Did Stephen King like it?
-
britney_2005 — 13 years ago(May 11, 2012 09:12 AM)
Actually buddy, millions of people love this 'little' movie! Evidently it has struck a chord with the public considering that it's the longest running series of any Stephen King adaptation. And the story was a very average and unremarkable bit of bedtime reading, which didn't translate well to the screen. And most people despise the remake. In fact, after the remake was released people have started to realise that this movie isn't actually as bad as they originally thought. It certainly took skill to make this movie into a classic. And remember that this movie cost $800,000 to makeStephen King then pocketing 500,000 of that for doing nothing and then preceeded to slate the filmmakers efforts, just as he had done with Kubrick a few years earlier.
PS: Another thing you might want to remember: Stephen King directed 'Maximum Overdrive', therefore he's not in a position to critize other filmakers! -
preppy-3 — 13 years ago(May 11, 2012 09:46 AM)
So"Children" is good because its sequels sucked? Sorry but no. Just cause sequels suck (and most do) it doesn't automatically make the original a classic.
You're rightKing's "Maximum Overdrive" was terrible (he would agree with u BTW) but he's allowed to have his own opinion. Or can he not have an opinion because he made a bad movie? IMO "The Shining" and "Children" were terrible and I agree 100% with King. "The Shining" especially is disappointing considering it was Kubrick who directed it. The guy obviously had no idea how to direct a horror film. He took the book, made ill-conceived changes (why exactly did he kill Halloran?) and managed to destroy a very scary book. -
moosemania82 — 13 years ago(July 29, 2012 04:21 AM)
I always thought the film had great atmosphere, especially with the opening music and some good scares in the first few scenes, particularly in the scene where joseph is murdered trying to escape.
I first saw the film when it was released on VHS and i was still quite young,and those opening scenes scared me quite a bit and stayed with me.
But after Burt & Vicky reach Gatlin the film does go down hill and i dont recall anything remotely scary from then on.
And yeah the hollywood ending sucked, and even with the remake we have still never seen "He Who Walk Behind The Rows" in the way he was described in Kings story.
"Yeah,well..well Dracula called and he's comin' tonight!" - Master Shake -
hASEROT — 13 years ago(February 25, 2013 04:42 AM)
Kubrick's "The Shining" is a classic in world of psychological horror.. and notice I said Kubrick's, not King's while the novel I thought was good, and lends more backstory to some of the more unexplained bizarre moments of the movie (like the old lady in the bathtub and the guy dressed as bear going down on a man).. i feel that Kubrick's film was a brilliant recreation, not adaptation..
Kubrick stripped away a lot of the spooky ghost/haunted house nonsense, and really made it a visceral exercise of a man's subconscious resentment towards his son - a subconscious brought to the light and later personified when Jack ends up going crazy..
in my humble opinion at least..
a lot of films stray from their novel origins, but still remain very very good, ie: Jurassic Park..
dj-clement.com -
preppy-3 — 13 years ago(February 25, 2013 04:50 AM)
I'm glad u liked it but calling the book "nonsense" is going a little bit too far. Rememberwithout the book there never would have been a movie. The movie has never scared me and I've seen it multiple times trying to figure out why some people love it so much. Also, at every screening I've been to, people always laugh at Nicholoson's OTT performance. King didn't like it either.
-
bayardhiler — 12 years ago(November 03, 2013 01:56 AM)
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you on Kubrick's version of "The Shining". It is true that Kubrick changed quite a bit in regards to King's original story. But you have to remember that the language of books is very different from the language of films. Case in point, Stephen King (and I believe Mick Garris) did a mini-series version of "The Shining" for television in which they basically adapted almost the entire book word for word on screen and the result was horrific, and not in a good way. For starters, it was wayyyy too long and second, it didn't have nearly the same tension that Kubrick's version did. King's a great writer but he often fails to understand that not everything in print is going to translate well to film.
-
preppy-3 — 12 years ago(November 03, 2013 08:54 AM)
A lot of people disagree with me but seriouslythe movie never scared me. Not once. Most people seem to love it just because Kubrick did it. Kubrick was a great filmmaker but every filmmaker has their bad movies. IMO this was Kubrick's. Never saw the mini series but heard it was terrible.
-
fun-niji — 11 years ago(October 23, 2014 10:14 PM)
I've never seen The Shinning yet. And it's not because of some "high" principal of sorts but just something personal - and nothing towards the film, director, writer, writer(s), etc.
Anyways, my best friend then saw The Shinning with other friends from school - this was some years ago. And she told me that it did not scare her one bit but made her cry incessantly. She told me she felt total sadness for the character played by Jack. So, it just goes to show, not everyone will have the same reaction as the expected majority would. -
mpeachhead — 9 years ago(December 08, 2016 12:00 PM)
By that rationale, you can't ever say that any film is better than the source material, but in this case, it's clearly true, as it is with The Godfather and a handful of other films.
The film hits artistic heights that the book never strives for. They are considerably different works of art. -
wallacesawyer — 13 years ago(March 30, 2013 08:02 PM)
I'm not sure of his exact opinion. I don't think he liked many of the films based on his work anyway. But producer Donald P. Borchers, who also directed the TV remake, mentioned that King politely said "these film-makers would go on to do good work" or something like that, which Donald took as a negative opinion about the film. In retrospect even Donald appears to dislike this original film. On the remake's DVD he talks about doing the story justice and regretting the happy Hollywood ending, despite the fact it was his idea in the first place.
I've seen the remake. I bought it years ago but had never gotten around to it. It's pretty good. I honestly think I like the first film better, but it's better than some of the sequels. I haven't seen them all, and the ones I have I haven't seen in years.
I read King's short story ages ago, but I never really cared that it wasn't adapted faithfully in the original film. Including Malachai's girlfriend this time was a interesting idea, but she didn't really have a whole lot to do, it's almost as if she was in it simply to have the exact same ending from the short story.
http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/