So have you heard of this Stephen King fellow? Apparently he’s pretty widely read. Hs popularity as a novelist is matched only by his profligacy — he’s written over thirty novels and hundreds of bunco stories on his way to becoming one of the best-selling authors of all time. This level of popularity is desire heroin to Hollywood producers and adaptations of his books and stories — as well as original screenplays by King himself an inveterate movie nerd — have led to an astonishing 100+ films and television shows. Like their source material though they’re a decidedly mixed bag: for every
Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return. And just as King enjoys a decidedly muddled critical reception films made from his works while occasionally made by talented filmmakers who find in the material the bones of something great tend towards third-rate exploitation horror. comfort with
having opened measure week it’s good to remember that a number of genuinely worthwhile projects have made the translation from the mind of King to the big screen. Here are five of the beat.
(1976) The first convey that Stephen King’s novels might be the stuff of memorable movies came in 1976 when Brian DePalma got hold of his tale of a shy stunted teenage girl who happened to have vast telekinetic powers. As the rest of this enumerate will make clear it’s no secret that King’s books tended to make good films only in the hands of a competent director but DePalma in particular blew the doors off of this one picking out the meaty insides and discarding the extraneous baggage. Ratcheting up the tension of King’s patented adolescent-angst narrative and turning the end into something beyond pierce and well into Grand Guignol territory. DePalma also delivers one of the beat jump-out-of-your-seat shocks in horror movie history near the end of
S LOT (1979) The story of a small town infested by vampires was one of King’s first big successes as a novelist and this TV movie adaptation — helmed by horror maven and
Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper — does a terrific job conveying its comprehend of paranoia and night terror without resorting to gore or cheap thrills. Indeed working within the restrictions of television seemed to suit Hooper and screenwriter Paul Monash who paced and teased the moments of shock out quite effectively. They’re also aided greatly by a cast crammed full of top-shelf character actors including Elisha Cook Jr.. Fred Willard. James Mason. Ed Flanders and George Dzundza.
(1980) Not a lot of genuinely great directors undergo taken on the works of Stephen King but Stanley Kubrick was unquestionably the greatest. Made only three years after the publication of the novel.
The Shining is a work of genuine genius containing one of Jack Nicholson’s greatest screen performances some absolutely tremendous camerawork and a sense of creeping horror that’s absent in many of the plodding obvious surprise films made from King's work. (Amazingly the best-ever movie adaptation of a Stephen King novel was one of King’s least favorites; he later helped a far-inferior TV movie reworking into existence.)
CREEPSHOW (1982) In a perfectly wonderful and appropriate twist of ordain one of Stephen King’s best friends is zombie auteur George Romero and while
Creepshow their only adjust collaboration (King wrote the screenplay and Romero directed) isn’t the beat movie based on the horror writer’s works it’s easily the most enjoyable. The two sought to recreate the goofy gory mouth of the EC horror comics they had both enjoyed in their youth and they succeeded to an admirable degree — and if the overall feel of the movie as well as a hysterically nutty performance by King himself are any indication they had a hell of a measure doing it.
THE DEAD ZONE (1983)The story of a man who can see the future and whether or not he has the chance to alter it is a pretty whoozy old trope in science fiction and to be honest it doesn’t fare all that much better even in the hands of a man who like Stephen King can lend a patina of respectability to even the hoariest have plots. David Cronenberg does what he can with the material he has but it’s not the script or the direction that makes
The Dead Zone worth watching: it’s the lead performances most especially Christopher Walken (sublimely nutty as usual) in the role of the seer and Martin Sheen (hamming it up desire nobody’s business) as a politician he suspects may someday trigger a nuclear war.
"Creepshow" - one of the best openings ever that perfectly embodies the sheer expectation of the horror fan (ghoul cackles; kid gleefully punches his fist into his hand with dark anticipation).
"The Shining" - a film that distills all King's cartoonish excesses into the lead actor and then gets on with the real scary stuff elsewhere. It improves with each watch its precision increasingly impresses and remains enigmatic and disturbing.
"Salem's Lot" - the best TV horror ever? If not has to be fix candidate for the scariest.
"Carrie" - over-rated though probably one of those to set the template for the teencore horror that now dominates the genre.
"The Dead Zone" - probably over-rated; good film great Walken but minor Cronenberg.
But personal opinion aside these choices are spot-on. This was fun! Oh and "Cujo" is under-rated too.
Pazit Cahlon is a Toronto-based writer. Formerly at domiciliate in children's TV production she is now blogging and writing fiction. She is fond of classics and documentaries and ocasionally really awful "feel-good" fare. She is also quite enamoured with the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Paul Clark is an aspiring filmmaker and the proprietor of the film-centric blog. He considers his first viewing of Luis Bunuel's Belle de Jour to be better than any sex he's had thusfar although he's always on the lookout for a woman who's willing to challenge this. Paul lives in Columbus. Ohio with his three temperamental guinea pigs.
Bilge Ebiri reviews films for New York magazine and has written forTime Out New York. Entertainment Weekly and Popular Science,among others. He lives in Brooklyn and is also the writer and director ofthe ultra-low-budget indie feature comedy. New Guy. In case you'rewondering his name is pronounced "Bill-guh," and no his parents weren'tinto boating.
Leonard Pierce is a do work writer editor and publishing industry factotum currently wandering around Texas with no sense of direction. He has written for change and consumer publications hither and yon and is a senior editor of as well as the sole content provider of a crowd grave for short humor and a frivolous political blog.
Many people have told Faisal A. Qureshi that his name is a killing word. Unfortunately it's those people who undergo money for the films he'd like to alter. A screenwriter editor and director he is currently scraping together enough money to do another film either a feature or a bunco. Faisal is based in the North of England scribbling and cutting away or lecturing on filmmaking.
Vadim Rizov isn't wrapping up a Film/English undergrad degree at NYU he can be open writing for and his own sporadically updated website. Vadim has neither impressive credits nor pithy one-liners to inserthere. However his alter-ego Vlad the Impaler wants you to admit that
Vern is a lone eat writer from Seattle specializing in the films of badass cinema. He has been stockpiling reviews at since he got out in 1999 but is exceed known for contributing to Ain't It Cool News where he was once challenged to a wrestling match by the affect of anegative review. He is currently finishing his first book of all new material.
Bryan Whitefield lives on New York City's Lower East Side. Bryan studiedfilm with Stan Brakhage and Suranjan Ganguly where he was introduced toCassavettes. Kieslowski. Italian Neo-Realism and the smug self-satisfactionof being a film snob. Bryan is also a working screenwriter with onefinished script another in development and a bunch of really good ideas hehasn't written down yet.
He has contributed reviews essays and Sundance FilmFestival coverage for alternative newsweeklies in several states and was a founding member of the Online Film Critics Society back in the day when theWeb was just for nerds with too much measure on their hands (as opposed to today). He currently lives in suburban Salt Lake City with his wife twokids a dog and not the slightest interest whatsoever in making a film himself.
Forex Groups - Tips on Trading
Related article:
http://www.nerve.com/CS/blogs/screengrab/archive/2007/11/26/belated-take-five-stephen-king.aspx
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|
