrie, Tommyknockers, Cujo, Cell, Pet Sematary, Salem's Lot, Cycle of the Werewolf, The Shining, Under the Dome, all pertaining to ghosts, aliens, demons, zombies, imaginary clowns, possessed cats, vampires, werewolves, invisible force-fields, telekinesis / psychic abilities, and so on.

Basically, almost nothing he writes would really encourage behavior from, say, teenagers who want to mimic his characters. There's nothing to mimic because King (usually) writes impossible fantasy antagonists. But in Rage, a high school kid who becomes a school-shooter is as REAL as it gets. So I see the problem there. It's unlike King to have a novel like that in his repertoire, and is probably the only one that actually could encourage mimicking behavior - because it's possible.