There are few authors, in the modern day particularly, whose work is as celebrated and iconic as that of Stephen King’s. Likewise, there are few novelists who have seen so many of their works adapted to the screen, with there being dozens of films and television series based on the stories of the prolific horror writer.
King himself has always been vocal concerning his views of such adaptations, washing the ones he loves with high praise and heartfelt affection, while putting a critical eye to the ones that don’t appease him. While King’s dismissal of Stanley Kubrick’s critically acclaimed and adored horror The Shining may be the most famous of the adaptations he has taken exception to, there have been plenty more that he has expressed his discontent over.
13 'The Dark Tower' (2017)
Directed by Nikolaj Arcel
Image via Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group
The Dark Towermarks one of the more baffling adaptations of King’s works thus far. While King’s The Dark Tower is an extended novel series comprised of eight books and a novella, the film serves as a 95-minute neo-Western sci-fi fantasy that incorporates elements from several of the books. The film follows gunslinger Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) as hunts down Walter Padick (Matthew McConaughey) to avenge his father and to prevent the villain from destroying the mythical and reality-supporting Dark Tower.
Speaking with Vulture, King explained the difficulties the film had trying to cover a story consisting of over 3000 pages to a feature-length script while also taking issue with the film’s decision to run with a PG-13 rating. Critics and moviegoers alike had similar issues with the picture, suggesting it was hamstrung as an adaptation, while many also viewed it as a boring and bland blockbuster that was inaccessible to both fans of the book and new audiences.
Release Date August 4, 2017
Runtime 95 Minutes
12 'The Tommyknockers' (1993)
Directed by John Power
While the big-screen adaptations of Stephen King’s work have been attention-grabbing, there have also been several small-screen sensations based on the author’s novels that have earned acclaim. However, there has also been one in particular that was a total catastrophe. Released as a miniseries in 1993, The Tommyknockers follows the residents of Haven, Maine as their hometown is plagued by an unearthly force that inspires a wave of bizarre new inventions.
King is famously not a fan of the novel, even going so far as to describe it as “an awful book” in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, elaborating to say the story suffered as a result of his ongoing substance abuse issues. The author does not hold the two-part miniseries in higher regard, commenting that he doesn’t care for it at all.
The loosest of adaptations, 1987’s The Running Manturns King’s dystopian thriller transformed into an action blockbuster that changes everything but the basic plot outline. In the dystopian future of 2017, a state-controlled television series ‘The Running Man’ thrives as it sees convicted felons fight for their lives and their freedom. Ben Richards (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger), a former soldier arrested for disobeying an inhumane order, becomes a competitor in the series.
While the film has endured as an oddly endearing action flick emblematic of the excess and exhilaration of the 80s, King was understandably not overly pleased with the drastic changes it made to his original story. In fact, the author regarded it with such disdain that he did not allow the production to use his name for the promotion of the movie, with The Running Man instead being advertised as being based on the novel by Richard Bachman, the pseudonym under which King first published the story.
Release Date November 13, 1987
Director Paul Michael Glaser
Runtime 101 minutes
10 'Dreamcatcher' (2003)
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Image via Waner Bros.
A monumental misfire despite its strong cast, Dreamcatcher became a commercial and critical failure as a supernatural horror following a group of friends who share a telepathic gift as they embark on a hunting trip. When they realize the town they are vacationing in is actually being overrun by a parasitic alien force, they find themselves fighting to defend all humanity.
King was initially upbeat about the film, but he has since voiced criticism of it, going so far as to describe it as a “train wreck” in a 2007 interview with Time Magazine. His views on the novel itself have soured significantly over time as well, with King explaining that it was written while he was under the influence of Oxycontin as he recovered from a car accident, and alluding to the fact that it resulted in a muddled and unsatisfactory story.
Firestarterstands as one of the film adaptations of his work that Stephen King seems to detest the most. Combining elements of sci-fi and horror, the story focuses on a couple who meet as test subjects in a medical trial in their youth who grow suspicious of what exactly was conducted on them when their daughter develops pyrokinesis.
While scraping by to turn a slight profit, Firestarter was immediately admonished as a critical failure. King shared the dissatisfaction of many viewers, even going so far to describe is as being among the worst adaptations of his work in a 1986 interview with American Film Magazine. In the interview, he elaborated to say that, while the film realized the book’s narrative accurately, it failed to bring it to life with any impact, describing the film as “flavorless.”
Release Date May 11, 1984
Director Mark L. Lester
Cast Drew Barrymore , David Keith , Freddie Jones , Heather Locklear , Martin Sheen
Runtime 115 Minutes
8 'Maximum Overdrive' (1986)
Directed by Stephen King
Image via De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
One of the things that makes Stephen King’s criticism so meaningful is his earnestness and his ability to level it at himself when necessary. That is the case with his indictment of Maximum Overdrive, a loose adaptation of his short story “Trucks” which King directed himself (marking his first and only directorial effort). The darkly comical sci-fi horror follows a band of battling survivors as everyday machines become homicidal.
The film was universally admonished by critics and became a box office flop even with its measly budget. Speaking on the film in an interview for the 2003 book “Hollywood’s Stephen King”, King conceded that he was heavily under the influence of cocaine throughout the production and that he largely had no idea how to work as a director. Perhaps because of this, Maximum Overdrive has become something of a so-bad-it’s-good cult classic over the years.
Release Date July 25, 1986
CastEmilio Estevez , Pat Hingle , Laura Harrington , Yeardley Smith , John Short , Ellen McElduff
Runtime 97 minutes
7 'Needful Things' (1993)
Directed by Fraser Clarke Heston
Perhaps more an indictment on circumstances regarding its release more so than its quality as an adaptation, Needful Things initially earned praise from Stephen King as a four-hour-long feature shown on TNT. In “Hollywood’s Stephen King”, the author comments “as a four-hour miniseries, it works”. However, King wasn’t as fond of the story after it was cut down to a more cinema-friendly runtime of 120 minutes, describing the revised picture as “almost indecipherable”.
The film unfolds as a mysterious stranger arrives in a small American town and sets up a store that sells customers whatever they most desire. However, the price the patrons must pay always turns out to be far more than they initially expect. The film was largely dismissed by critics as sloppy and uninspired genre fare. While a 191-minute revised cut of the film has since been released, interest in revisiting the story has not been forthcoming.
Published in 1975, ‘‘Salem’s Lot’ marks just Stephen King’s second ever novel, and one of the ones he is most proud of. It focuses on a writer who returns to a small town he lived in as a child only to find that its residents are being turned into vampires. The novel was adapted as a miniseries in 1979, one that has become a cult classic and even earned praise from King himself despite making some significant deviations from his story.
A Return to Salem’s Lot functions as a sequel to the miniseries, but it lacks the inspiration or structure of the original story and ultimately collapsed as an amateurish and sloppy production. While King hasn’t spoken at length about the film, he did dismiss it in his 2007 interview with Time Magazine, listing it as an exception to the fact that the vast majority of adaptations of his work, regardless of how he views them, have done interesting things with the source material.
A short story that predates all of King’s published novels, ‘Graveyard Shift’ marks one of the more fantastical monster horror tales the writer has ever conceived. It takes place in a dilapidated textile mill in a small town in Maine, following a young drifter who works there as he and his fellow employees find themselves being attacked by a horrific and evolved army of rats that have been lurking in the mill’s abandoned basement.
In a 2016 interview with Deadline, King mentioned the ill-fated 1990 adaptation of his short story when questioned on his least favorite adaptations of his work, describing it as “just kind of a quick exploitation picture”. Graveyard Shift was met with widespread critical derision upon release, and stands as a rare film, holding a 0% score on the film aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.
Handled by horror maestro John Carpenter just a year after his cult classic The Thing, Christinemarks an example where King’s dislike of a picture adapted from his work is not shared by the majority of audiences. Set in the late 70s, it follows a nerdy 17-year-old as he grows obsessed with restoring a rusty and beat-up Plymouth Fury. However, unbeknownst to the youth, the car is possessed by a murderous entity.
The film is largely praised as an iconic picture of the early 80s, a silly and effervescent horror that imbues its ridiculous premise with a knack for good fun and wry wit. However, when he was promoting the adaptation of Dreamcatcher in 2003, King expressed his dissatisfaction with Christine, describing it as “boring” and even comparing it to The Shining in this regard.
Release Date December 9, 1983
Cast Keith Gordon , John Stockwell , Alexandra Paul , Robert Prosky , Harry Dean Stanton , Christine Belford
Runtime 110 minutes
3 'Children of the Corn' Sequels
Produced by Dimension Films & Lionsgate Films
Image Via New World Pictures
An eerie and unnerving tale, ‘Children of the Corn’ uses the anxiety-inducing marriage of horror aesthetics and creepy kids to harrowing effect. The 1977 short story follows a couple on the brink of divorce as they drive to California in a bid to save their marriage. However, when in Nebraska, they find the body of a murdered child and seek help in a nearby small town, only to find that it is inhabited by a cult of murderous kids who worship an entity known as He Who Walks Behind the Row.
The story has been re-worked for the screen multiple times, with King even voicing his approval of the first adaptation released in 1984. However, the author wasn’t so fond of the expansive franchise that ensued, consisting of eight follow-up films. In his interview with Deadline, King simply said “I could do without all the Children of the Corn sequels” as a part of his response to his least favorite adaptations of his work.
Release Date March 9, 1984
Director Fritz Kiersch
Cast Peter Horton , Linda Hamilton , R.G. Armstrong , John Franklin , Courtney Gains , Anne Marie McEvoy , Robby Kiger , Julie Maddalena , Jonas Marlowe , John Philbin , Dan Snook , David Cowen , Suzy Southam , D.G. Johnson , Teresa Toigo
In terms of how authors perceive the films based on their stories, The Shiningmarks one of the most famous and intriguing cases. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, the 1980 picture is largely heralded as the pinnacle of cinematic horror, a dread-inducing and agonizing masterpiece of atmospheric terror that unfolds perfectly over its extensive runtime. However, Stephen King famously despises the movie and the changes Kubrick made to his original story.
As covered by Far Out Magazine, Stephen King once famously referred to the movie as being like “a Cadillac with no engine inside it”, praising it as a beautiful and visually stunning film but criticizing it for not having any substance or soul. King was more impressed by Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of the sequel novel Doctor Sleep, which performed the exceptional feat of staying true to its source material, realizing King’s vision for the narrative, and still thriving as a sequel to Kubrick’s film.
Release Date May 23, 1980
Director Stanley Kubrick
CastJack Nicholson , Shelley Duvall , Danny Lloyd , Scatman Crothers , Barry Nelson , Philip Stone
Runtime 146 minutes
1 'The Lawnmower Man' (1992)
Directed by Brett Leonard
Image via New Line Cinema
Stephen King may have a unique hatred for The Shining, but at least he never went so far as to sue the production of the film. That was the case for 1992’s The Lawnmower Man, a sci-fi horror based on King’s short story of the same name. It follows a man with a mental disability who, after a doctor’s experiments on him, becomes a certifiable genius and begins to display telepathic abilities while experiencing hallucinations.
The film was initially set to be released under the title ‘Stephen King’s The Lawnmower Man’, but the author went so far as to sue the picture, arguing that it differed so significantly from his original short that it bore no meaningful resemblance to his story. A federal judge ruled in King’s favor, seeing him receive $2.5 million in settlement and forcing the film to remove King’s name from all the promotional material for the movie.
Image by Federico Napoli
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