Stephen King is behind a massive quantity of movies, some of which bear only a passing resemblance to his original works. One of the greatest authors of all time, Stephen King’s bibliography is simply massive in its number of stories, many of which have been reimagined in a variety of movie and TV adaptations. While some of the best Stephen King movies follow the script of their source material quite closely, many of them do a terrible job translating King’s work to the screen.
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Stephen King has allowed his name to be attached to a great number of projects running a wide gamut of quality, from cheap made-for-TV specials to major blockbuster films. Many of the best Stephen King movies use his original writing as a close guide, but others are more apt to start almost from scratch, merely using King’s name to increase their own notoriety. Regardless of how good or bad they are, many films crediting Stephen King for inspiration fail to live up to their literary counterparts.
You are watching: As Far As Accurate Adaptations Go, These Stephen King Movies Totally Missed The Mark
9
The Running Man
Totally Transforms Its Lead Protagonist
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Far from one of the best Arnold Schwarzenegger action movies, The Running Man is a dimly-remembered sci-fi romp outclassed by peers like Total Recall and Commando. The 1987 film posits Arnold as an ex-soldier who is forced to partake in a dystopian reality TV show in which condemned criminals, called “Runners”, have to escape death at the hands of state-sanctioned assassins. The movie is quite groundbreaking for its time, ironically walking so that future films like The Hunger Games could run.
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The Running Man
R
Sci-Fi
Thriller
Action
8/10
5.5/10
Release Date
November 13, 1987
Runtime
101 minutes
Cast
See All
-
Maria Conchita Alonso
Ben Richards
-
Yaphet Kotto
Uncredited
Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, The Running Man is a sci-fi action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Captain Ben Richards, a former cop who’s forced to compete in a deadly game show where criminals fight for their lives. The 1987 movie is based on a Stephen King novel under his pen name Richard Bachman.
Director
Paul Michael Glaser
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As an adaptation, however, the film falls very short. While both stories use the same basic premise, the book’s protagonist has a much more wholesome reason for participating in the games, and is far from the muscular action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger presents as. Instead, the novel’s scrappy hero relies far more on his brains than his brawn, and the mistranslation of this crucial element of the story leaves 1987’s The Running Man feeling distinctly not like a Stephen King story.
8
Graveyard Shift
Openly Disliked By King Himself
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It says a lot that King’s work is so prolific that even his short stories are worthy of movie adaptations in their own right, even if they aren’t usually done justice. Enter Graveyard Shift, a 1990 film based on the short story of the same name from King’s classic collection of tall tales, Night Shift.
Openly disliked by King as an adaptation, Graveyard Shift is perhaps proof that not every story with King’s name on it necessarily needs its own movie.
The film concerns a group of blue-collar workers who are sent to eliminate a vicious rat problem at an old textile mill, only to encounter a bat-like monster behind the infestation. In the original story, the monstrous mutant rats are given a far wider variety of frightening forms, explained to have a more eusocial quality to their primitive society that the film glosses over.
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Graveyard Shift
R
Horror
Release Date
October 26, 1990
Runtime
89 Minutes
Cast
See All
-
Stephen Macht
-
Andrew Divoff
-
Vic Polizos
-
Brad Dourif
Graveyard Shift is a horror film based on Stephen King’s short story of the same name. The film follows John Hall, who takes a job at a decrepit textile mill and discovers that the basement is infested with deadly rats. As he investigates further, he uncovers a monstrous creature lurking in the subterranean depths. Brad Dourif and David Andrews star in this chilling adaptation directed by Ralph S. Singleton.
Director
Ralph S. Singleton
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The movie spends more time attempting to develop the names King briefly mentions, but their attempts fall flat, resulting in cardboard-thin clichés that only exist to die one at a time. Openly disliked by King as an adaptation, Graveyard Shift is perhaps proof that not every story with King’s name on it necessarily needs its own movie.
7
The Lawnmower Man
Is Unrecognizable From Its Source Material
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If there’s one movie infamous for its utterly alien relationship to its supposed inspiration, it’s The Lawnmower Man. Stephen King’s original short story is a bizarre little saga, telling a brief campfire tale of a man who is killed by a literal lawnmower after witnessing a bizarre human incarnation of an ancient forest spirit. Meanwhile, the film centers on an intellectually disabled gardener who is experimented on with virtual reality by a mad scientist, inflicting all sorts of man-man horrors beyond comprehension on him.
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The Lawnmower Man
R
Horror
Sci-Fi
Release Date
March 6, 1992
Runtime
108 minutes
Cast
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-
Jeremy Slate
-
Pierce Brosnan
-
Geoffrey Lewis
-
Jeff Fahey
In the sci-fi movie The Lawnmower Man, a scientist uses virtual reality and psychoactive drugs to enhance the intelligence of a simple-minded gardener, but the experiment goes terribly wrong. Pierce Brosnan stars as Dr. Lawrence Angelo with Jeff Fahey as Jobe Smith.
Director
Brett Leonard
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Because of the massive disparity between the original story and the film, Stephen King infamously sued The Lawnmower Man to have his name struck from the credits, wanting nothing to do with the movie. Considering its horrible early usage of CGI and nonsensical plot, this was a smart career move by King, who was successful in his lawsuit. There’s no doubt that The Lawnmower Man takes the crown as the single most unfaithful Stephen King “adaptation”.
6
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Maximum Overdrive
A Hilarious Failure Helmed By King Himself
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Stephen King himself has only directed a single film based on his own work, the disastrously bad Maximum Overdrive. While King is undisputedly a brilliant writer, this single directorial effort was enough to ensure he never sat in a director’s chair again. The plot very loosely follows that of his short story Trucks, in which a gas station full of people are held hostage by a group of sentient semi-trucks. The film expands the idea further, explaining that all artificial technology on the planet is coming to murderous life due to the effects of a mysterious comet.
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Maximum Overdrive
R
Horror
Comedy
Action
7/10
Release Date
July 25, 1986
Runtime
98 minutes
Cast
See All
-
Emilio Estevez
-
Laura Harrington
Written and directed by Stephen King, Maximum Overdrive is a 1986 horror movie about a group of people who are trapped at a truck stop when all the machines in the world, including trucks, cars, and lawn mowers, become sentient and homicidal.
Director
Stephen King
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Maximum Overdrive is completely removed from Trucks in tone, the latter being quite a bleak and depressing short. Meanwhile, Maximum Overdrive is clearly the result of a drug-fueled bender that has relentless energy, from the hilarious deaths to the blaring AC/DC soundtrack to the sudden appearance of a young Giancarlo Esposito before he became famous. Even if it is a ton of fun to watch, Maximum Overdrive is undeniably terrible as both an adaptation and as a film in general.
5
The Dark Tower
Butchered An Epic Saga Into A Pathetic Single Film
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Perhaps the magnum opus of Stephen King’s bibliography, the Dark Tower series is an expansive fantasy masterpiece that spans a hefty nine novels, which only get longer as the series continues. The books follow the gunslinger Roland and his allies on their quest for the titular Dark Tower, a mysterious obelisk at the center of existence.
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To truly do the series justice, an adaptation of the Dark Tower books would either have to be a sprawling multi-film series on the level of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or simply a long-running TV show. Sadly, the disastrously bad 2017 movie attempted to squeeze the entire story into a single feature-length film.
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The Dark Tower
PG-13
Fantasy
Sci-Fi
Horror
5/10
10
5/10
Release Date
August 4, 2017
Runtime
95 Minutes
Cast
See All
-
Matthew McConaughey
-
Tom Taylor
Idris Elba, Tom Taylor, Claudia Kim, and Matthew McConaughey star in The Dark Tower, a Western Sci-Fi film directed by Nikolaj Arcel. Released in 2017, The Dark Tower follows a young boy with visions of an apocalyptic future in which a powerful man, dubbed The Man in Black, lays waste to the universe. The film is based on the Stephen King book series.
Director
Nikolaj Arcel
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As if the piecemeal representation and reshuffled events of the film weren’t bad enough, The Dark Tower is rated PG-13, totally undermining many of the series more adult and often horrific chapters. Hopefully, the upcoming Dark Tower TV series helmed by experienced King adaptation director Mike Flanagan can finally do the series justice in live-action.
4
The Langoliers
Was Too Cheap For Its Ambitious Source Material
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One of the many made-for-TV two-part movies made in Stephen King’s name, The Langoliers is an infamous example of a film that bit off more than it could chew. Based on the excerpt of the same name from another of King’s short story novellas, Four Past Midnight, The Langoliers tells the story of a plane full of people who land at an airport only to find it mysteriously abandoned. They soon realize they’ve somehow arrived at a point outside the flow of time, and face being devoured by the monstrous Langoliers.
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The Langoliers
PG-13
Horror
Sci-Fi
Mystery
Thriller
Release Date
May 14, 1995
Runtime
180 minutes
Cast
See All
-
Mark Lindsay Chapman
-
Patricia Wettig
-
dean stockwell
-
David Morse
In The Langoliers, a 1995 miniseries based on Stephen King’s novella, ten passengers on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Boston awaken to find themselves in a deserted world. As they navigate this mysterious and seemingly abandoned reality, they must uncover the truth behind their predicament while racing against time and the ominous threat of the Langoliers. Directed by Tom Holland, the miniseries stars Patricia Wettig, Dean Stockwell, and David Morse.
Director
Tom Holland
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The Langoliers is one of the most ambitious and esoteric Stephen King stories to ever be adapted. While the film actually does follow the plot of the original story somewhat closely, the made-for-TV budget simply doesn’t have the firepower to make the titular beasts anything close to frightening. As a result, the Langoliers appear as a flying horde of meatball-shaped blobs that crudely hover through the air in one of the roughest examples of early digital effects around.
3
Cell
Fumbled A Great Concept
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Cell is one of the most creative and chilling ideas for an apocalypse Stephen King has ever had, ripe for an adaptation that could have made it one of the best zombie movies ever. The story unfolds when a mysterious signal broadcast across the world suddenly turns everyone who happened to be using a cellphone at the time into a vicious animalistic killer devoid of human thought.
The events of the story differ quite heavily in the movie, showing protagonist Clay go on a much shorter journey compared to the cross-country trek of Clay from the book.
Other than sharing this basic premise, the 2016 film has little in common with the book. The events of the story differ quite heavily in the movie, showing protagonist Clay go on a much shorter journey compared to the cross-country trek of Clay from the book.
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Cell
R
Drama
Horror
Action
Sci-Fi
Thriller
Release Date
July 6, 2016
Runtime
98 minutes
Cast
See All
-
Ethan Andrew Casto
-
Clark Sarullo
-
Isabelle Fuhrman
-
Samuel L. Jackson
Cell is a 2016 science fiction horror film directed by Tod Williams and based on the novel by Stephen King. Starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, the film follows a graphic novelist who bands together with a group of survivors after a mysterious signal broadcast over the cellular network turns most of humanity into mindless, violent savages. As they navigate a dystopian landscape, they strive to find safety and answers.
Director
Tod Williams
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The film also settles on a much more grim downer ending compared to the more vague resolution of the books, doing even less to explain the behavior or properties of the infected swathes of humanity. Stripped of most book-accuracy, Cell is simply left with two tired performances from John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson that fail to spur any interest.
2
The Boogeyman
Dumbed Down Its Nightmarish Creature
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The concept of the boogeyman is an almost ancient ritual that exists in many cultures, being a blanket term for any kind of unseen monster that terrorizes children specifically. Stephen King’s short story The Boogeyman expands on the mythos, following a couple whose two previous children died under mysterious circumstances after yelping the phrase “Boogeyman!”. As their third child comes home, the couple are once again plagued by the seemingly cursed spirit set on destroying their family.
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The Boogeyman
r
Horror
Mystery
Supernatural
7/10
Release Date
June 2, 2023
Runtime
98 Minutes
Cast
See All
-
Madison Hu
-
Vivien Lyra Blair
The Boogeyman is a 2023 film directed by Rob Savage and starring Madison Hu, Vivien Lyra Blair, and Sophie Thatcher. The release is based heavily on Stephen King’s short story of the same name. The director intends to warp the story enough to be somewhat different from the 1973 release.
Director
Rob Savage
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A film based on the book released without much fanfare in 2023, having little to do with the supposed source material. 2023’s The Boogeyman only references the events of the book in passing as the history of the monster is unraveled for a whole new set of characters. Yet this boogeyman is an entirely different creature with a whole other M.O. compared to the short story, a generic jumpscare monster that doesn’t hold a candle to the chilling intelligence of the creature described in Stephen King’s work.
1
The Shining
Proof That King’s Work Is Sometimes Better With Some Adjustments
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The Shining perhaps proves that being a good movie and a good adaptation are two very different things, being one of the best horror movies of all time while deviating quite heavily from Stephen King’s original book. Both stories follow the Torrance family as they spend winter in the profanely haunted Overlook Hotel, which eventually causes husband Jack Torrance to attempt to murder his family. Visionary director Stanley Kubrick leaves out a few odd details from the book, such as hedge sculptures that come to life.
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The Shining
R
Horror
Drama
10/10
39
8.6/10
Release Date
June 13, 1980
Runtime
146 minutes
Cast
See All
-
Danny Lloyd
-
Shelley Duvall
Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall tells the story of the Torrance family, who move to the isolated Overlook Hotel so that father Jack Torrance can act as its winter caretaker. Stuck at the hotel due to the winter storms, the malevolent supernatural forces inhabiting the building slowly begin to drive Jack insane, causing his wife and psychically gifted son to be caught up in a fight for their lives when Jack is pushed over the edge.
Director
Stanley Kubrick
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However, the biggest deviation is the source of the horror itself. The book posits that Jack is a good man with issues who is taken advantage of and possessed by the Overlook Hotel, whereas the movie suggests that the haunting was a mere excuse for the man to live out his true twisted fantasies. Famously, Stephen King hates Kubrick’s The Shining for this change, clearly identifying with Jack as a self-insert. Regardless, there’s no denying that The Shining is one of the greatest films based on Stephen King’s work, even if it is only loosely.
Source: https://dinhtienhoang.edu.vn
Category: Entertainment