Stephen King movie poll

[Panzram]

Out of the countless movies he's written or made in someway, what is your favorite?

[Durango53]

Well for not liking King at all as a writer and just hating most movies Shawshank Redemption was a ok one.

[rockin500]

well, i really loved the Stand as a book, and they did a decent job of it as a miniseries. I'd have to say the Shining was one of the best movies off of a stephen king book. that movie freaked the everlasting shit out of me! :eek:

[Nanner]

Well, this has to be qualified somewhat. Stephen King hasn't written the screenplays for many of the movies made of his books. As the years have gone on, I think he's seen who does well by his stuff, and who doesn't, and he's been more careful about in whose hands his books and stories end up.

Frank Darabont (screenplay and director for The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile) has done extremely well with capturing the essence of Stephen King's stories.

As has Rob Reiner. Misery, with screenplay by William Goldman..... remains one of my absolute faves. And Stand By Me, directed by Rob Reiner as well, was also nicely handled.

I've always thought Stephen King is about so much more than the horror in his stories. Granted, one of the reasons I read his books is because they scare the sh*t out of me. But, beyond the horror are the people and how they deal with their nightmares and how they get through life. I think alot of the movies made of his books don't capture that, and they end up just being scary....... and one-dimensional. And they fail because of that.

But those 4 I listed are my faves because they found what is, to me, the essence of what King writes.

End of lecture. :D

[PopTop]

I never really read any "horror" until a friend hooked me on King. He is an excellent writer, and it doesn't surprise me at all that his books rarely translated well onto the screen since I've never thought any movie was as good as any book I've read.

At the risk of sounding like I'm just echoing Nanner's list, the four movies she mentioned that were based on King novels or short stories --- Stand by Me, Shawshank, Green Mile and Misery --- would top my list as well ... Stand by Me (from the original short story The Body) probably is #1 of those because of the special meaning it has for me and my two oldest nephews.

[Blue56]

i liked Misery

[imgreat95]

Ray, I really do hope that you ar etalking about the remake of the Shining and not the original. Having read the book when I was in 8th grade, I found the original one to be horrible. Especially considering that the hero in the book was dead with 20 minutes to go in the movie.

I also have to disagree with the inclusion of The Lawnmower Man. The short story of the lawnmower man was actually about just that. I guy who crawled around on his hands and knees and ate grass. The movie had absolutely nothing to do with that, and, in fact, led to a lawsuit from King agaiunst the makers of the movie for using his name to advertise it.

Personally, I still think that IT and Pet Semetary are the best ones that I have ever seen. Stand by Me and The Green Mile following closely behind.

[Nanner]

Ray, I really do hope that you ar etalking about the remake of the Shining and not the original. Having read the book when I was in 8th grade, I found the original one to be horrible. Especially considering that the hero in the book was dead with 20 minutes to go in the movie.



Totally agree with you, Shon. It's one of my favorite King books, and the first movie of it was so not the book. The book, to me, was this guy slowly going crazy and dealing with his demons. Jack Nicholson was crazy to begin with! :notme: And Shelly Duvall playing the wife...... :hmm: (Geez..... whatever happened to her?) - What in the heck was that about?!?! :eek:

So.... I guess I liked the 2nd one, but, to paraphrase Willie.... a movie of a book better be pretty special for me to like it.

[Sheafaithful]

The Stand is my favorite book and mini-series. Strong characters, got to see the story from all POVs.

Close second is Salem's Lot (wish I could have caught the miniseries).

Cujo was a good book, though when I saw the movie, I was so mad at Stephen King!

Pet Semetary was an excellent book--in addition to be horrifying, it was also sad and deals with the human condition (to love someone that much, to put them and yourself through that,wo. The movie freaks me out, though. Something about knives and children, just can't bear to watch it.

Hated It, will not watch the movie to this day.

[Panzram]

I like IT, Shawshank Redemption and The Stand. Laws yes. MOON spells moon. :wink:

[Misha77Piazza]

From this die-hard Stephen King fan since his first book, Carrie came out, I agree with Shawn on The Lawnmower Man and others as well. Most of films after his books are mostly so so BUT Misery, Green Mile films and TV film, The Stand are so f'cking awesome! As for The Shining, the original one, film SUCKED A BIG TIME! I haven't yet seen the new Shining but heard that is even better than the original. Same goes for the original Salem's Lot film. But I'd prefer reading his books over the films. As matter of fact, I'm currently reading Rose Madder which is pretty good but not kicking awesome.
When I first got Thinner long before I found out it was Stephen King writing that, I read the whole thing and screamed, "Whoah, this author is a real copycat of Stephen King because overall the book screamed, "STEPHEN KING". I kept telling my husband over and over that must be Stephen King's work, not Bachman. After a few months, to my shock the news or newspaper confirmed it was his work under his fake name. Whoah! I've read a couple of Dark Tower series and still haven't gotten around to buy the rest of series but Dark Tower series are really AWESOME!

[Misha77Piazza]

Forgot to say one more thing, I can't vote which one because I like them all. :D

[Rockin Robin]

I had read every Stephen King book as it came out, until I believe Christine. Dead Zone....Firestarter.....Christine......to me it seemed like he was becoming too commercialized. Writing to sell books instead of writing them to tell a story.

But prior to that, The Stand and Salem's Lot were my favorite books. Read em over and over and over and over. The movie of Salem's Lot (the original, with David Soul) was surprisingly good. I liked it better than the new one that TNT made and showed last week. I liked the movie The Shining. I waited ten years for The Stand to be made into a movie and was quite disappointed. The book freaked me out. It was awesome!

Did I answer the question?? ;)

[Blue56]

i didn't see the movie "It" but man was the book LONG!!!!

[Blue56]

last night i saw the movie "Secret Window" Very good, i liked it!

[Misha77Piazza]

So did I when my husband and I were at my friend's house to watch "Secret Window" on DVD. It's not that good...it's so so, IMO. I was kinda hoping to get more scared by it but nothing did. :notme:

[Blue56]

well lets just say it wasn't in the top 10 for scary movies by Mr. King

[Dark_Angel]

I voted for It. I always thought that it was so cool.

That movie just gives me more reasons to hate clowns. :scared:

[Dark_Angel]

Oh, I loved Secret Window. I just rented it on Monday.

It wasn't scary, but I thought it was really thrilling and suspenseful and I loved the twist at the end. :thumbsup:

[Toy Cannon]

You said book so my vote goes to The Stand. Couldn't put it down. I read in bed 'til 4:00 AM. I thought it was great.