Time Magazine named ‘The Shining’ Stephen King’s best film adaptation

I agree as well even though Stephen King wouldn’t. He doesn’t know what makes a great film versus story.

I have to watch the 1980 Shining at least once a year (usually during the boiling hot summer). The scope, music, creepiness, performances...

I think there is a difference between best Stephen King film adaptations and a best Stephen King films.

The Shining, while a great Stephen King film, is not a good Stephen King book-to-screen adaptation.

Yeah. Agreed.

Kubrick’s virtuosity shines through even in his duds. I’d rather watch a bad Kubrick than a good most-other-directors. But The Shining is GOOD Kubrick.

It’s not perfect. I think the big waves of blood and the cheesy cobweb skeletons are cheesy tbh. But for 99% of the movie, it’s spellbinding.

I enjoy Carrie too, both versions, and like the Chloe Moretz version more than most seem to. The De Palma original is classic horror because of ICONIC performances by Spacek and Laurie, but De Palma was always a bit cheesy and exploitative in his movie making. It’s actually fun for what it is, but it’s not top tier moviemaking.

The CGM version is quite good, and her final rampage is much cooler, the problem of course is, she’s just too pretty to play Carrie, even when they ugged her up.

Cheesy cheesy — sorry for overuse ^^^

The Chloe Grace Moretz one is bad. She can’t act.

Simply untrue, dearheart.

Time Magazine is full of cockadoodies!

The Shining is a terrible Stephen King adaptation. But it is Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece.

[quote] He doesn’t know what makes a great film versus story.

That's funny. I think King is a great storyteller, though not necessarily a writer.

[quote] It’s actually fun for what it is, but it’s not top tier moviemaking.

Disagree here. It's great moviemaking. The only misstep is the split screen during the pig blood scene.

That raises the question r9 whether the best adaptation is a) the most faithful to the writing or b) the best film.

I am not crazy about King’s fiction so I lean toward b).

King is great at visualizing supernatural stories, but I hate how didactic and middlebrow he is. His “message” storytelling is so pedestrian. This messaging ruined the fantastic idea of “The Mist.” His insights into human behavior are so hackneyed.

He has a B movie sensibility r11 and as I said that can be very entertaining. But imo not top tier.

An analogy: Predator is a lot of fun but it’s strictly a B movie. Alien is top shelf.

The Mist is a fantastic flick. I still remember being devastated by the ending upon leaving the theater.

People need to understand that an ADAPTATION doesn’t have to be true to its source.

“ but it’s not top tier moviemaking.”

Are you on crack? It’s masterful filmmaking. The whole lead up to the blood dumping alone puts Carrie in the brilliant category.

The original Carrie was brilliant filmmaking.

Kubrick did well choosing Jack Nicholson.

He did even better choosing Shelley Duvall.

She’s a beautiful blonde in the book but he said that doesn’t work on film because a beautiful woman wouldn’t stay with someone like Jack and put up with his shit the way someone not deemed attractive would.

I think Delores Claiborne is the best movie based on a King novel and it's also the most skillful adaptation of his work. 1408 is the second best. Christine is number 3.

I like The Shining but I don't think it's the best.

I never knew Kubrick said that about casting Wendy, r19. That’s what ruined the movie for me. I thought Shelley Duvall was an awful choice and was awful in the movie. I disagree with Kubrick also. Plenty of beautiful women have stayed with shitty men since time immemorial.

Shelley was phenomenal

The shining was, at the time, one of my favorite books. Kubrick ruined it. The television version was much better. Sorry I do not worship Kubrick like the rest of the world. Overrated and full of himself. Meh.

Left out of this list were the TV versions of "The Stand", "It" and "Salem's Lot". All were outstanding but especially "It", mostly because of the cast.

Lmao the tv movie was so bad and Weber said it hurt his career in the end

R24. I hereby disagree with the guy from Wings. Yes. If I could take Jack Nicholson and put him in Steven Webers place, that movie would have been excellent.

Kubrick was in the business of making Kubrick films. In the case of The Shining, as with A Clockwork Orange, he twisted the source material completely out of its original shape and meaning in order to suit his own requirements. You can say they're brilliant artistic triumphs and all that, but neither is a good adaptation.

R10 He is a great storyteller with words. However, if you look at the films and tv shows King recommends, you’ll see that most he recommends are critically panned by critics and viewers alike. He does not know what makes a film great.

Sweetie. When you adapt something, it can be loosely done. It’s not hard to understand.

Many films are loose adaptations of a source and not original material.

A lot of Stephen King’s writings DO NOT WORK on film. Even ‘It’ has to omit a lot of things and change some things. His work is fine for novels but would not translate well to the big screen.

R4 I'd like to see Kubrick do a few other of his films. Shawshank excepting because that film was not like a King film at all.

When I read The Shining, it was like, husband kinda creepy, wife trying to make the best of it, cute kid, warm-hearted cook left for Florida. Lots of vast rooms, massive freezers and refrigerators, yadda yadda. Didn’t really grab me until one day, the kid was outside playing, and out of the corner of his eye, one of the topiary animal moved. Ever so slightly. Reading that, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. That sold me. And of course at the end, the mental distress messages the kid was sending to the cook, screaming in his mind, while the guy covered miles and miles on a snow mobile coming to rescue him.

So no, I’m not a fan of Kubrick’s version.

I agree with "Carrie" being the best adaptation, but "Misery" has to be up there too. Liked the TV version of "Salem's Lot" with David Soul too.

[quote]Time Magazine named ‘The Shining’ Stephen King’s best film adaptation...I agree.

Horseshit. Waaaay to long and zero tension.

Way Too Long.

Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption.

Both are very moving.

If Pet Cemetery had been done right it would have blown everything else out of the water. That is a true horror of a book. I read it on a long flight and wow...no sleep was had.

R32 what, the entire thing is eerie tension.

The Shining was a very good film. Typewriter scene: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” So frightening and creepy. And the opening score is intense and foreboding.

I recall it was King’s least favourite film adaptation. He sat on set and was totally pissed off at Kubrick’s direction because Kubrick made Jack more of a monster than the book portrayed.

King said he wrote Jack’s character as more sympathetic. Jack was somewhat aware that he was going down a major downward spiral, and at times wanted to save his family from himself.

It was a huge riff between writer and director.

The Shining is excellent. But I think Carrie (1976) is the best overall film of a Steven King story. One of my favorites!

I agree. Carrie is one of my favorite movies. Definitely

Scared the FFFF out of me when I was 12. But now all I see is Spacek’s brilliant performance.

A great horror film is, in essence, a very sad story.

[quote] I'd like to see Kubrick do a few other of his films

He died.

Carrie is part of my “Good For Her” collection of movies.

Roger Ebert reported that the movie broke an implied promise by killing Betty Buckley in a horrific manner. I believe everyone enjoyed her death scene even more than the feminine hygiene chat.

I remember that implied promise!

I was kinda disappointed when Betty B.was killed.

I have to admit I’m a BB fan

The Shining is one of my favorite movies. I think it's brilliant.

R1 there is a longer adaptation where he was involved in (i think). More details from the bookj are retained but it is not near as good.

Kubrick did best picking Danny Lloyd. Huge, difficult role for any actor, let alone a child making his movie debut.

Best adaption would be Shawshank redemption or Delores claireborn

King has also said that he hated the film because Jack Nicholson is too crazy from the get-go and you don't get to see him slowly lose his mind, r37. He felt that that movie flattened the character and almost made him a cartoon character.

It's not a bad movie but I agree with King that the character of Jack is less interesting than in the book.

He said he thought Jack did a great job. Jack Nicholson is always a great actor.

Why is Creepshow so low on the list? I love that movie

Thru the years I have gotten to meet Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, John Travolta, Betty Buckley, Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, P.J. Soles, Edie McClurg and William Katt and talked to them about "Carrie". Being a huge movie fan I know that I am lucky to have met the whole cast of my all time favorite movie and I got to tell Stephen King it was favorite too.

That sound is Stephen King’s head exploding.

Another vote for Delores Claiborne.

DOLORES CLAIBORNE is for me the best King adaptation -- it takes the interesting source material and reimagines what was originally a monologue with all the advantages of the cinema. That it features 3 wonderful actresses -- Kathy Bates, Judy Parfitt and (yes) Jennifer Jason Leigh -- in peak form sure doesn't hurt, but it's Tony Gilroy's magnificent screenplay that makes it all work.

"Stand By Me" ain't chop liver.

I viewed “Stand By Me” as more of a Disney/Spielberg production - kind of like the “Forest Gump” of horror movies.

I own the blu-ray and plan on watching it on Halloween. It's too bad Netflix's Frankenstein isn't premiering that night.

I agree that Carrie is the best adaptation. I wasn't a fan of the structure of the book (all the "excerpts" and skipping around), but I loved the movie (the original).

(One small change from the book, but completely necessary for the visual was changing the prom dress from red velvet to pink satin.)