The most successful Stephen King adaptations aren’t necessarily the most faithful. King’s name has become a brand in itself, promising versatility across more than 60 books and nearly 200 short stories. His writing is engaging and accessible, lending itself to excellent genre stories that shine on the big screen.
But with such an abundant body of work, the quality of the resulting adaptations varies wildly. In some cases, like The Lawnmower Man (1992), the adaptation has little to no connection to King’s original story — and isn’t well-made, either. Then there’s Andy Muschietti’s It movies, which have plenty of merits and even make some improvements, despite their flaws.
By streamlining King’s stories, expanding certain characters, or making audacious departures from the books, they improve upon his work in unexpected ways. Here are 10 Stephen King movies that are better than the books they adapted. Endings can make or break a story, especially one as tight-paced and devastating as The Mist.
Frank Darabont’s film opts for a depressing ending that even King didn’t anticipate — the author actually prefers the film’s ending to his own novella. By squashing all hope for protagonist David Drayton, The Mist becomes a cautionary tale about mob mentality and the dangers of giving up on hope. Even before arriving at such a bleak conclusion, Darabont ditches the source material’s slow-burn approach to opt for a narrative that feels like a relentless survival horror.
The claustrophobia of being trapped inside a local supermarket is captured brilliantly, along with the evils of religious fanaticism, which can be more terrifying than eldritch beasts on occasion. King’s 1982 novella, The Body, is the basis for Rob Reiner’s heartbreaking adaptation, Stand By Me. Although The Body is spectacular in its portrayal of grief and childhood nostalgia, Stand By Me streamlines a meandering coming-of-age tale, giving it more hard-hitting focus.
Reiner cuts down most of the bleakness from the novella in favor of a more grounded examination of childhood, allowing certain characters to get closure and take slightly different routes. The core cast of child actors, including a talented River Phoenix, deliver sincere performances, allowing the film to capture the fleeting friendships that define growing up, but never surface again. Mike Flanagan has proven his knack for tackling King’s source material with Doctor Sleep, a follow-up to The Shining that revolves around an adult Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) and revisits the horrors of the Overlook Hotel.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
