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Pheeets posted:I was about to post that I've only ever seen one or two of the movies adapted from King's books, but I just realized I've seen more than I thought: Carrie, The Shining, Stand By Me, Shawshank Redemption, The Dead Zone, Misery and Delores Claiborne. But still, half of the ones mentioned in this thread I had no idea were ever made into a movie. The Mist is pretty good. And if you enjoyed Desperation you might enjoy the TV movie. And wow, watch Room 1408 and the Nightmares and Dreamscapes adaptations. None of those are as quality as the films you mentioned but they are entertaining and pretty well made for all that.
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Aug 31, 2014 06:26
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I think we can all agree that the made for TV movie "The Langoliers" is easily the best King work ever put on screen by a large margin.
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Aug 31, 2014 06:29
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oldpainless posted:I think we can all agree that the made for TV movie "The Langoliers" is easily the best King work ever put on screen by a large margin. Error: Integer underflow.
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Aug 31, 2014 06:40
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oldpainless posted:I think we can all agree that the made for TV movie "The Langoliers" is easily the best King work ever put on screen by a large margin. Dean Stockwell as author insert, Balki as villainous yuppie psycho. Seems legit.
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Aug 31, 2014 06:43
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The Langoliers, either preceding or following Dancer in the Dark would make for the greatest double-feature date night.
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Aug 31, 2014 06:44
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franco posted:The Langoliers, either preceding or following another showing of The Langoliers would make for the greatest double-feature date night.
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Aug 31, 2014 06:45
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That would be the last time that franco made out with oldpainless.
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Aug 31, 2014 06:52
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franco posted:The Langoliers, either preceding or following Dancer in the Dark would make for the greatest double-feature date night. 
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Aug 31, 2014 06:59
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I still have a soft spot for Cat's Eye, even though most don't rate it highly. James Woods absolutely kills it in Quitters Inc., possibly because he smokes like a chimney in everything I've ever seen him in.
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Aug 31, 2014 19:09
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A little over 500 pages into IT now, and... I finally get the thread title. Yay. It's good so far, I like it, though I can't say it's been really scary or super interesting either. I mean, it hasn't grabbed me like The Stand did by this point. It's a real slow burn. I saw the movie when I was a kid a ton of times, so that probably doesn't help. However, I hear the ending is quite different in the novel, so that's good. Reading the novel though, it strikes me that the movie version was actually pretty dang true to the book up to this point, surprisingly. Although, like I said before, I know it likely doesn't end with a lame fight against a giant spider. Or at least I hope it doesn't. I don't exactly have a burning desire to read it yet, you know? Hopefully it picks up a bit more in the second half now that a lot of people are introduced.
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Aug 31, 2014 22:12
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syscall girl posted:The Mist is pretty good. I saw the black-and-white version on the DVD and I have to say it works even better that way.
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Sep 3, 2014 05:15
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Damo posted:A little over 500 pages into IT now, and... I finally get the thread title. Yay. Oh no. Not again. It's been a long time since I read it (IT), but I honestly found it (IT) to be a real page turner. The book is better than the movie but yes, it ends with a giant spider fight.[spoiler] and also [spoiler] add in a gang rape . So maybe you should quIT while you're ahead. syscall girl posted:The Mist is pretty good. It is. It's better than the book, IMO, and one of the few things I can stand Thomas Jane in.
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Sep 4, 2014 00:40
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I'm surprised to not see this here: Stephen King @StephenKing Sep 2 The book coming in November, REVIVAL, is a straight-ahead horror novel. If you're going to buy it, better tone up your nerves.
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Sep 4, 2014 06:12
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BiggerBoat posted:Oh no. Not again. "It" is a rewrite of the novella The Body, which is better really. The Body is a great, evocative description of childhood and friendship and has a quest. And it isn't 800 pages long and there's no supernatural spider aliens. Yeah, check out The Body. The movie Stand By Me was based on it. blue squares posted:I'm surprised to not see this here: Count me out. I'll reread the old books and new novellas and short stories but no new novels.
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Sep 4, 2014 11:49
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Here's a quiz: name all King novels and novellas featuring professional writers as narrators or major characters. Excluded are people simply writing their own story (i.e. Red from Shawshank Redemption, Dennis from Christine) and diary writers (Fran from The Stand). I haven't read some of the later books. Here are ones I can think of: Salem's Lot The Shining (Does Harold from The Stand count?) The Body It Misery Tommyknockers Dark Half Langoliers Secret Window Bag of Bones 11/22/63 (I'm counting the narrator as a professional writer because he is serious about writing and intends to be published) That list looks short. I had thought writer-characters/narrators made it into 1/3 of King's fiction but it could easily be only 15%.
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Sep 4, 2014 12:15
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The protagonist of Cell was a graphic novelist IIRC.
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Sep 4, 2014 13:12
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The Regulators I feel like there are some short stories too but without my collections available I can't go back and look.
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Sep 4, 2014 13:23
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1608 or whatever. The dude wrote articles debunking hauntings, I think?
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Sep 4, 2014 15:31
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Zamboni_Rodeo posted:The Regulators If you use regulators you use desperation as well.
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Sep 4, 2014 16:23
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oldpainless posted:If you use regulators you use desperation as well. Was he a writer in Desperation too? I couldn't remember, which was why I didn't include it.
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Sep 4, 2014 17:19
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Sorry, Right Number Night Flyer In the deathroom Road Virus heads north Big Driver As far as his shorter stuff goes, those are the ones I recall writers as main characters or protagonists.
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Sep 4, 2014 17:27
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Zamboni_Rodeo posted:Was he a writer in Desperation too? I couldn't remember, which was why I didn't include it. Yes he was a writer. I think the story was he was doing research cuz he needed his book to be a big hit. He was pretty desperate.
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Sep 4, 2014 18:00
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oldpainless posted:Yes he was a writer. I think the story was he was doing research cuz he needed his book to be a big hit. He was pretty desperate. The writer in Desperation was literally on a motorcylce tour to promote his book it could not be any more self-insert.
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Sep 4, 2014 18:11
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Lisey's husband in Lisey's Story was a writer. Not a narrator, but a major character.
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Sep 4, 2014 20:37
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Hokaayy. That adds to writer as narrator/important character: Cell Regulators Desperation Lisey's Story As far as short fiction, I can add Ballad of the Flexible Bullet
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Sep 5, 2014 20:50
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The dad in Cujo was an adman so he wrote copy and ad slogans, if that counts towards the writer category.
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Sep 6, 2014 00:21
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I feel like King's writing style has changed over time. He just to write messed up stuff like Survivor Type. Now stories like Cell and Doctor Sleep are more like adventure books than real horror. Still awesome writing though.
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Sep 6, 2014 02:18
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ruddiger posted:The dad in Cujo was an adman so he wrote copy and ad slogans, if that counts towards the writer category. I do that as part of my job and I'd never really call myself a writer. Our dedicated copywriter is nowhere near one either, I'd say.
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Sep 8, 2014 20:13
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Damo posted:A little over 500 pages into IT now, and... I finally get the thread title. Yay. I just finished IT last week. I found it a slog in places, but overall it was a good read. I think King does his best work when he bases things in reality. The parts where adults are ignoring blatant bad things going on and literally turn away was genuinely scary because it captures the trapped nightmare the kids are a part of, and the stories within the story of the violent events in Derry were atmospheric. But by the end I was struggling with spirit quests, gigantic floating jive talking celestial turtles, metaphorical tongue biting and little Beverley instigating a gangbang in the sewers to renew their powers.
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Sep 9, 2014 08:55
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Dog_Meat posted:I just finished IT last week. I found it a slog in places, but overall it was a good read. I think King does his best work when he bases things in reality. The parts where adults are ignoring blatant bad things going on and literally turn away was genuinely scary because it captures the trapped nightmare the kids are a part of, and the stories within the story of the violent events in Derry were atmospheric. I'm with you entirely on this. I like some parts of It but I found the supernatural parts the least engaging. That's why I prefer The Body to It. But yeah, I like Salem's Lot, The Shining etc and they have supernatural things. That might be because the early King was a different type of writer to the way he has written since getting straight/the accident. Or maybe just feel differently because I read those books when I was 16/17. I dunno. What do you guys think? Is there a difference in the quality of the writing and the subjects of early King as opposed to late King. Is the feeling I get just because I've read so many books by him that I start to see patterns and repetitions in his writing? I think a few posters have commented that they think early King was a horror writer (with some fantasy) but that now he is an action/thriller writer.
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Sep 9, 2014 12:34
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I haven't read enough of King's work to be able to recognise how he has changed over the years, but I definitely think his stories work best when the supernatural element is low key. The Shining is so effective because the setting itself is already brimming with atmosphere and dread. A dry alcoholic with rage issues on his last chance takes his family to a giant hotel where they will be completely isolated from the world for months during a harsh winter. The story could have worked with Jack simply going cabin crazy, but the supernatural element is built up gradually and fits perfectly. The Long Walk has no supernatural elements at all and is one of my favourites. The situation is horrifying but grounded in reality and King really takes you into the game. To a lesser extent the Running Man works the same. I've only just started Doctor Sleep, but I'm liking how he is keeping the story low key with Danny and the little girl gradually growing into her powers . The thought of a baby being hit with visions of death and screaming for hours was VERY effective . I can't help feeling that the whole True Knot being some kind of vampires is going to leave a sour taste though. I've never had an interest in checking out any of his fantasy works so I can't comment on them, but I really think King works best when he works with the messed up things people do (small town bigotry, mob mentality, corruption, addiction, bullying) and adds just enough supernatural to push them over the edge.
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Sep 9, 2014 13:06
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Yeah, King's strength is definitely character. In On Writing he talks about playing "What if?" but his best stories aren't so much a world-building exploration of "what if?" or a really deep exploration of the full consequences of whatever premise he's got, but a character-focused exploration of how this or that particular guy reacts to the premise (and yeah it's usually a guy). Even his best actual "world"-building (e.g. the Stand, Dark Tower) happens because he focuses on a few characters and your mind fills in the blanks. Even the "No great loss" chapter in The Stand, which supposedly gives you a view of what's going on in the wider world, is actually just a very select few vignettes that are totally character-driven, and these character stand in as synecdoches for what's going on in the world at large.
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Sep 9, 2014 14:25
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maestro81 posted:I feel like King's writing style has changed over time. He just to write messed up stuff like Survivor Type. Now stories like Cell and Doctor Sleep are more like adventure books than real horror. Still awesome writing though. Cocaine is a hell of a drug.
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Sep 9, 2014 17:51
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Well okay, then: Lifetime is gonna make an adaption of "Big Driver." This is either madness or brilliance.
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Sep 9, 2014 18:17
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Zamboni_Rodeo posted:Well okay, then: I don't think I've ever seen or heard of a Lifetime original that wasn't terribly done. I mean, obviously a lot of King's stories have been adapted really poorly in the past but this is just begging to suck. I guess the subject matter is appropriate to the network though. v0v
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Sep 9, 2014 18:50
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Yeesh that is gonna be one gross mishandled story
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Sep 9, 2014 20:46
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Josef K. Sourdust posted:I'm with you entirely on this. I like some parts of It but I found the supernatural parts the least engaging. That's why I prefer The Body to It. But yeah, I like Salem's Lot, The Shining etc and they have supernatural things. That might be because the early King was a different type of writer to the way he has written since getting straight/the accident. Or maybe just feel differently because I read those books when I was 16/17. Like any writer, he constantly goes back over the same themes, looking at them in different ways, so it isn't unexpected that there's patterns and repetitions. Sometimes they work (1922 in Full Dark is a thematic and tonal retread of Nona from Skeleton Crew, but fresh enough to add some new insight) and sometimes they're laughably bad (Dreamcatcher is a terrible rehash of It). He's mellowed out a little in his later stuff--there aren't any recent novels that end as brutally as Pet Sematary, for example--and there's been more suspense than outright horror, but word is the next book is a return to old form. Guess we'll see. Edit: One interesting thing about a career as long as his: he uses pop culture to date his stories, like Ben watching (and loving) Dragnet back in 1958, and I have no problem with those references, but for some reason whenever he uses a current show (like Game of Thrones in Dr. Sleep) it feels really loving weird. He isn't doing anything different (except for the times he drops the ball, like the kids in Under the Dome), so I know it's on me, but I can't quite put my finger on why I feel that way. Asbury fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Sep 10, 2014 |
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Sep 9, 2014 23:20
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3Romeo posted:
When he's talking about Dragnet, well, it's had enough time you know it's not just a flash in the pan, it's something remembered as a classic. Current stuff doesn't have that, so it feels a bit "wink wink, nudge nudge, CURRENT THING!". In like five or ten years, though, it'll feel the same I'm sure. King knows how to pick 'em. I'm actually pretty pumped for Revival. Mr. Mercedes gives me confidence that King can still make me dread the hell out of things when he wants to.
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Sep 10, 2014 01:42
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Ugly In The Morning posted:When he's talking about Dragnet, well, it's had enough time you know it's not just a flash in the pan, it's something remembered as a classic. Current stuff doesn't have that, so it feels a bit "wink wink, nudge nudge, CURRENT THING!". In like five or ten years, though, it'll feel the same I'm sure. King knows how to pick 'em. You're right about him knowing how to pick things. Some of his early stuff (Tommyknockers; Firestarter) has pop culture references in it, and while a lot of it is kind of esoteric, most of what he puts in has lasting value. I've mentioned before that reading his works in published order, even just the major ones, is a historical account of America's cultural change over the last few decades. Kind of amazing, really.
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Sep 10, 2014 04:09
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The funny thing about pop culture references is that a lot of them end up not even aging badly, but simply being unrecognizable as references decades later. They don't even stand out from the text or anything.
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Sep 10, 2014 04:15
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