A Look At The Adaptations Of The Work Of Stephen King
By now, most people have probably heard of Stephen King; he’s the king of horror, the creator of some of the scariest stories in the world. King has written multiple pieces with over 50 novels, 200 short stories, and lots of other pieces of writing; King is without a doubt one of the more successful writers in the world. His books have sold millions of copies, and many of them have been adapted into movies. So, just in time for Halloween, we’re going to shine a nice spooky light on which King works have been adapted for Hollywood.
HIS ADAPTED WORKS
#5 The Shining
You can’t talk about Steven King movies without talking about The Shining. The movie that inscribed the phrase, “Here’s Johnny!” into our culture for generations and made twins into the creepiest thing ever. Both the movie and the book chronicles the tale of writer Jack Torrence and his family moving into the hilltop hotel, The Overlook, so Jack can perform his newly attained job as the hotel’s caretaker while still managing to spend time with his family and write his novel. While there, John’s son, Danny, discovers that he possesses a mysterious power called a shining that causes a massive surge of paranormal activity in the hotel. The movie and the book are both majorly popular works, with the film being an iconic piece of cinema and the book having sold copies into the millions.
#4 Carrie
Carrie is a bit like a twisted and dark version of Disney’s Frozen; it is the story of a teenage girl named Carrie White, raised in an abusive household by a rigid and extremely religious Christian mother, Margaret. School is no better for her since, due to her appearance and unusual beliefs, Carrie is often the target of bullying and ridicule. Soon, however, Carrie begins to develop telekinetic abilities and after a horrible prank at her school prom, Carrie decides to take her vengeance upon the people who tormented her. Carrie, unlike The Shining, actually had multiple adaptations. At least three film adaptations: one in 1976, one in 1999, and one in 2013, along with being developed into a Broadway play.
#3 Pet Semetary
This twisted piece is about the story of a medical professor and his family who moves to a small rural town. Things are fine until the family’s beloved pet dies and the father is given advice on how to resurrect the cat from his neighbor by burying her in the burial ground once used by a nearby Native American tribe. It works and the cat is resurrected but then the family notices that their beloved pet has become more angry, ornery, and violent, so they let it go. Unfortunately, the family is faced with more tragedy when their youngest son dies and the father starts to get dark ideas on how to bring him back…the novel has been adapted into film at least twice: once in 1989 and one more recently in 2019. It also had an adaptation as a radio show as well.
#2 Misery
Misery is the story of a writer who meets the world’s most terrifying fan girl. The story details author Paul Sheldon, fresh off completing the final book in his best-selling novel series that kills off the main character. Paul is hoping that the ending of this old series will give him the freedom to work on a new series. Emboldened by his success, Paul takes a reckless drive around the streets of Los Angeles and ends up crashing in the middle of a snowstorm. When he wakes up, he’s badly injured and in the cabin of his self proclaimed, “number one fan”, Anna Wilkes, who instead of taking him to a hospital, nurses him back to health herself. Unfortunately for Paul, Anna happens to find a copy of his manuscript and she is not happy with the ending. Misery has only had two adaptations: a film in 1990 and a play in 2015.
#1 IT
We all know this story. IT is the story that’s probably most contributed to people growing up with a fear of clowns. IT is the story of a group of kids in a small town who are confronted by a terrifying multidimensional entity called “IT” who feeds on children and tries to make them into its prey. The children manage to defeat the entity and swear to deal with it again, should it ever show signs of returning. Unfortunately, over 20 years later, signs of IT begin to show up again. IT has been adapted three times: once as a two-part miniseries and as two films; a version in 2017 that chronicles the first part of the book with the characters as children and another one that premiered in 2019 chronicling the adventures of the characters as adults from the second part of the book.
Having so many of his books adapted into film is a clear sign of Stephen King’s success. The fact that the books and the films that they are based on are so popular is a big part of the ability of King’s writing and one more reason he’s seen as the master of horror writing.