Best King Movies

[TerryE]

Wow, I'm surprised that there isn't a lot of love for my personal introduction to Stephen King, the origninal 'Salem's Lot tv miniseries. That got the ball rolling. The rest are the usual suspects, Shawshank, The Mist, Stand by Me. The Dead Zone was really good, and too often gets overlooked. I think one of the biggest letdowns for me was Cujo, and I have to blame the casting. When I read the book, I swore I'd never read another King book again if Tad died. In the movie, I couldn't wait for it, and then got really disappointed when he lived.

[Midworld Jess]

"1408" for me..... "Shawshank Redemption" is also right up there.....

And, I know it's not a movie, but I also really enjoyed the tv series "Kingdom Hospital".

[frik51]

Well, it is in there, but only one short line, near the end.
F. Darabont mentions this in his commentary.

sk

[drain74]

You do realise, don't you, that it was King himself who suggested this ending. It's in the novella.
That's where Darabont got the idea to end the movie that way.

sk

That I did not realise, I will need to re-read the story, it has been some time since the last reading.
Drain74

[frik51]

A few people have mentioned The Mist, this was a movie I was looking foward to but was very dissapointed in the ending, the book left the ending very open and unknown.

You do realise, don't you, that it was King himself who suggested this ending. It's in the novella.
That's where Darabont got the idea to end the movie that way.

sk

[drain74]

My three main ones, which seem to be a constant through the thread, are The Green Mile, Shawshank redemption and 1408.

Interesting that some people will not like King's work but still rate the first two above, not realising the source of the work.

A few people have mentioned The Mist, this was a movie I was looking foward to but was very dissapointed in the ending, the book left the ending very open and unknown.

[srboone]

I agree that Maximum Overdrive is a terrible movie. But because of it's horrid-ness, I don't find it forgetable. Apt Pupil was a terrible movie, but I don't find it forgetable, either. Graveyard Shift and The Mangler were terrible movies, but i remember them. Now Delores Claiborne, I remember as a good movie, but I'll be damned if i can remember anything about it. In fact, I don't even remember much about the book except that it was part of trilogy that had at it's center an eclipse from 1963.

[folgersnyourcup]

My two favorites are definitely The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, but I did find Dolores Claiborne to be enjoyable as well. I felt it was not fantastic, but underrated.

[Blu Gilliand]

Well, there are the usual suspects, of course: The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Stand By Me, Carrie and The Shining. I love The Mist also. I actually think parts of Pet Sematary are pretty frightening, although it doesn't come close to the book.

You know what I'd like to see? A ban on adapting King books to network television. His work is too visceral, to raw, to be watered down for network TV. Now, if a channel like FX or HBO were to try its hand at something, I'd pay attention.

[jmcraven]

I don't think of The Lawnmower Man as a King adaptation. I found this online about that: "Early versions of the film claimed that they were related to a Stephen King work. King did write a short story called "The Lawnmower Man", but it was completely different to the movie. King sued the film makers, and had his name removed from the film."

But yes, a horrible movie, either way.

[Dave1442397]

My favorite has to be The Shawshank Redemption, followed by the original mini-series of 'Salem's Lot.

After that, I loved The Dead Zone and Stand by Me.

The Shining is a great movie, but so different from the book, which I much preferred. Jack Nicholson always looks nuts, even at the beginning of the movie when he was supposed to be your average teacher writing a novel in his spare time.

How about some forgettable ones? I can't remember anything about Maximum Overdrive and The Lawnmower Man except that I once paid money to see them in a movie theater.

[jmcraven]

Interesting timing with this thread recently popping up: Today at Books-a-Million I found a book on clearance for $2.97 entitled Stephen King Goes to the Movies. I had not seen this before; it is a collection of selected stories that were translated to the screen. Each is the original SK story with a short introductory comment by The Man re his thoughts on the film adaptation. The stories included are: 1408, The Mangler, Hearts in Atlantis/Low Men in Yellow Coats, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, and Children of the Corn. The stories are followed by The Man's list enitled "My 10 Favorite Adaptaions."

Needless to say, for $2.97 I bought it.

[theenormityofitall]

The Shining
Pet Semetary
Shawsank
The Green Mile
Silver Bullet

[cdfan]

My list starts with the usual suspects: IT, Green Mile, Shawshank, Stand By Me, Carrie, Misery, Shining, but one that I really do like that hasn't been mentioned yet is Dolores Claiborne. Am I alone on that one?

[bsaenz24]

Green Mile,
Shawshank,
Stand By Me
Creepshow
The Shining (original)
Misery
Pet Sematary