I celebrate the man whose stories have been thrilling me since I was 15-years-old. Of course, you already know my Carrie story – a King book, by the way, I have never read, probably because the movie traumatized me so. No, my first Stephen King novel was Salem’s Lot, which I read on a ski trip with my friends to Taos, New Mexico. We took a bus, and all the while, I kept expecting to see some vampire face, floating outside the window, scratching and asking to be let in. Yeah, a King vampire is no Edward Cullen or Bill Compton. The original 1979 TV movie adaptation, starring David Soul, was a bit hokey, but I think they got it right with the 2004 TV miniseries, starring Rob Lowe.
The next King book I read was The Shining. Oh boy. At times, I literally did not want to turn the page for fear of what was going to happen next; it had me so in its grip. I finished that thing at 3:00 am (Oh God, that time again!) and as I lay there, I wondered how in the world I was going to get to sleep. Although I didn’t see Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film version when it first came out in theaters, I finally saw it some years later, and I understood why King didn’t approve of the film. It veers from the book a bit, which pissed King off at the time (Hollywood changing his stuff and all). But even he would have to admit now that the film stands as one of the more horrifying movies of all time, especially with Jack Nicholson’s maniacal performance. Sometimes it works out like that.
Then, in quick succession, I started devouring all of King’s novels. There is just something about how he sucks you in with great character development, and then let’s all this really horrible stuff happen, from Pet Sematary (Egad) to Cujo (Seriously, he makes you feel sorry for the dog), to It (Clowns, it had to be clowns), to Cell (it’ll make you look at your Blackberry twice), to his collection of short stories (“The Raft?” Forget about it) – and to what I consider his masterpiece, The Stand (Welcome, Captain Tripps!) When they released the expanded edition of The Stand some years later, I sat there with it in my hands and tears came to eyes, I was so excited. Every time he comes out with a new book, I’m there with bells on. I won’t ever say I’m his “No. 1 fan.” But of course, I am. Me and Annie Wilkes (see below).
As far as the many film and TV adaptations of his work through the years, there have been plenty of misses – but also some excellent hits. There has been two directors who have been able to tap into that King psyche successfully: Rob Reiner (Stand By Me, Misery) and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist).
Reiner’s Misery is a minor work of genius, considering the source material. Don’t get me wrong, the book is a doozy (There are no sledgehammers in the book, oh no. Think surgical knives), but much of the dialogue takes place in Paul Sheldon’s head, so I couldn’t see how they could make that work onscreen. What I didn’t know then, however, was how absolutely remarkable Oscar-winning Kathy Bates would be as Annie Wilkes. Well done.
Darabont, too, expertly adapted some of King’s more real, less supernatural horror work with Shawshank and Green Mile. And when it came to adapting one of King’s truly terrifying novellas, The Mist, the director once again hit the nail right on the head. He didn’t leave ANYTHING out – from the giant flesh-eating things in the mist to the building paranoia of the people trapped – and he even changed the ending to make it even MORE awful, with King’s full approval.
Darabont is a guy I gotta meet – along with the Lost creators, J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, who are all long-time King aficionados. But the ultimate would be King himself. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.
Happy Halloween!