Which Adaptations Are Worthy of King's Name?
The recent news that Universal will be adapting acclaimed author Stephen King's short story "Gramma" into a feature film directed by Peter Cornwell (The Haunting in Connecticut) — coupled with the imminent arrival of Halloween, of course — got us thinking about the contributions King has made to not only the horror genre, but to science fiction, fantasy and suspense, as well. With book sales in excess of 350 million copies and his stories having inspired well over a hundred feature films, TV movies and TV series, King shares company with such literary legends as William Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in terms of the influence his writing has had on popular entertainment.
Unlike (most) writing, however, Cinema is a collaborative medium, requiring a confluence of talented individuals to bring a story to life on screen. Sadly, far too people in Hollywood possess the vision to adequately interpret King's works, resulting in dozens of duds for every masterful adaptation. Help us sort through the schlock to find the movie adaptations worthy of bearing King's name.
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Posted 10.30.12 by BrentJS 
Slowly but surely, every popular horror movie from the 1980s is getting remade. With Friday the 13th already on DVD and A Nightmare on Elm Street opening on April 16, Fright Night and Pet Sematary are the latest '80s horror movies to get remade.
The LA Times reports that Dreamworks has found a director for Fright Night in Craig Gillespie, whose directorial efforts Lars and the Real Girl and Mr. Woodcock weren't widely viewed in horror circles. It was Gillespie's directorial work on Showtime's The United States of Tara, however, that has put him in good standing with Dreamworks principal Steven Spielberg, who in turn thinks Gillespie can handle Fright Night. The original movie was a mix of both comedy and horror that followed a teenager obsessed with horror movies who finds that a vampire has moved into his neighborhood.
Marti Noxon, who wrote for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show, is handling the scriptwriting duties, which, according to a report last November from ShockTillYouDrop, may have its protagonist seek help from actor Chris Sarandon, who played the evil vampire in the original Fright Night, to vanquish the bloodsucker. This would be a twist on the original, where the late Roddy McDowall played a late-night horror movie host who was enlisted to destroy Sarandon.
Pet Sematary, meanwhile, is a little further behind in its development, with THR reporting that Matthew Greenberg has been hired by Paramount to write the screenplay after years of failed attempts to remake the movie. Based on the 1983 Stephen King novel about a pet cemetery that rests on an ancient burial ground, Greenberg will find himself in familiar territory, having already adapted one of King's short stories into the successful 2007 horror movie 1408, which grossed $131 million worldwide.
So ... what '80s horror movie is next? The Weinstein Company is still attemptingto revive the Hellraiser franchise, but there are many other possibilities. What about 1986's comedy-horror hybrid House? And King still has plenty of movies that have yet to be remade such as Cujo or Christine. Surely, it won't take long before these movies get the remake treatment.
Posted 03.10.10 by Ryan