Best adaptation of a Stephen King story?

[_testify_]

Subject: Best adaptation of a Stephen King story?
Message:
I was going to make it a poll, but there's been so many!

Some of the ones I feel were well done:

Dolores Claiborne
Shawshank Redemption
The Green Mile
Cujo
1408 (just watched it last nite)
Misery
Stand By Me

Some of the ones better left alone:

Children of the Corn
Dreamcatcher
It
The Langoliers
and many, many more...

Which ones do YOU like?

[Connonym]

1. Shawshank Redemption definitely

[_testify_]

2. I've always been slightly amazed

at how his non-horror fiction is so much better, or at least makes better movies...

[sarge43]

3. Dead Zone. n/t

[_testify_]

7. Forgot about that one!

I just took a peek at a list of all the movies...good gravy there's so many I forgot!

[DerekG]

17. The Dead Zone is still the pinnacle

Cronenberg and co. sheared away much of the novel's excess and refashioned it into a work at once morose and uplifting--with Christopher Walken at center, giving what has to be the genre's most soulful performance since Karloff's Monster.

This is exactly how an adaptation should be handled.

[sarge43]

20. Agree.

and there's Sheen's performance. Plus, Cronenberg caught the bleak beauty of New England which added so much.

[zingaro]

4. I'll second your list.

Cujo is the *only* movie that's ever made me shriek out loud in a movie theater. Oh I am shuddering just thinking of it.

My favorite book, as an experience, was It - even moreso than The Stand - but the movie adaptation couldn't do it justice. Even with Tim Curry.

I have yet to see 1408. Thanks for the reminder.

[_testify_]

6. The Stand is near the top of my list as far as his books.

'It' isn't far behind either...

Do you like his Dark Tower series?

[zingaro]

13. oh I do very much.

And I'm embarrassed to say that I just found out after reading your post that I haven't read the last two in the series.

Guess I'm headed to the library. :)

He's just a genius, kwim? I know The Stand is The First Choice for lots of King fans. I do love The Stand, but It just does it for me.

[_testify_]

15. Prepare yourself.

That's all I'm saying :)

[zingaro]

16. aww now see what you did?

Now I'm going to RUN to the library.

Triggering my OCD like that, it's just not nice :rofl:

[lost-in-nj]

12. No monsters under tadders bed....

This movie scared the crap out of me.....
I think because it could really happen.....


:scared: :scared:



lost

[zingaro]

14. Yeah. Totally.

I was bitten by a dog when I was two and so I was always a little phobic. That moment where that giant frothing rabid hellhound leaps through the kitchen window was way over the top for me. Seriously, I started to shake and freak out lol

And for the record? I only saw it just that once.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

5. Misery

creeped me out forever....

I hid behiond a blanket like a 6 year old....

Waaaaaa!

[_testify_]

9. I love Kathy Bates.

Which is why Dolores Claiborne was so great, IMO...

But yeah, Misery is terrifying in that 'this could EASILY happen' sense!

[soleft]

8. Seems like his dramas always do better than horror stories

Shawshank, Stand By Me, Delores Clayborn to me are superior to Pet Semetary, It, even the Shining.

[_testify_]

10. Absolutely.

I remarked about that upthread. I think maybe it's easier to adapt?

[soleft]

11. Yes, I saw that after I posted. With exception of Kubrick

perhaps the directors they hire for dramas are just better film makers.

[Midlodemocrat]

18. The Shining.

[ghostsofgiants]

19. I've never read the book, but I do adore that film.

[Midlodemocrat]

22. The book is fantastic, but I'm a huge Stephen King fan.

I love just about everything he's ever written. :hi:

[ghostsofgiants]

33. And I am a big Kubrick fan, haha.

[ceile]

21. Dolores Claiborne for sure.

My favorite King book and favorite King movie. Misery is a very close second.

[_testify_]

26. Every time it's on TV

I watch it from wherever I tuned in until its over...

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

23. Mr. DTBK LOVES "Needful Things"

I think it's a good one, too. I guess my favorites are "Shawshank," "Misery" & "Claiborne." We did "The Dead Zone" and "Tommyknockers" too.

[Richard Steele]

24. "Da Runnink Mahn" vas an aahsum moshawn pictsha, ya?

:hide:

[zingaro]

27. I'd buy THAT for a dollar!

[_testify_]

28. Heheh

It was a great story, just poorly executed on the screen.

[Richard Steele]

29. Yeah, it was one of those raare films where...

I liked it because of how good it COULD HAVE BEEN;
because the movie running IN MY HEAD when I watch
it is only slighly different, but pretty darn good.

[Va Lefty]

25. "The Body" AKA Stand by Me

Much of the dialog in Stand By Me is taken verbatim from the short story "The Body". Shawshank was an excellent movie but deviated form the short story on 2 key points: 1) Tommy (the young inmate who Andy helps get his GED) is not killed in the story, but transfered to another prison closer to his family. and 2) The warden does not commit suicide in the book. Instead he is a broken man who retires shortly after Andy's escape trying to figure out how Andy outsmarted him.

[SacredCow]

31. I liked both of those adaptdations....

Of the 4 stories in the collection I definitely enjoyed "Apt Pupil" the most. However, the movie that was made of that was a HUGE steaming pile.

[Allenberg]

36. I agree.

The movie was terrible, with the exception of Sir Ian McKellen.

[azmouse]

30. 'Salem's Lot

I'm re-reading the book after many years. The movie made from it in the early '80s was way better than the book. The movie weeded out all the extra junk that King always seems to include in his stories.

[_testify_]

34. There's a great short story in one of his collections...

I think it's Nightmares and Dreamscapes...but it's a related story called Jerusalem's Lot, sort of a prequel. I liked it, but then again I'm a sucker for tie-ins.

[AngryOldDem]

32. Stand By Me, hands down. n/t

[graywarrior]

35. Shawshank

[Beer Snob-50]

37. i saw firestarter the other night and hated it

the green mile, misery, and stand by me are my favorites.

[XemaSab]

38. Stand By Me, Misery, and The Shining

were all around good films. :)

I thought they changed too much stuff in Shawshank. :shrug:

Virtually all the other movies I've seen have been pretty bad. :P