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-   -   Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations. (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk/641327-name-top-5-best-top-5-worst-stephen-king-adaptations.html)

Hazel Motes 09-10-17 11:40 PM

Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
Film adaptations, but also feel free to throw any mini series in there too.

Giver.

Josh-da-man 09-11-17 02:37 AM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
Best:

The Shining
Carrie
Dead Zone
Stand By Me
Green Mile

Worst:

Maximum Overdrive
Mangler
Graveyard Shift
Langoliers
The Stand

Boba Fett 09-11-17 03:35 AM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
BEST:
Shining
Shawshank Redemption
The Mist
Stand By Me
Apt Pupil

WORST:
Maximum Overdrive
Langoliers
Thinner
Firestarter: Rekindled
Rage: Carrie 2

james2025a 09-11-17 05:46 AM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
The best for me:

The Shining
Shawshank Redemption
The Mist
Stand By Me
Creepshow/Cats Eye
The Dead Zone

Honorable mention to Needful Things, and i hated Dreamcatcher tbe first time i saw it, but gotten to really appreciate it more over the years. And the new It is one of the best movies of Kings work, but not top 5 (or 6 in my case)

Worst

Maximum Overdrive (i place this highest simply because King appeared in the trailer saying how other movie adaptations of his work had failed and it was not going to be done right as he was directing. Clear case of dont give up your day job. Such a shit movie).
The Dark Half (great concept, but totally fails as a movie)
Sleepwalkers (soooooooooooo bad. Terrible story to begin with.)
Firestarter
Graveyard Shift

Oh, and i am not counting all the sequels to movies of Kings work. Then you could simply add on all the Children of the Corn sequels.

Michael Corvin 09-11-17 06:02 AM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
Best:
The Shawshank Redemption
The Green Mile
Stand By Me
The Mist
Misery

Worst:
The Shining
The Lawnmower Man
Under the Dome

rw2516 09-11-17 06:40 AM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
The ones I find superior:
Carrie(1976)
Salem's Lot(1979)
The Shining(1980)
Dead Zone
Christine
The Mist
Creepshow
Storm of The Century
Pet Semetary

The ones I think suck:
Under the Dome
Maximum Overdrive
Langoliers
Needful Things
Graveyard Shift
Thinner
Dark Half
Sleepwalkers
Lawnmower Man

joe_b 09-11-17 08:16 AM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
Best:
Misery
Carrie (1976)
The Mist
Pet Sematary
It (2017)

I consider the first half of the 1990 "It" miniseries as good as any King adaption, but the second half knocks it out of a spot in my top 5. I appreciate Kubrick's "The Shining" more every time I watch it, but it's never really been a personal favorite. Still haven't seen "Shawshank".


Worst:
The Lawnmower Man
Bag of Bones
Dreamcatcher
The Tommyknockers
Apt Pupil

I'm sure there are crappier King adaptions than some of these, but there are still a bunch I haven't seen.

inri222 09-11-17 08:35 AM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
Of the ones I've seen

Best:

Dolores Claiborne
The Shining
Carrie
Dead Zone
Misery

Honorable mention : The Mist & Salem's Lot

Worst:

Maximum Overdrive
The Lawnmower Man
Thinner
Needful Things
Apt Pupil

TomOpus 09-11-17 09:36 AM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
The best:

Shawshank Redemption
Stand by Me
Dolores Claiborne
Misery
The Green Mile

The worst:

The Shining
Maximum Overdrive
The Lawnmower Man
Under the Dome
The Stand
IT mini-series - honorable mention

Kedrix 09-11-17 10:49 AM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
Well, I'm sure to piss off a few, but here we go:

Best:
Shining, The
Misery
Secret Window (I know Shining and Misery were greater film achievement wise, but damn it I loved this freaking movie and Johnny Depp was amazing)
Dead Zone
Running Man, The

Worst
Mist, The (F'ing hate this movie and especially the ending)
Children of the Corn (Children, corn fields, eye rolling commence)
Pet Sematary (My parents took me to this movie as a child, I was 14, they hated me.)
Under the Dome
Sleepwalkers

Michael Corvin 09-11-17 12:15 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
Oh man, The Mist ending is 'effin brilliant, and far superior to King's own.

Also kinda hard to Slam Children of the Corn. The original story wasn't too hot to begin with. How it spawned so many sequels though? That is a fucking head scratcher.

Pet Sematary was a damn good adaptation.

So with that, are people rating the adaptation or just the movies in general? Hard to think so many that read the Shining think the movie is a "good" adaptation. It may be a great horror flick, but as far as translations go, it's a hot mess.

TomOpus 09-11-17 12:33 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 

Originally Posted by Michael Corvin (Post 13154512)
So with that, are people rating the adaptation or just the movies in general? Hard to think so many that read the Shining think the movie is a "good" adaptation. It may be a great horror flick, but as far as translations go, it's a hot mess.

Agreed. So much.

PhantomStranger 09-11-17 12:40 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
Langoliers isn't that bad of an adaptation. Are the people slamming some of these adaptations familiar with the original novel or writing?

I can't believe people are missing the worst adaptation of them all - The Tommyknockers. Pet Sematary and The Green Mile are far and away the best adaptations that stick to the source material.

Mabuse 09-11-17 01:05 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
Pet Semetary
The Shining
Stand By Me
Misery
Carrie

johnnysd 09-11-17 01:42 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
I think Dead Zone is one of the more under appreciated movies ever. I think it is a terrific movie.

inri222 09-11-17 01:59 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 

Originally Posted by johnnysd (Post 13154611)
I think Dead Zone is one of the more under appreciated movies ever. I think it is a terrific movie.

I give a lot of the credit to David Cronenberg.

Ky-Fi 09-11-17 03:28 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
I always thought Silver Bullet was a bit underrated--fun 80's cast and solid werewolf movie, IMO.

PhantomStranger 09-12-17 01:47 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 

Originally Posted by johnnysd (Post 13154611)
I think Dead Zone is one of the more under appreciated movies ever. I think it is a terrific movie.

The Dead Zone movie is actually better than the novel.

EddieMoney 09-12-17 01:51 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger (Post 13154545)
Langoliers isn't that bad of an adaptation. Are the people slamming some of these adaptations familiar with the original novel or writing?

I can't believe people are missing the worst adaptation of them all - The Tommyknockers. Pet Sematary and The Green Mile are far and away the best adaptations that stick to the source material.


Nick Danger 09-12-17 01:54 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 
Because of this thread, I learned about the Stephen King dollar deal. Anyone can buy the movie rights to one of his short stories for $1. The conditions are that you can't show the movie commercially without permission, and you have to send Stephen King a copy of the finished movie.

IMDB lists many Stephen King movie shorts that were made for a few thousand dollars. I think that's a cool way to encourage the arts.

PhantomStranger 09-12-17 02:02 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 

Originally Posted by EddieMoney (Post 13155435)

I grant you the special effects on a television budget weren't great.

EddieMoney 09-12-17 02:13 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger (Post 13155450)
I grant you the special effects on a television budget weren't great.

Oh, I didn't even notice the effects! I was just blown away by Bronson Pinchot's performance!

PhantomStranger 09-12-17 02:35 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 

Originally Posted by EddieMoney (Post 13155474)
Oh, I didn't even notice the effects! I was just blown away by Bronson Pinchot's performance!

That is kind of in line with his character in the book.

Michael Corvin 09-12-17 06:35 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 

Originally Posted by Nick Danger (Post 13155441)
Because of this thread, I learned about the Stephen King dollar deal. Anyone can buy the movie rights to one of his short stories for $1. The conditions are that you can't show the movie commercially without permission, and you have to send Stephen King a copy of the finished movie.

IMDB lists many Stephen King movie shorts that were made for a few thousand dollars. I think that's a cool way to encourage the arts.

It is pretty cool. He's also a firm believer in the fact that the novels stand on their own. That's why, for the most part, he doesn't give a shit how the movies or shows turn out. People can always read the novel.

It's a few years old, but if you're bored Rolling Stone has a killer interview with the man himself.

Josh-da-man 09-12-17 07:47 PM

Re: Name the Top 5 Best and Top 5 Worst Stephen King adaptations.
 

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger (Post 13154545)
Langoliers isn't that bad of an adaptation. Are the people slamming some of these adaptations familiar with the original novel or writing?

I can't believe people are missing the worst adaptation of them all - The Tommyknockers. Pet Sematary and The Green Mile are far and away the best adaptations that stick to the source material.

I thought The Langoliers was a really good, creepy story when I read it. The problem with the adaption is that it didn't need to be a miniseries and the special effects were laughable. It would probably make a great film in the right hands.

The Tommyknockers wasn't one of my worst adaptions because I didn't think the novel was that great. Both the book and the miniseries were kind of D+'s IMO.


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