What are the best and worst Stephen King adaptations?

Misery and Dolores Claiborne are among the very best adaptations.

The Dark Tower is amongst the most disappointing.

Best:

Carrie

The Dead Zone

Misery

Cujo

Stand By Me

Dolores Claiborne

The Green Mile

The Shawshank Redemption

The Mist

Worst:

Children of the Corn (and all the sequels)

The Lawnmower Man (he sued to remove his name since it was so different from his story)

Thinner

Pet Sematary remake (but the original ain't all that)

The Shining TV version

The Shining, Misery, and Dolores Claiborne.

I certainly have not watched all of the movie (cinema or TV) of his adaptations, but from my experience I'd say "Carrie" (1976) and "The Shining" (1980) are the best -- even if not the most faithful. I enjoyed most of first TV movie of "The Stand" (falls apart in Act 3, just like the book did), the TV movie of "Salem's Lot" scared the shit out of me as a kid (the window scene still creeps me out), and "Storm of the Century" was genially entertaining.

"Cujo" was okay, but probably would've worked better as a short movie, and "Christine" was just meh to me. "Sleepwalkers" is watchable solely for featuring a young hottie, Brian Krause.

Worst would probably be the one about the possessed trucks with Emilio Estevez. I can't remember what it's called. And the aforementioned "Lawnmover Man" was pretty atrocious.

Stephen King wrote Children of the Corn?! I never knew that.

Shit, I forgot Carrie.

I agree with the above posters about Dolores Claiborne, Misery, Carrie, and Storm Of the Century. I’ll duck as I say this, but I really liked the tv version of The Shining.

1408. I think John Cusack was born to play the classic recurring Stephen King character "wiseass writer who is tired of this shit". It's a fun horror movie and never feels boring despite talking place in a junior suite. Samuel L. Jackson is very effective for the five minutes he's on screen.

Best: Shawshank Redemption

Worst: Steven King’s Storm of the Century

Stephen*

Best: The Green Mile

Here's a list of all of King's books which have been turned into movie and TV adaptations.

I'm really looking forward to the remake of The Running Man and for the first time - The Long Walk.

I always forget about his less-horror work like Green Mile, Shawshank, Claiborne, and Stand By Me. To me, those all feel like they were written by someone other than the man who wrote Children of the Corn and Pet Sematary.

I thought the Hulu miniseries adaptation of 11.22.63 was quite good.

OMFG! Netflix is making The Talisman!

I'm probably in the minority, but I liked the 2002 tv movie adaptation of Carrie.

R17 I read here once that was a failed tv pilot.

R18 It was. I liked Angela Bettis' take on the Carre character.

I'm one of the few people who disliked the 2017 adaptation of IT. I think the director had far too much respect for the book and should have cut more material. I don't think two long movies were needed to tell that story. The second movie was a real slog because the adult half of the story just isn't as interesting.

I also think they screwed up Pennywise by making him too much of an unholy monster at first glance. There was no way for him to him creepy and no way to really escalate. I think the people involved in the movie were so eager to put their own stamp on the character that they didn't think about why Curry's Pennywise was so effective.

Best: Dolores Claiborne

Worst: The Stand (the TV miniseries)

I enjoyed Rob Lowe's remake of 'Salem's Lot.

One of the best: HBO's The Outsider

One of the worst: The Tommyknockers

[quote]Worst would probably be the one about the possessed trucks with Emilio Estevez

That would be Maximum Overdrive, directed by King himself and based on his short story Trucks. I get that it's not a good movie but I still find it entertaining. Probably because it showed on cable endlessly in the 80s and I watched it over and over. The AC/DC soundtrack helps a lot

There was a made-for-cable version of Trucks that's also not worth seeking out, starring Mr. Shitbra Timothy Busfield.

An underrated King adaptation is THE DARK HALF directed by George A. Romero.

A really obscure one that's worth watching if you can find it is The Night Flier with Miguel Ferrer

Best: Dolores Claiborne

Worst: Pet Sematary

[quote] I always forget about his less-horror work like Green Mile, Shawshank, Claiborne, and Stand By Me. To me, those all feel like they were written by someone other than the man who wrote Children of the Corn and Pet Sematary.

I feel the same way. I thought I had read every Stephen King book until I discovered The Green Mile. After watching the movie!🤣 I was floored. It's so funny how most people only associate Stephen King with horror or science fiction when these stories exist. The Green Mile is an Academy Award winning film. He's my favorite author ever because of his original ideas.

[quote]We’re never getting that edit feature, are we?

No, r10. I don't want one. Trolls would have a field day with it.

I'd kill someone in a gruesome Stephen King-style manner for a preview function, though.

We'll never get that, either. DL will just go limping along until something big breaks and our Miss M puts us out of our misery.

The horror!

Another forgotten but excellent project was the failed TV series "Golden Years". And no, bitches, it's another sequel about those old whores in Miami. It starred a not-yet famous Felicity Huffman, Ed Lauter, and Frances Sternhagen. The wiki link below claims it was a mini-series, but it was open-ended and clearly intended as a trial run to series.

Graveyard Shift was a real stinker. Monster living in the basement of a Maine textile mill.

^ Wasn't it just a ginormous rat in the end? Aside from cutie David Andrews, there's not much worth seeing it for.

That makes sense R31. I don't think I made it to the ending, it was that bad.

Kathy Bates should've won another Oscar for Dolores Claiborne.

[quote]One of the worst: The Tommyknockers

I have always had a soft spot for The Tommyknockers, both the book and the mini-series. They are both filled with trashy goodness. Traci Lords is the actress who gives the finest performance in the mini-series.

King has said he doesn't even remember writing The Tommyknockers because he was so drunk and high.

The remake of The Stand (with Whoopi as Mother Abigail and Amber Heard as Nadine) was pretty atrocious. The 90s version was pretty decent-not perfect, but decent.

I thought [italic]Gerald's Game[/italic] was one of the best. Love me some Mike Flanagan.

Flanagan is also doing The Life of Chuck. King rarely hits the mark these days but that story literally had me in tears.

Oh good, R38. A must watch for me.

It's heartbreaking in the best way.

The Stand - original version is the best

The Langoliers - the worst

I like The Shining tv version best since it follows the book closely. The book is one of his best.

Best: Stand By Me, Misery, The Mist (great ending), Shawshank Redemption, Doctor Sleep (baseball boy scene was horrible to watch, Rose the Hat great villain), Carrie, Storm of the Century.

Worst: Dreamcatcher, Lisey’s Story (boring miniseries and a chore to get through, same as the book), the new Salem’s Lot (so rushed, no tension, didn’t care about anyone, Susan was annoying)

I’m looking forward to the Running Man remake (I liked the Arnold Schwarzenegger original, despite the differences from the book), The Long Walk, and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

Not Great But Enjoyable to me-Pet Sematary (still can’t watch the Zelda scenes), The Tommyknockers (first time I saw Jimmy Smits- hot!), Silver Bullet (watch this about three times a year), Creepshow 2 (the raft), the Lawnmower Man.

[quote]Kathy Bates should've won another Oscar for Dolores Claiborne.

It’s travesty that neither she nor Judy Parfitt were even nominated! Two of the best performances I’ve ever seen

Salem's Lot (original miniseries) was great

A Good Marriage, I recently watched that and it was good. It stars Joan Allen and Anthony LaPaglia

Nominated instead of Kathy Bates and Judy Parfitt were Sarandon, Streep, Shue, Stone and Thompson and Sorvino, Allen, Winslet, Quinlan and MARE WINNINGHAM.

Nicole Kidman also missed out for To Die For.

A shame Dolores wasn't released the previous year which was very weak.

[quote] I'm one of the few people who disliked the 2017 adaptation of IT

Nope. I'm right there with you, my friend. HATED it. It completely missed the mark as most reboots tend to. I was gonna include that in the OP, but I didn't want it to be too long and rant-y. They fumbled the opportunity to reintroduce a classic to the new generation. Reboots usually suck not only because they fail to capture the essence of the original, but these newbies often don't even know what made the originals so great in the first place. They should instead come up with their own ideas, but that seems too difficult these days.

Cornis great

🌽 oh god corn

The first mini series of The Stand was awesome.

best: The Dead Zone

worst: The Langoliers is the worst I've seen. I've avoided several because they looked awful.

[quote] The remake of The Stand (with Whoopi as Mother Abigail and Amber Heard as Nadine) was pretty atrocious. The 90s version was pretty decent-not perfect, but decent.

I agree with you on the 90s version of The Stand. I have that version on DVD and I did a rewatch about a year ago.

Kubrick's The Shining is impeccable.

The Langoliers was actually a decent short story/novella but the cheap effects and bad acting make the TV adaptation pretty laughable

I always thought that too R33.

I'm excited for the Talisman! I have a very old paperback copy and have probably read it at least 4 times.

That is exciting news.

People will disagree with me, and even though it’s not an adaption from a book, Rose Red is one of Stephen King’s best. The history and backstory of the house from The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer really seals the deal.

Watched Carrie last night. Poor Tommy.

WHET to PJ Soles and even Amy Irving? I know she's loaded from being the ex-Mrs. Spielberg but she completely disappeared.

The 90s version of The Stand has a lot of good moments but is hampered by network TV budget and censorship restrictions. Some of the casting works (Gary Sinise, Ruby Dee, Miguel Ferrer) but a lot is distracting (Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Laura San Giacomo.) And I didn't care for Jamey Sheridan and his mullet as Randall Flagg. That opening scene at the army lab scored to Don't Fear The Reaper though is amazing

[quote]WHET to PJ Soles

She's mostly retired but still takes the occasional role if it interests her. She does a lot of the horror conventions signing autographs and taking pictures with fans. Here's a podcast interview from last year with some great stories.

[quote] Creepshow 2 (the raft)

R43, we all love that segment for reasons that need not be stated...

[quote]WHET to PJ Soles and even Amy Irving? I know she's loaded from being the ex-Mrs. Spielberg but she completely disappeared.

Amy Irving won the jackpot of life. Bitch was married to Steven Spielberg for only four years and walked away with $100 million.

FOUR YEARS. $100 million. Incredible.

Jamey Sheridan was fucking incredible in The Stand.

[quote] WHET to PJ Soles and even Amy Irving? I know she's loaded from being the ex-Mrs. Spielberg but she completely disappeared.

Amy has now entered the music industry as a singer and songwriter. I'm pretty sure she still acts, but it seems like she does whatever she wants these days and looks to be content with her life. With all the money she got from Steven, she should be. Her latest album is a tribute to Willie Nelson.

Amy Irving got $100 million in her divorce from Spielberg. They were married for four years. $100 million for FOUR YEARS of marriage.

She is one of the luckiest bitches of all time.

I hated “Storm of the Century” as the idea that the town would let a demon kidnap a man’s child was awful. And I hated the ending. It also isn’t really an adaptation as it was written as a screenplay for TV.

I like most of the adaptations of King's works. I think most critics go in wanting to hate them because of King's mass market popularity. I do think Dolores Claiborne is his best, by far. The worst is The Langoliers, by far.

Oh, I forgot about Storm of the Century. Yeah. That one wins as worst.

Firestarter was incredible too. It helps that it was a great book. I'm talking the one with Drew Barrymore though. The newer one actually sucks ass and not in a good way.

[quote] One of the worst: The Tommyknockers

Agreed, just terrible and a shame because I enjoyed the novel.

Children of the Corn was a short story IIRC.

Best: Carrie (the original), Misery, Dolores Claiborne

Worst: The Tommyknockers, The Shining (miniseries version), Rose Red

Bates' performance in Dolores Claiborne is one of the all time greats in cinema history. How she didn't win the Oscar for that I'll never know. Never.

Kathy Bates did a great job capturing the Dolores of the novel. She was such such tough old bitch from Maine. I can't imagine anyone else in that role.

Six pins Dolores. Six pins

R73 Rose Red was written as a screenplay first.

Kathy Bates has always been quick to say that Dolores was her favorite and toughest character to play. Hours and hours with a vocal coach.

Most of them suck. There is something about King's writing that doesn't often translate well to film IMO. As others have noted above, though, "Misery" and "Dolores Claiborne" are excellent adaptations. I think a large part of why they worked was Kathy Bates's performances. I also like "Carrie", though the tone of the film is different from the novel. And while King himself (and others) don't like Kubrick's "The Shining", I absolutely love that film. He took the basic bones of the novel and made something unique and terrifying in a much different way.

I abhor the adaptations of "It", especially the recent versions. I turned off "It: Chapter 1" within the first thirty minutes and will never return.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming movie The Long Walk. I’m curious if they’ll change the story ending to give it a more ‘happier’ one. I hope not, but the book was a downer

I recently saw The Dead Zone (movie, not tv series) and I liked it. Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen were very good.

The scariest part of any King movie, ever, was Zelda from Pet Sematary. I still can’t watch her scenes. She scared the shit out of me.

The Dead Zone series is actually really good.

Thee Very Best Stephan King Movie is [bold]Sleepwalkers[/bold].

Alice Krige hits every demented note perfectly.

We, as an audience, are pulling for her even as she does unspeakable things to poor, chronically unhoused cats. That’s salesmanship!

R82 Fuck that cop-killing, son-fucking, stringy haired mutant bitch!!

R80 Raaaaaaaccchhheeelllll

I didn't know Alice Krige was in Sleepwalkers. She's in my favorite Star Trek movie, First Contact. Now I want to watch Sleepwalkers.

The Stand - the original mini series from 1994. I have not seen the newer one yet, but really do not want to as the old one was soooooo good!

Under the Dome. Really liked the book, read it over Labor Day weekend when it came out. The ending was weak per usual but the premise was interesting and the book was mostly about people adjusting to living under it. The series started off okay but they deviated early on from the book. Still they managed to wrap it up in the end.