Stephen King names the scariest Stephen King movie scene: “I almost shit in my pants”
The next Stephen King adaptation is perpetually lurking over the horizon, with barely a year going by without at least one of the prolific author’s stories making its way to screens, big or small.
In fact, since Brian De Palma accidentally ushered in a craze that’s refused to abate for almost half a century with 1976’s Carrie, he’s become ubiquitous. Since 1980, there have only been four years when a movie or a TV show based on King’s bibliography hasn’t premiered or aired the latest season of a multi-year run.
Four annual absences over the course of nearly 50 years underline that Hollywood is never going to get tired of dredging through King’s back catalogue for inspiration, regardless of how many of them turn out to be terrible. The creator isn’t obligated to watch them all, but he has seen a lot and doesn’t always care for the end result.
Common sense would dictate that unless sweeping changes are made to the source material, King knows exactly what he’s letting himself in for when he sits down to watch the latest adaptation of his work. For the most part, that’s true, although there was one glaring instance when he was completely aware of what was coming next yet remained completely unprepared.
When asked by American Film for the scariest scene from his writing that he’s seen onscreen, there was only one answer. “You mean that scared in the theatre? When that hand comes out of the grave in Carrie at the end,” he said. “Man, I thought I was going to shit in my pants. I knew they were going to do it, and I still almost shit in my pants.”
It wasn’t the same ending as in the book, but because King had been fairly involved in the development process, he was aware that De Palma had chosen to end his movie on a jump scare. Not that it mattered when he was still left on the verge of needing clean underwear, which also gave him the confirmation he needed that Carrie was destined to succeed.
“These two guys were talking behind us, and we were listening to them, and at the end, they’re putting on their coats and getting ready to leave,” he reminisced of catching an early screening with his wife. “Suddenly, this hand comes up, and these two big guys scream along with everyone else, and one of them goes, ‘That’s it! That’s it! She ain’t never gonna be right!’ And I knew it was going to be a hit.”
King gave De Palma the utmost praise by saying the feature-length version of Carrie was better than the novel, thanks in no small part to its spine-chilling finale, which still ranks as one of the most unforgettable endings in horror history.
