Stephen King Is My Favorite Author – These 5 Lesser-Known Adaptations Are Better Than The Shining
It's time to dive deep into the underrated King movies and TV series.
Today we will not talk about the legendary The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile or Carrie.
These movies became real hits, but in the extensive list of Stephen King adaptations you can find works that were released quietly and did not win the loud title of classics, but deserve no less (and maybe even more) attention.
1. Storm of the Century, 1999
While working on Storm of the Century, King realized that he was not writing a novel, but a TV script – the storyline was picked up by ABC.
More than anything in the world, Stephen King likes to send the friendly inhabitants of small towns straight into the cauldron of hell. Little Tall Island has become a branch of Hell on Earth.
In three episodes, Stephen King and director Craig R. Baxley manage to invent a new legend about the tragic fate of the Roanoke colony, cover the entire island with snow, and present the little people with a great moral and ethical dilemma.
2. Dreamcatcher, 2003
The failure of Dreamcatcher, which now has a 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, is a real shock and a huge historical misunderstanding. This is not another B-movie horror film, but a big-budget sci-fi blockbuster, big and spectacular.
Dreamcatcher begins as a buddy comedy about four childhood friends with telepathic abilities; continues as a horror film about bloodthirsty alien creatures; and ends as an action film with car chases and shootouts.
Through all these transformations, Dreamcatcher never loses its extraordinary energy. The chemistry between the actors makes the friendship between the characters very convincing.
The practical and computer effects used to depict the aliens and their captive victims remain timeless and are, without exaggeration, among the best in the history of the genre.
3. The Dead Zone, 1983
King considers the political novel one of his greatest successes. It's hard to disagree: the supernatural vibrations of foreknowledge mixed with the ambivalence of a deadly act.
The Dead Zone may be one of the most underrated Stephen King adaptations. Christopher Walken is superb as a man plagued by visions who takes it upon himself to save the world.
King once again uses the supernatural to explore real fears, and David Cronenberg brings that fear to the screen with grace and intelligence.
4. Needful Things, 1993
Needful Things is a quiet and leisurely adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name. But even this did not help the adaptation to get positive reviews – on Rotten Tomatoes it has only 33% positive reviews. It's probably all about the narrative mode chosen by the director.
Max von Sydow plays Satan, who arrives in the town of Castle Rock. This is a world-class role: he seduces the locals with "needful things" in his shop, in exchange for which the customers commit heinous acts that bring discord to the local community.
This is a rare example in cinema of a novelistic rather than a dramatic narrative: most of the running time is devoted to the unfolding of individual plotlines, and the action unfolds according to the laws of chance and the logic of a parable.
5. Stand By Me, 1986
Writer Gordon learns of the death of a childhood friend in the local newspaper, sending him on a mental journey down memory lane.
In the hot summer of 1959, he and three close friends, Chris, Teddy and Vern, embark on a life-changing adventure. Then, news of the death of a missing 12-year-old boy inspires them to become heroes by being the first to find his body.
This is one of King's most intimate and personal stories. The synopsis sounds like the beginning of a scary plot, but in fact we have a deeply touching movie that evokes the halcyon days of youth when friends were your whole world.
