Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

Stephen King Adaptations

Luckylyn

By Luckylyn
in Movies

  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

Luckylyn

Luckylyn

  • Author

I loved Storm of the Century.  It was so compelling, scary, and the conclusion was really heart wrenching. 

 

I finally read Cell and am hoping the movie version improves it.  The book could be clunky at times especially the exposition about the tech, but I did appreciate the ending which left it to the reader to figure out what might happen next.

 

I'm still waiting for adaptations of Eyes of the Dragon and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

 

Is there any word of a possible Dr. Sleep movie?  I wonder if the iconic status of Kubrick's Shinning makes doing a film of the sequel too tricky since Kubrick changed key things.  Stephen King makes a point at the beginning of Dr. Sleep that it's the sequel to his book and not Kubrick's Shinning. 

  • Love 1
  • Replies 237
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

Jediknight
Jediknight

That slide machine part, that's perfectly fine I didn't need to sleep ever again.

Spartan Girl
Spartan Girl

I. Hate. Clowns.

FozzyBear
FozzyBear

I watched Carrie (the OG 1970s one) again last night as part of my Halloween viewing schedule. I'm always struck by what a warm open hearted movie that is. No! I'm seriouse! Stay with me! Sue and Tomm

Posted Images

Cobalt Stargazer

Cobalt Stargazer

(edited)

I finally read Cell and am hoping the movie version improves it.  The book could be clunky at times especially the exposition about the tech, but I did appreciate the ending which left it to the reader to figure out what might happen next.

 

I really enjoyed Cell, and the stuff about the tech didn't bother me. It's no more implausible than a book about Y2K where everything really does go boom, although probably with less zombiefication.

 

Do TV movies count? Because I'm looking forward to tonight's Big Driver, even though it's on Lifetime and I'm wondering how much of the source material will be cut. Maria Bello is a little underrated as an actress IMO, and I think she'll do a fine job in the lead role.

Edited by Cobalt Stargazer
  • Love 1
Luckylyn

Luckylyn

  • Author

Any Stephen King adaptation tv or film is welcome for discussion here as far as I know.  I didn't know Big Driver was a Stephen King story.  I will check it out.

 

I think Cell starts out strong but gets clunky in spots along the way.  The ideas for the tech I can swallow.   It's the way the conversations about it were written and inserted into the story that I think didn't quite work as well as it could have.

Ceindreadh

Ceindreadh

 

The Salem's Lot tv movie with David Soul was veddy veddy scary to me......

 

When Salem's Lot aired first I saw part of the first half and was freaked out by the floating kid.

Watched it all the way through a few years later as a teenager and ended up leaving a bible on my bedside table for a few nights.  (my sister - supposedly the 'sensible' one, slept with a few cloves of garlic!)

  • Love 1
FozzyBear

FozzyBear

I watched Carrie (the OG 1970s one) again last night as part of my Halloween viewing schedule. I'm always struck by what a warm open hearted movie that is. No! I'm seriouse! Stay with me! Sue and Tommy are actual nice kids! Sure they act like asshole teenagers in the beginning, but once they are clued into how isolated and lonely Carrie is they act like nice kids. Sue never has a moment of jealousy over Tommy and Carrie even though she sees them kiss on stage and Tommy, once he gets to know Carrie, seams actually smitten with her. In fact most of the kids are pretty decent to Carrie at prom and really try to make amends for being such assholes to her. If I forget where all this is going Carrie and Tommy at prom actually fulfills all my nerdy high school dreams about THAT BOY finally realizing what a catch I am. It makes it all the more horrifying and tragic when it goes so very bad. You're so close to a happy ending and then the bucket of pig's blood and all the death. That's one of the things I love about King's writing, his sympathy for the characters he creates and his understanding of how 1 or 2 bad apples(fuck you Chris!) can really bring about tragedy. King really was the OG anti-bulling message and how even one bully can cause a telekinetic girl to burn down an entire town so be decent to everybody. Or at least that's what I get from it.

  • Love 5
Sharpie66

Sharpie66

(edited)

I read Carrie when I was 12, and really loved it. It was the first time I had ever read something that mixed up its POV by being a mashup of "source material," including ones that aren't reliable. I also loved it when King did the same thing in The Dead Zone. I wished that the movies would have had a similar mixed up perspective.

Edited by Sharpie66
  • Love 1
stonehaven

stonehaven

Just saw A Good Marriage..and it felt like a Lifetime Movie but with better acting..

I find it ironic that Anthony Lapalgia was the serial killer when one of my favorite episodes of Without a Trace dealt with a woman who finds out her husband is a serial killer...

Yet, this took a different tack..yes, it was slow but it was a study of people....and it made me wonder what I would really do...and then sigh with relief that I am still single...

methodwriter85

methodwriter85

(edited)

James Franco is going to be Jake Epping in 11/22/63? The hell?

 

The guy IS a good actor and he's the right age, but I really thought they were going to go with a guy who had an "everyman" quality. Someone like James Wolk would've been perfect.

 

I don't really see how it'd be possible to continue the story  for multiple seasons...but we'll see.

Edited by methodwriter85
  • Love 1
FurryFury

FurryFury

The wheel of ka turns: The Dark Tower megaproject may be back on again, this time at Sony.

 

Ugh. I'm a big fan of the books (well, the first 4), and I really, really do not want to see them adapted. This is not ASOIAF, written by an ex-TV writer and relatively easily adaptable (at least at first). The Dark Tower is almost guaranteed to fail, especially on big screen. I was so glad when Abrams realized it a few years ago, and then when Howard's project seemingly died too... Oh well.

Maharincess

Maharincess

I just found this thread and I'm loving it! Laid up after surgery and am being kept from severe boredom by all of you.

I just want to add my 2 cents. In my opinion Thinner was the worst Steven King movie. I really liked the book but thought the movie was terrible.

Carrie and The Shining are my favorites. They are what I call "end of the bed movies", meaning I'm walking by the TV and notice one of them is on so I forget what I'm doing and sit on the end of the bed and watching it.

I'm sure that makes absolutely no sense. I blame the pain killers!

Thanks for the entertainment.

  • Love 2
methodwriter85

methodwriter85

(edited)

Will Poulter is the new Pennywise. I'm digging it.

 

Are they going to keep it a period piece or are they updating it, with "present day" being 2016 (or whatever) and the kid's childhoods being in 1986?

 

I will be so pissed if they try to Giver-it and make the kids teenagers. Ugh. Please, please don't. I can take a slight 14-year old playing 12. I can't take hunky 25-year olds playing "16." As Super 8 showed, you can do a story about kids and not have to turn them into oversexed high school juniors in order to have a big hit!

 

On the other end, I'll be annoyed if they try to reduce the thirty-year time lap for the purpose of casting Jennifer Lawrence for Beverly or something. LOL.

 

I mean, I'd take the latter over the former, if we must have characters in their 20's or 30's. However, this needs to stay about childhood fears. If you make these kids teenagers, it's basically just a rip-off of Nightmare on Elm Street.

Edited by methodwriter85
  • Love 1
Hybridcookie

Hybridcookie

(edited)

About that scene, I'm spoiler tagging just in case:

 

I think they're about 12, and that scene happens after they sort of (but not really) defeat the creature when they're kids. Defeating the creature, they can feel themselves forgetting/slipping away from each other, so they all have sex with Beverley as way of connection.

From TV Tropes: 'In the novel, the gang, drained of energy after their first encounter with It in Its lair in the sewers, re-power themselves by losing their virginity with Bev. Is it emotionally significant to the story? Yes, but it's still a bunch of children having sex one after the other in a sewer'

It lasts about 5 1/2 pages, but only her encounters with 2 of the boys are described

Edited by Hybridcookie
  • Love 1
millennium

millennium

(edited)

A LOT of King's stories have an undercurrent of child molestation or too-early sexual development (when it's not spelled out right on the page, as in this novel). Enough that I've often wondered if he's working out issues of real-world abuse in his past.

 

King's reliance on the theme of child molestation has become embarrassing.      His great works -- Carrie, Salem's Lot, Night Shift, The Stand, Dead Zone, Different Seasons,  Pet Sematary and Skeleton Crew -- contain scarcely a whisper of it.    If it truly was an "issue" of his, I would think it would have emerged somewhere in those books.   But it never did.  

 

The first time I can recall him using child molestation was in "The Library Policeman" in Four Past Midnight.   I was disgusted by it at the time, not only due to the subject matter, but by the inescapable feeling that King was employing it as a gimmick to make a shitty story seem more significant.   He seems to have developed a dependency on it since then.   It's his go-to bogeyman these days when he finds himself unable to create or sustain an atmosphere of convincing horror. 

 

He himself said many years ago:

 

 

 

“I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud. ”

 

I just read Dr. Sleep.   The conversation between Dick O'Halloran and 8-year-old Danny about child molestation was repulsive.   No man would ever speak so graphically to one so young about something so awful.   It was grossly inappropriate and jarred me right out of the story.   I am convinced King employed it for shock value alone. 

 

Overall, Dr. Sleep was just terrible.  

 

It's a pity Stephen King has no one close enough or brave enough to tell him that it's over.

I loved Storm of the Century.  It was so compelling, scary, and the conclusion was really heart wrenching. 

 

 

I have always regretted that Storm of the Century was never written as a novel.  

I can't imagine any adaptation keeping that moment. Ugh.

 

That was the cherry (no pun intended) atop the steaming pile of shit that was IT.

Edited by millennium
millennium

millennium

(edited)

I wouldn't call It a pile of shit. It did have a few well-written, engaging moments (I especially love the ending). But that scene was absolutely unneeded and felt more like a gimmick, yes.

 

But see, novels aren't about  moments.   That's the problem.   It's supposed to be a cohesive, credible, evolving story.   To say it had a few engaging moments is the equivalent of going to see a blockbuster movie and coming away with "well, it had some good effects."   It doesn't carry the day for me.

 

Reminds me of Lisey's Story, one of King's colossal failures.   The only good thing was the story within the story, about the father, the two brothers and the basement.   He should have scrapped the rest and gone with that story alone.   Even though I liked that part of the novel, the best I can say for the book as a whole is that it was abysmal.

Edited by millennium
Schweedie

Schweedie

I've always loved It the novel, in all of its 1100-page glory.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of Will Poulter as Pennywise. It's true he's got a very distinctive look, but his age just makes me doubtful. Then again no one will ever measure up to Tim Curry for me, so perhaps going for someone entirely different is the right move. I do think a new adaption with better effects could be fun, though! (If 'fun' is the right word.)

 

I often think about how The Long Walk, my favourite of King's books, could be done. A part of me really, really wants to see it, but another part knows it probably wouldn't work.

  • Love 1
Luckylyn

Luckylyn

  • Author

I often think about how The Long Walk, my favourite of King's books, could be done. A part of me really, really wants to see it, but another part knows it probably wouldn't work.

Frank Darabont has the rights to The Long Walk but hasn't gone forward with it.     I do think it could be adapted with creativity like what Danny Boyle did for 127 Hours.   Plus, intercutting what the tv coverage for something like that would be could be some awesome dark satire.

  • Love 1
Schweedie

Schweedie

Frank Darabont has the rights to The Long Walk but hasn't gone forward with it.     I do think it could be adapted with creativity like what Danny Boyle did for 127 Hours.   Plus, intercutting what the tv coverage for something like that would be could be some awesome dark satire.

 

Good point about 127 Hours. That was James Franco stuck under a rock for most of the movie, and it was certainly gripping enough! I remember reading that Darabont had the rights to The Long Walk and not being sure whether to be excited or worried about the possibility. But yeah, adding stuff like television coverage and commentary, the way they did with the Hunger Games, would be interesting. That was one of the things I enjoyed about the way they adapted that film, getting out of Katniss' head and seeing the other stuff - that could work for The Long Walk, too. (The ironic thing is that this would probably be seen as a copy of the Hunger Games now, despite it being so much older.)

 

I wonder if they'd allow for the Walk to just be a walk, or if they'd try to add more action to it. There isn't a whole lot of action in the book and it doesn't need it, but I wonder if they'd trust an audience not to be bored with it the way it is.

  • Love 1
millennium

millennium

This article surmises that the project's probably dead.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/it-remake-indefinitely-pushed-back/2015/05/26/5f6b9d8a-0387-11e5-93f4-f24d4af7f97d_story.html


Good point about 127 Hours. That was James Franco stuck under a rock for most of the movie, and it was certainly gripping enough! I remember reading that Darabont had the rights to The Long Walk and not being sure whether to be excited or worried about the possibility. But yeah, adding stuff like television coverage and commentary, the way they did with the Hunger Games, would be interesting. That was one of the things I enjoyed about the way they adapted that film, getting out of Katniss' head and seeing the other stuff - that could work for The Long Walk, too. (The ironic thing is that this would probably be seen as a copy of the Hunger Games now, despite it being so much older.)

 

I wonder if they'd allow for the Walk to just be a walk, or if they'd try to add more action to it. There isn't a whole lot of action in the book and it doesn't need it, but I wonder if they'd trust an audience not to be bored with it the way it is.

 

Not all books are meant to be movies.   Sometimes I wish they'd just leave certain stories alone.   But they'd make a movie out of King's grocery list if he handed it over to them.

SoSueMe

SoSueMe

(edited)

Having younger kid actors becomes hugely problematic if they keep the celebratory gangbang from the end of the flashback story. Though I'd be quite happy to see that particular plot element become a victim of streamlining the script.

Thank you. I agree and I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I'm not sure if I remember that from the movie (maybe I blocked it out, lol). But I remember it from the book and way back then I was all WTF??? What was his point I wonder? That females wield all this power to make or break a brave, successful hero or....that females are there to be used as a resource for men when they feel they need some. It still makes me angry. I wonder if SK has ever been called out on it or commented on it.

Edited by SoSueMe
  • Love 1
SFoster21

SFoster21

I think it was just a teenage boy fantasy and I think that the point was that love conquers evil. I think "gangbang" was not the vibe that King was going for. More like sacrifice, giving, sharing.

It was not in the TV movie.

I can't remember the name of the novel about the Vietnam War era. The first part was made into a movie with Anthony Hopkins. Really liked that book.

  • Love 2
Anela

Anela

I think the story that grossed me out the most, was called Survivor. I was sick to my stomach, reading what the character resorted to. It's been something like fifteen years since I read it, and I won't read it again. I've just googled and found that it was called Survivor Type, and it looks like a short movie was made of it.

 

I avoided The Stand, after mum said it made her sick to her stomach. I remember Rage, and The Long Walk. I also liked The Mist, and the more realistic ending than the movie had.

Rick Kitchen

Rick Kitchen

I concur, The Stand also made me a fan for life (well, until the last 2 Dark Tower book - can't read a new Stephen King story since 2004). Didn't care about the mini-series, TBH. Also, the original edition has way less of gory/weird stuff, so you can try it, if you find it.

 

Have you tried "11/22/63"?  I love it, but then I love time travel books.  I'm disappointed it's going to be made into a Hulu show.  Dammit.

  • Love 2
TattleTeeny

TattleTeeny

(edited)
Same issue with The Shining miniseries, Courtland Meade was awful.

 

I didn't love him either but I have to admit, he made me almost cry for him a few times -- especially the part with the bees. The poor little boy sounded legitimately afraid and it broke my heart a little! And after that, I felt so mean for not liking his performance.

 

Favorite book: 'Salem's Lot, particularly that scene of the guys having to leave the big sideboard in the Marsten House basement...and then having to go back in to leave the lock. Ooooh, that was perfect! I love the movies too. While the original was pretty silly, it had some good chilling scares in it, and I love the aesthetic of it as a whole. 

 

Favorite movie: Probably Misery as far as quality and adaptation, The Shining (both; original for fun, and miniseries for an honorable adaptation), 'Salem's Lot (both), and Pet Sematary for Dale Midkiff (and that epic head-bump on the nightstand). I also love Silver Bullet to my BF's chagrin.

Edited by TattleTeeny
Demented Daisy

Demented Daisy

(edited)

http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2015/07/more-images-and-videos-from-the-set-of-stephen-kings-112263-starring-james-franco.html-- some images and video from the set of  11/22/63.

 

ETA

 

http://ihorror.com/stephen-kings-cujo-getting-a-strange-new-reboot/-- a reboot of  Cujo that sounds awful.

Edited by Demented Daisy

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...