Movie adaptation a good thing or a bad thing.

[Mr. T]

This is a discussion about why some books may or may not be a good idea to be a movie.

There is a lot of talk about the upcoming Stephen King's novels adaptations, well as excited as many of us fans may be, I believe that it's only fair to ask is it really worth it.

If we go back to analyze how many movies were made we can determine how many of them where just simply not worth the time and the money spent, in other words they where really BAD.

I'm not going over the obvious such as “It” (1990) “The Mangler” (1995) “Sometimes They Come Back” (1991), “The Lawnmower Man” (1992)(WTH that movie wasn't even based on the story or anything fore that mater), Silver Bullet (1985)(awful just awful), Graveyard Shift (1990), and the always eternal “Children of the Corn” (1984-2001) (7 movies). Those are just to easy, there all bad they all have only like 10% of the original material in the movie it self (and 5% of that is the names of the movies and the main characters), and they simply lake the understanding of how to make a short story in to a good movie.

Now lets revue som films:
- The Shining (1980) now this one is interesting, well fore the starters the director was Stanley Kubrick and that just says it all, he was one of the most genius directors to ever hit Hollywood, and the fans must admit that fore a move that only takes a small part of the novel it was based on, it looks pretty good, it's dark, violent, scary surprising at times and over all a fun to watch show, but again not the adaptation the reader wanted to see.
Mick Garris had a remake but the problem was the budget and the the of course censorship that just don't give the story the darkness and cruelty it deserves.
- Cujo (1983) put simply deserved a different ending than it had and needed a scarier dog
- Cat's Eye (1985) the movie has two stores from the one from the Nightmares and Dreamscapes the other from the Night shift, and fore what it's worth those two stories work but thered story just didn't do it fore me it has a small monster a heroic cat and a happy ending which kinda ruins the move.
- Maximum Overdrive (1986) well... you tried Stephen and we love you fore it, but the soundtrack was awesome AC/DC YEAH!
- The Running Man (1987) awful adaptation
- A Return to Salem's Lot (1987) not even going to revue that, that's how bad it was.
- Needful Things (1993) here is what a yahoo user had to say: “Another Stephen King adaption, and of course it leaves out things. The movie kind of goes on a slow pace, and with the storyline jumping from one character to the next within 5 minutes, you really have to pay attention or you might get lost. The acting is good, the actors make the scenes look believable. Overall an okay movie but not a memorable Stephen King movie adaptation.” Could not have said it better.
- Thinner (1996) this one didn't do it fore me I had no one to route fore all the characters got what they deserved so nothing special.
- The Night Flier (1997) the short story was good, the movie start of as a good adaptation creepy vampire bloody murders but when the creators of the movie decided to add additional characters that's when the hole thing just goes BAD.
- Hearts in Atlantis (2001) well can't say that it's a bad movie it works good by itself as a drama, but not as a novel adaptation a lot is missing and the biggest disappointment fore me was that the movie doesn't even try to tie it self to the Dark Tower.
- Dreamcatcher (2003) fore a novel adaptation it's only 1\3 accurate the firs 40 min of the movie are close to the novel but the rest... well lats just say that the production was running out of time so the other 2\3 of the novel where jammed in to 40 min of the movie.

Well not that we got all the not so good adaptations out of the way lats take a look at some good ones.
- Carrie (1976)-yes it's a classic
- The Dead Zone (1983)
- Stand By Me (1986)
- The Langoliers (1995)
- Dolores Claiborne (1995) a great actress (Kathy Bates) and a good movie
- Apt Pupil (1998) would have been better if it stayed closet to the story
- 1408 (2007) - different from the story but in a way that's what makes it good
- And of course all the Frank Darabont adaptation Shawshank Redemption(1994) (one of my favorite movies of all time) The Green mile (1999) (wonderful) and The Mist (loved it simply loved it).
- The Mick Garris adaptations The Stand (1994) Riding the Bullet (2004) Desperation (2006) and many others are all very close to the original novels but as missioned before the lack of a bigger budget and censorship just don't get us to the level of excitement that we want to see.

So now after all those move lookbackes I we can try to talk about why the upcoming adaptations will probably not do good Next time.

P.S. I'd like to thank the Moderator and Jordan fore fixing my registration problem thanks fellas.

[Mr. T]

According to Black Suit's “2009 Stephen King Adaptations “
2009 (announced) Creepshow
- Well I have no idea what it's about so can't comment that, but it's probably adaptation of short stories

2009 (announced) Remake of IT
- It will be another BAD flick. The novel is to huge the movie could work if it was 8 hours long, and even if it was it's steal hard to imagine how it would work. So I have serous doubts about it. The Clown would probably have to be digital throughout the movie and that's just to expensive fore an R rated picture.

2009 (announced) Remake of Pet Sematary
- Nothing special just another creepy undead flick

2009 (in development) "Dolan's Cadillac"
– Yeah I'd say it can work as a movie if they don't cram it up with extra characters and situations that simply don't need to be there such as the wife is not killed she is in a coma and Dolan dose not die in his Cadillac but of a heart attack or something

2009 (in development) From a Buick 8 (Director: Tobe Hooper)
- Don't rely think it will work the novel isn't as existing enough fore a movie so they'll put in extra ghouls and monsters running around the city only to bring us to the end where the Buick is blown up or something like that.

2009 (in development) Cell (Director: Eli Roth)
- Well Eli Roth and his Hostel prove that he dose know a few things about violence and gore so he can make this thing work but it wont be close the the novel no way. I'd say George Romero would do a much better job

2009 (in development) Bag of Bones (Director: Mick Garris)
- Well it will be a Mick Garris close to novel-low on budget film so yes I's say it is worth seeing he did good on the Stand he can adapt well enough for fans to enjoy.

2009 (announced) Black House
- Nope it won't work as a movie sorry No DT connection will be made no Crimson King and Mr. Malshon\Munshion and a word about the Gunslinger or his Ka-tet and that is what makes the novel so important and special aside from Jack Sawyer “Oh but who is he we don't know we never read the Talisman ”

TBA (announced) The Dark Tower (Director: J.J. Abrams)
- Now this one is hard to debate. Well fore starters we have to realize the size of the saga it's 7 novels those would probable make up fore 7 movies, not nearly enough time to tell everything but I'd steal go with making the 7 movies rather than letting it become a TV mini series, why because mini series tend to be much lighter than the movies and with the Dark Tower those movies will definitely be rated R picture, so the TV mini series is going to be much more censored, and even changed. Not that I think that J.J. Abrams is a bad candidate fore the director but how many Stephen King adaptations did he have in the past well... none and to go after the Dark Tower … even Frank Darabont had a hard time imagining how the movie would work. So the Dark Tower adaptation all thou longed-for by the fans idea is not a good one, a lot we'll be changed, replaced and in the ending we'll say “it was a good try but not worth the time.”

TBA (announced) The Monkey (story from Skeleton Crew) (Director: Frank Darabont)
TBA (announced) The Long Walk (novel written as Richard Bachman) (Director: Frank Darabont)
- To those two If it's Frank Darabont they will WORK OH YEAH. FRANK U ROC!

So fore my finale words I'd Like to ask the Horror master please stop given away the rights to adapting your novels to studios who put profit before idea without approving the screen plays firs!!!

[Srbo]

Lets not forget Misery as a great film and Secret Window as a at least decent adaptation.

[redrum666]

the long walk was a totally awesome story! i think it would be hard to mess that one up....and a darn shame if they do

[jackson992]

I'd say kudos for any time they make a movie from a King story. And I would not say any of them suck tho some are better than others.

[Sweet One]

If King is actually involved in the porduction it's usually good. I thought the televised Shining was much better. Jack Torrence is indeed much more sympathetic, the way he should be. The books are always the best, but that's a given.

[Dallas Riley]

Good. It gets more people aware of the book. I dont think my mom still believes that Shawshank is based on a story by Stephen King. She thinks its all horror.

[SixPins]

The adaptation of Carrie was better than the novel, which I found to be rather choppy. However, this is a really rare case, as I have yet to see another King adaptation that has stood to the novel. Even The Green Mile, while a brilliant film, was not square with the book. I think short stories are easier to bring to life because there is less story to put onto the screen, giving the filmmakers more room to add their own touches and to focus on the artist POV involved with movie making. Some books should not even be considered for the translation. The mammoths like IT and The Stand shouldn't be touched, as a big screen production does not give the propper amount of time needed for a good adaptation and while TV may have this advantage, its special effects are no where near up to snuff for either of those works. Don't get me wrong, the IT film had a nice set-up but it was just a sliver of the book's brilliance. Some adapatations turn out okay, but save Carrie, I have yet to see one that is anywhere near as effective or emotional as its novel counterpart.

[Rabid Assassin]

the one novel I cant wait to be a movie is cell that was the first stephen king book I read and have been an avid king reader ever since! I think it would be a great Movie!

personally I didn't like the stand movie adaptation they cut way to much out it didn't flow like the book!

you forgot about The mist, which I thought was a great movie! reading the story right now!

[Mr. T]

Thanks for the replies , and yes I may have forgotten some good movies I apologies fore that, and am glad that over all people think that some novels despite there popularity should not be touched by the movie industry. That's why I sincerely hope that “It” “Insomnia” and of course “The Dark Tower” (it doesn't work all that good as a comic book let alone a movie) will be left alone fore the time being, the movie industry is just not ready fore them.

As an example there is a TV mini seres “Legend of the seeker” which is nothing like the novel and you can only ask yourselves the question of why did Terry Goodkind give the rites to that adaptation?