Stephen King is an undisputed horror legend who gave the world terrifying stories like The Shining, Carrie, and The Langoliers (If you know, you know). Still, just because he’s ‘Stephen King‘ the master of horror, that doesn’t mean he’s got good taste when it comes to deciding which are the best movies based on his works.
In fact, we’d go so far as to say that King’s got a bit of a blind spot when it comes to adaptations of his work. He infamously hates Stanley Kubrick’s take on The Shining (Despite it arguably being the best horror movie of all time), and he made the awful monster movie Maximum Overdrive (although he’s never pretended that’s any good).
Still, what we’re saying is that as much as we love King, he’s not the best when it comes to knowing what works on the silver screen. Now we all know what King doesn’t like, but do you know which films he considers the best adaptations of his work?
Well, in 2016, King was asked this very question by Deadline, and this was the answer he gave. “I have a number that I like, but I love The Shawshank Redemption, and I’ve always enjoyed working with Frank,” he explained. “He’s a sweet guy. Frank Darabont. And I love the Rob Reiner thing, Stand by Me.”
Now I’m not a philistine. I know that Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption are both terrific films that expand on Stephen’s original work and take the stories in new and absorbing directions. However, these aren’t the best King adaptations. Hell, I don’t even think The Shining is the best King movie.
So what is? Well, it’s obviously The Langoliers, right? I’m kidding. (Although?) No, the best King adaptation is Misery. Now do I think that because Misery is my favorite King story by a country mile? Yes. But also, of all the King films I’ve seen, I don’t think any have captured his quintessential magic quite like Rob Reiner does.
The paranoia, the claustrophobia, and the sheer terror of being trapped by a lunatic fan are expressed so well in that film it almost transcends the novel. Hell, don’t take my word for it. King himself said he’d put this in the top ten adaptations of his work… although didn’t I say not to trust King’s cinema picks? You know what? Trust him when he agrees with me.
Anyway, when I’m not being a hypocrite, I write about scary things. Scary things like this Spider-Man villain who’s way too horrifying to appear in the MCU or this Shining Easter egg you definitely missed in The Shawshank Redemption.