Stephen King goes to the movies... (1 Viewer)

[skylark68]

I know I'm in the minority, but I absolutely LOVE Maximum Overdrive. The whole movie is camp more or less. Emilio Estevez was perfectly cast. There are some extremely quotable lines from the film too. I have to watch this film at least once a year. I just wish a nice bluray would come out although the DVD is pretty good. It just captures the 1980's as well although in some ways it reminds me of a '70s film with the focus on big trucks (Convoy comes to mind).

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Yeah, I rarely get scared by a book (or movie) but Pet Semetary was legitimately scary. 'Salem's Lot had a few parts that freaked me out too.

The opening chunk of The Stand also worked on my germophobia.

Yeah, the novel of Pet Semetary was pretty creepy. The film, on the other hand, wasn't very good.

The Stand took a little while for me to get into, but overall I thought it was one of King's better works. I never saw the screen adaptation of this one. Wasn't it a TV mini-series?

I think Salem's Lot was the 2nd King novel I ever read (after The Shining), so it's always been a favorite of mine.

In my list of film adaptations I like, I forgot about The Shawshank Redemption. This may be the one instance where I prefer the film to the novella, and that's no knock on King's story -- it's very good. The film, though, is wonderfully done.

I never saw the film adaptation of The Mist. Based on some of the comments here, I may have to check that one out.

 

[RobertR]

I know I'm in the minority, but I absolutely LOVE Maximum Overdrive. The whole movie is camp more or less. Emilio Estevez was perfectly cast. There are some extremely quotable lines from the film too. I have to watch this film at least once a year. I just wish a nice bluray would come out although the DVD is pretty good. It just captures the 1980's as well although in some ways it reminds me of a '70s film with the focus on big trucks (Convoy comes to mind).

Maximum Overdrive encapsulates King's attitude towards technology. In a word, he hates it.

 

[Brent Reid]

OK, I don't think any of the writers you mention, Brent, actually beat Mr. King. Here's why I would say that:

Shakespeare - While he has an impressive number of credits at IMDB the old bard only wrote I believe 38 plays. Basically, his big numbers are based on the same works being made again and again. You could say William is the king of remakes. However, my take on this is King has completely out paced him in terms of output and so in terms of separate original works being adapted for the screen...King wins and as King is still working and they are still making pretty much everything he writes into a film...well...he will crush poor Willie.

Dickens - Again King crushes Dickens (15 novels, 27 short stories) in terms of quantity of original output and Dickens is in the same boat as Will in terms of his credits being a lot of just making the same stories into films over and over. I mean how many versions of A Christmas Carol have been done over the years. So, again King wins and will continue to win as they are going to turn many more of his works into films in the coming years.

Christie - She is actually a genuine challenger (72 novels, 14 collections of short stories) but she is again subject to the issue that much of what they bring to the screen are the same stories again and again. They are still remaking Christie for the screen (Murder on the Orient Express again this year) but she still lags behind King (59 for King 49 for Christie) in terms of feature films made from their work. And much of the Christie stuff is again the same stories getting remade. While King has had some of his work remade most of his credits are all separate works...so again advantage King. Also I think in terms of future films being made from King's work it is likely Christie won't be able to keep up.

Rowling - Well, this one goes to King in a landslide. Rowling is not even in the same ball park.

Hmm. We're getting into semantics here but your initial sentence clearly says:

• I am not sure if there is a writer that has had more of his work adapted for the screen than Stephen King. [emphasis mine]

That reads as a greater percentage of "his"/their work adapted. I'd say pretty much everything written by the authors I named has been adapted, thus giving them a higher strike rate. To put it another way, I'm not going off the number of adaptations, just what share of each author's entire bibliography has been filmed. Heck, even someone who's only written one book and had it filmed has had 100% of their work adapted for the screen, thus beating the venerable Mr. King. Take Harper Lee, for instance – and no, the recently published early draft of Mockingbird doesn't count. Stieg Larsson's another...

Then again, if that's not what you meant, you could have simply said:

• I am not sure if there is a writer that has had a greater number of individual works adapted for the screen than Stephen King.

...and avoided any confusion!

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Then again, if that's not what you meant, you could have simply said:

• I am not sure if there is a writer that has had a greater number of individual works adapted for the screen than Stephen King.

...and avoided any confusion!

Yes, I did not mean to base my comment on percentage because doing that, as you say, would mean if a person wrote a single novel and it was adapted for the screen then they would have had 100% of their work adapted. So, my poorly worded statement was meant to say that King is prolific as a writer and it seems they want to adapt everything he writes for the screen. Also in a relatively short period of time they have turned out an impressive number of screen adaptations of his work and there appears to be no end to this.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, I watched Silver Bullet for the first time last night since seeing it in a theater back in 1985. Honestly, I did not recall much about the film as I don't think I cared for it too much back in 1985. What struck me watching it now was how they seemed to want the film to be Jaws on land. Particularly the fog drenched hunt through the forest where the werewolf appeared to be travelling on all fours to stay under the fog and surprise his victims by pulling them down into it.

Certainly, this film was no great shakes and is not even one of the better werewolf films but it was entertaining and interesting to see how it appeared heavily influenced by Spielberg...both in the sense that it is going for being Jaws on land and in that the focus is on family and the two kids as central characters. I guess Gary Busey is the playing the Quint role here, Haim is Brody, and Megan Follows is Hooper, ha! Interesting too that this is an R-rated film with two children as the central characters.

This one is notable because King himself wrote this script and you can sort of tell that this is the case because the dialogue seems right out of his novels.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

The next King film I will be watching is Secret Window...

 

[TravisR]

So, I watched Silver Bullet for the first time last night since seeing it in a theater back in 1985. Honestly, I did not recall much about the film as I don't think I cared for it too much back in 1985. What struck me watching it now was how they seemed to want the film to be Jaws on land. Particularly the fog drenched hunt through the forest where the werewolf appeared to be travelling on all fours to stay under the fog and surprise his victims by pulling them down into it.

Certainly, this film was no great shakes and is not even one of the better werewolf films but it was entertaining and interesting to see how it appeared heavily influenced by Spielberg...both in the sense that it is going for being Jaws on land and in that the focus is on family and the two kids as central characters. I guess Gary Busey is the playing the Quint role here, Haim is Brody, and Megan Follows is Hooper, ha! Interesting too that this is an R-rated film with two children as the central characters.

That's a pretty astute analysis of what I like about the movie. When I saw it as a kid, I was the basic age of Corey Haim (so it was relatable in a way that most horror movies are not to a kid) and I loved Jaws so it easily won me over. As an adult, I still like it warts and all.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I really thought there was a heavy Spielberg influence at play and I think the way the film was shot they actually intended it for a younger audience. Basically the violence in the film is often not shown and kept very muted as if they did not want an R-rating but then King's script has several uses of the F-word thrown in which is what I think got the film an R-rating. I believe Haim uses the F-word once and maybe the censors turned purple over that because a child actor was made to curse.

I mean if you compare the film to Jaws in terms of rating the only thing that makes Silver Bullet R-rated material is the language. There are no F-bombs in Jaws.

 

[Vic Pardo]

Zane Grey might beat out King as the author with the most film adaptations. He's got 117 credits on IMDB, although I'm not sure how many repeat adaptations there are among them.

When I saw the thread title, I thought this thread was going to be about King's writings on movies, e.g. his late, lamented regular column for Entertainment Weekly, and "Danse Macabre," a 1981 collection of his writings on horror in movies, TV, literature, radio. Those are the only King writings I'm enthusiastic about. I've only read one of his novels, "The Stand," the short version, which wasn't bad but didn't compel me to read more of his books.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Wow, Zane Grey is a good one. Looking at that list made me a bit sad because they have not made a Zane Grey story into a film since 1956. His work covers the period of time when Westerns were a major focus of the motion picture industry. Well done, Vic.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

For what it's worth, I've read dozens of King novels and short stories, and the only one I've been unable to finish is The Stand. I've tried it either two or three times and I just don't care. Don't care about the characters. Don't care about the story. It baffles me that it's so highly regarded.

 

[Walter Kittel]

For what it's worth, I've read dozens of King novels and short stories, and the only one I've been unable to finish is The Stand. I've tried it either two or three times and I just don't care. Don't care about the characters. Don't care about the story. It baffles me that it's so highly regarded.

FWIW, I tend to believe that post apocalyptic stories are popular because everyone thinks they will be one of the few to survive, despite the odds against that occurring. Of course, if you survive the apocalyptic event then the story shifts to another survival mode - surviving the changed, hostile world. For myself, the escapism of placing yourself in that scenario and imaging the choices you would make, what strategies you would employ; makes those types of stories (both filmed and written) very engaging.

- Walter.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I've definitely enjoyed other post-apocalyptic stories, but The Stand has left me cold the times that I've tried it. When I did try to read it, only the longer version was readily available, and I've been since told by some that the shorter original release is the better work (I've also been told the opposite). So for my inevitable next attempt, perhaps I will seek out the shorter version.

I think it's just one of those things where sometimes a perfectly good movie or book just doesn't appeal to someone, even if they generally like the genre. For the huge number of things King has written, it's inevitable that there would be at least one thing I didn't like.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I think there is a new version (forget if it is television series or for the cinema) of the The Stand in the works as well.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Don't forget Arch Oboler's THE BUBBLE which King "adapted" for Under the Dome.

http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/home/The-Bubble

 

[Johnny Angell]

FWIW, I tend to believe that post apocalyptic stories are popular because everyone thinks they will be one of the few to survive, despite the odds against that occurring. Of course, if you survive the apocalyptic event then the story shifts to another survival mode - surviving the changed, hostile world. For myself, the escapism of placing yourself in that scenario and imaging the choices you would make, what strategies you would employ; makes those types of stories (both filmed and written) very engaging.

- Walter.

I come from the other direction. Post apocalyptic stories are popular because most people don't believe it will happen. I used to read the, but as the years have past, they've lost their allure for me. IMHO.

 

[Sam Posten]

Stephen King‏Verified account @StephenKing 6h6 hours ago
DARK TOWER tomorrow; MR. MERCEDES next week; IT and SLEEPING BEAUTIES next month. All good. Lucky me.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, Secret Window is another of King's "writing is hell" stories and really he had already done this better with The Dark Half which is also a better film than Secret Window. Still, this was entertaining and good to see Johnny Depp not dressed as a pirate nor wearing some crazy costume with heavy make-up. Plus always good to see John Turturro even though I would say he is miscast as a Southerner in this but hey, I don't think this film is meant to make any sense.

 

[Richard V]

Don't forget Arch Oboler's THE BUBBLE which King "adapted" for Under the Dome.

http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/home/The-Bubble

Absolutely Bob, recognized that immediately when I first saw Under the Dome. Surprised more members haven't mentioned this as well.