Best Stephen King Film Adaptation

[Gojirosan]

AH, I may have misunderstood the question. I was going from the standpoint of "best films from a King source" not "best adaptation from a King source" which is different.

I can't say I care really, King's ideas are good, his storytelling and writing skills are bad, so generally I would welcome an adaptation that diverts from the source! One of the reasons The Shining is so good is probably because Kubrick and his team just took the initial premise then improved (hugely) it for the medium of film.

[wayfarer]

[QUOTE=Gojirosan;86784]Kubrick's The Shining is the best. A masterpiece on many levels.
QUOTE]


It's a great movie but not so much a Stephen King adaptation as Kubrick's own take on it. I think it works because it doesn't use all the supernatural elements that are included in the book; the animated hedges for example. What works on page might not work on screen and Kubrick recognised this. The sense of isolation hasn't been matched on mainstream cinema (apart from Carpenter's The Thing).

My favourite SK books are the first four Dark Towers. I hope they're left alone.

[pedromonkey]

For me its The Stand, although it looks dated now, it's just so epic, i must have seen it at least 10 times. non Mini-series king would have to either The Mist, or Shawshank...

[Roughale]

Great poll - saw the multiple choice a lil too late, so I just checked Stand By Me - but in my book, it is the best, as it manages to capture the story and the feeling of it even better than the story itself...

Runner-ups in my book would be:

Carrie
Dead Zone
The Shining (but as stand-alone film, not as film from the book)
Misery

- I still cannot understand how all the love for The Mist comes together, I found it weak and the ending plain out sucked...

[wayfarer]

Originally Posted by Roughale

- I still cannot understand how all the love for The Mist comes together, I found it weak and the ending plain out sucked...

It just goes to show how different we all are. I enjoyed The Mist and that was down to the interplay between characters. The CGI is a bit ropey but I hear that it is a better watch in the B&W version.

As for the ending; one of the most nihilistic endings I've seen in what I'd consider a mainstream Hollywood movie. Darabont really took a chance with that. I think it worked very well and if it catches you in the wrong frame of mind, God help you.

Darabont is the main reason why I've got a good feeling for the upcoming Walking Dead TV series.

[broonage]

The Mist is possibly the best horror film i have seen in years!

[skyofcrack]

My opinion on The Mist may change in the future but for now, my initial reaction was of disappointment. Mostly of how the FX looked. Spielberg and Winston set the bar pretty high with their work on Jurassic Park and it's been downhill ever since for CGI.

My favorite King adaptation is The Shawshank Redemption. That film is pristine. Frank took a perfect novella and made an even better movie. Couldn't have believed that was possible. When I first read Different Seasons back in 1982 I put that story on my short list (along with The Mist ironically) as stories I wanted to adapt to film if I got the chance one day.

I also love Misery and Stand By Me. Mick Garris deserves a lot of credit for what he did for his work on The Stand and The Shining. Kubrick's version is a great horror movie but as an adaptation, it basically fails. The TV movie follows the book and has a lot of great moments and fantastic music. The Stand is amazing but suffers from bad FX.

Love The Dead Zone, Cujo and Pet Sematary too.

I don't know where the Dark Tower series is in negotiations but I would love to see it show up as an HBO series where they don't have to worry about the MPAA or individual film length. They could probably do all 7 books in a couple seasons (10 episodes x 2 = 24 hours - 1st/last 2 hours each). Then, as King writes more, they can add seasons. This would be better than multiple features over probably a decade and 100's of millions of dollars in budgets.

[pedromonkey]

The Stand does suffer from bad FX and it obviously hasn't aged well, but it's still an amazing feat of television story telling, Misery is a blast, Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes is just phenomenal. Couldn't stand Garris's The Shining though.

Storm Of the Century is an often over looked film, but it's actually one of the best King films.

Worst King FilM?

Dreamcatcher, utter shit(weasle)

[broonage]

Oh no!! Dreamcatcher is one of the better ones IMO, i loved it!

[wayfarer]

Originally Posted by broonage

Oh no!! Dreamcatcher is one of the better ones IMO, i loved it!

I thought it was more entertaining than the book.