Stephen King movies 5 5

[s-man]

I thought this might be a good topic for discussion seeing as most people enjoy his films.  Here is my top ten:

10.  Christine  (who doesn't love a movie about a cool killer car!)

9.  Stand by Me  (the leach scene will haunt me forever)

8.  Misery (the hobbling scene will haunt me forever!)

7.  Creepshow (the best of his anthology movies)

6.  Pet Sematary (sometimes dead is better..'nuff said)

5.  Green Mile (Tom Hanks at his best)

4.  The Shining  (was once my favorite, and still in my top 5)

3.  Carrie (before GoT red wedding, you had the red prom)

2.  Dead Zone (Walken at his best)

1.  Shawshank Redemption (a near perfect movie, should have won the Oscar)

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by s-man

[Bosco685]

Misery and The Dead Zone grab me each time I happen across them when flipping channels. What intense stories! But there are so many productions based on his stories now.

• 11.22.63 series
• Apt Pupil
• Bag of Bones
• Castle Rock series
• Doctor Sleep
• It
• The Lawnmower Man
• Mr. Mercedes series (three great seasons)
• Needful Things
• The Outsider series
• The Running Man

What an influence of entertainment.

 

[shadroch]

As far as Holllywood goes, my favorite adaptations are the Castle Rock series, the original Salem's Lot, and The Shining.

[paperheart]

re-read/re-watched many of these this year; here are my favorites:

Shawshank

Stand By Me

Dead Zone

Misery

Shining

Carrie

[EastEnd1]

The one that got under my skin the most as a kid was the tv mini-series Salem's Lot.  Was a great read too.  Misery, The Shining, Carrie and Shawshank were all great too.  

[Dr. Love]

While it missed the mark bigly even with two mini-series attempts, how can we forget The Stand. King's longest written work.

[s-man]

I couldn't wait to see Dr. Sleep but was disappointed by it.  It just wasn't scary enough to stand up to the Shining.

[CAHokie]

On 12/18/2023 at 10:46 AM, Dr. Love said:

While it missed the mark bigly even with two mini-series attempts, how can we forget The Stand. King's longest written work.

I actually enjoyed the original mini-series. It had a great cast. I rewatch it every few years.

You can’t go wrong with a rewatch of Christine, Shawshank, or Carrie.

 

 

 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 12/18/2023 at 6:37 AM, shadroch said:

the original Salem's Lot

Although I wanted to like this, I guess I am still part of the Book was better club. 

" On his gravestone were the words:

The Angel of Death holdeth;

The bronze Lamp beyond the golden door;

Hath taken thee into dark Waters;

God Grant He Lie Still."

[jr70]

Salems lot had 2 of the scariest scenes for me as a kid way back when. The first when Barlow appears in the jail cell and the second when the kid's brother comes tapping at the window!  Later on, those twins from the shining, yikes!

[s-man]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:10 PM, jr70 said:

Salems lot had 2 of the scariest scenes for me as a kid way back when. The first when Barlow appears in the jail cell and the second when the kid's brother comes tapping at the window!  Later on, those twins from the shining, yikes!

[D84]

I know this will get me grief, but my favorite is the 2004 Salem's Lot mini series.

Edited December 19, 2023 by D84

[Dr. Balls]

Christine was always my #1 out of personal and sentimental reasons. It deviates from the book quite a bit, but John Carpenter does his thing on it, and it’s my fave.

[jr70]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:34 PM, Dr. Balls said:

Christine was always my #1 out of personal and sentimental reasons. It deviates from the book quite a bit, but John Carpenter does his thing on it, and it’s my fave.

John Carpenter is a horror genius.  He still remains my favorite horror director.

[piper]

I’m in the books were much better camp. Shawshank was excellent and the Shining pretty good but otherwise the Movies and TV shows always seemed lacking to me. Honourable mention for The Outsider.

Another Top 5 SK Book is 11/22/63.

[jr70]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:47 PM, piper said:

I’m in the books were much better camp. Shawshank was excellent and the Shining pretty good but otherwise the Movies and TV shows always seemed lacking to me. Honourable mention for The Outsider.

Another Top 5 SK Book is 11/22/63.

agree, I've read almost everything, and they ruin a lot of the books.  But every now and then they get it right, but some of those misses....... 

[AbsoluteCarnage]

I went on a king marathon in late September right up to about Halloween. Silver Bullet was crazier than I remember it from way back. Psychological terror to say the least lol. I have quite the collection of his films. Always a pleasure to watch some King stuff. Dark Tower by far my favorite King books and really hope they redo that series from scratch at some point as that series deserves a solid movie run.

[bronze_rules]

On 12/18/2023 at 9:21 PM, AbsoluteCarnage said:

I went on a king marathon in late September right up to about Halloween. Silver Bullet was crazier than I remember it from way back. Psychological terror to say the least lol. I have quite the collection of his films. Always a pleasure to watch some King stuff. Dark Tower by far my favorite King books and really hope they redo that series from scratch at some point as that series deserves a solid movie run.

+ for Dark Tower being done well. I thought they were going to do an HBO series at one point - not sure what happened. That was one of those huge series I challenged myself to read and complete, but really found it enjoyable.

It seems like every time I walk into a bookstore, I see a new novel or two under his name. What an incredibly prolific author.

Edited December 19, 2023 by bronze_rules

[TRMN8R5]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:34 PM, Dr. Balls said:

Christine was always my #1 out of personal and sentimental reasons. It deviates from the book quite a bit, but John Carpenter does his thing on it, and it’s my fave.

Agreed 110%  !

[TRMN8R5]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:47 PM, piper said:

I’m in the books were much better camp. Shawshank was excellent and the Shining pretty good but otherwise the Movies and TV shows always seemed lacking to me. Honorable mention for The Outsider.

Another Top 5 SK Book is 11/22/63.

You couldn't be more right.  In fact, not even necessarily "lacking"; just truly horribly made  .

Granted, most of King's work has been not only extremely difficult to turn into film; but the end product is absolute krap (Firestarter--either version; Night Shift; The Langoliers; The Tommyknockers; Rose Red; Silver Bullet; IT--the original; etc, etc, etc).     

But absolutely nothing that's been put onto King film will EVER be worse than the complete dumpster fire that they slammed together for The Dark Tower  .  I was so looking forward to that hitting the screen; especially after I heard who was playing the iconic characters of Randall Flag (The Man in Black) and Roland Deschain.  Good Lord, I still can't get over what an ocean of complete garbage juice that "movie" turned out to be  .

***On the flip side, I thought the mini-series for 11/22/63 was exceptional .