The five adaptations that Stephen King hates the most
Stephen King is one of the most popular writers in the world, known for his highly engaging contributions to the world of literary horror. His books have established a massive fan base all over the world, with multiple adaptations by highly acclaimed filmmakers. Even now, streaming platforms such as Netflix are working on their own projects based on King’s new works like If It Bleeds.
In an interview, King once revealed that the adaptations of his films do not mean as much to him as his books: “The movies have never been a big deal to me. The movies are the movies. They just make them. If they’re good, that’s terrific. If they’re not, they’re not. But I see them as a lesser medium than fiction, than literature, and a more ephemeral medium.”
However, that hasn’t stopped King from publicly denouncing many of these adaptations over the years. While he has acknowledged that some of those works were based on novels he hated like The Tommyknockers, this list will focus on the films that King hates the most because they deviate from his own vision and his sensibilities.
Check out the list below.
Stephen King’s five worst adaptations:
The Shining (Stephen King, 1980)
Probably the most famous example on this list, Stephen King’s 1980 masterpiece is often regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made but it sparked a lot of conflict between Kubrick and King. The author did not like the film’s focus on the human horror while Kubrick was adamant about his elimination of the supernatural.
“I think The Shining is a beautiful film and it looks terrific and as I’ve said before, it’s like a big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it,” King said. “In the movie, there’s no tragedy because there’s no real change. The other real difference is at the end of my book the hotel blows up, and at the end of Kubrick’s movie the hotel freezes.”
Firestarter (Mark L. Lester, 1984)
A sci-fi horror flick about a girl with pyrokinetic abilities, Firestarter is a forgettable King adaptation. King famously denounced the project and had fights with the director but he later admitted that the failure of the project was mostly due to the film’s producer.
King declared: “Firestarter is one of the worst of the bunch, even though in terms of story it’s very close to the original. But it’s flavourless; it’s like cafeteria mashed potatoes. There are things that happen in terms of special effects in that movie that make no sense to me whatsoever.”
The Running Man (Paul Michael Glaser, 1987)
A dystopian action thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Running Man has achieved cult status now but King did not approve of the film’s approach to the narrative and he did not like the central casting for the project either.
In fact, he even tried to keep his name out of the marketing campaign for the film. “It was totally out of my hands,” the author revealed. “I didn’t have anything to do with the making [of the movie]…it doesn’t have much in common with the novel at all, except the title.”
Graveyard Shift (Ralph S. Singleton, 1990)
Based on a short story by King, Graveyard Shift was one of King’s least favourite adaptations because he felt that the filmmaking team did not even put in the required effort to make a good film. Now, the film is mostly remembered for King’s comments.
While talking about the adaptations he hated the most, King said: “Should I even say that? I guess there are a number of pictures that I feel like, a little bit like, yuck. There’s one, Graveyard Shift, that was made in the eighties. Just kind of a quick exploitation picture.”
Dreamcatcher (Lawrence Kasdan, 2003)
Lawrence Kasdan has worked on several iconic projects but this is definitely not one of them. A critical and commercial failure, Dreamcatcher received a lot of attention because it featured an extremely talented team but it ended up collapsing anyway.
Looking back on the project, King claimed that he often tries to get the best people for the job which ensures some kind of success but Dreamcatcher was an exception. He mused: “Most times you’re going to have something that’s interesting anyway. That doesn’t mean you’re [not] going to have the occasional thing that’s just a train wreck like Dreamcatcher, because that happens, right?”
