Stephen King’s The Stand Getting TV Series Adaptation at CBS All Access

13. Creepshow (1982)\r\n
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\r\nStephen King and George Romero are two juggernauts of the horror genre. Combining the two on one project must surely be a recipe for the greatest horror film of all time, right? Not quite, but Creepshow is still memorable enough to earn a spot on this list.\r\n
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\r\nCreepshow was conceived as an homage to the Golden Age of horror comics in the 1950\u0027s, including E.C. Comics\u0027 infamous releases and DC books like House of Secrets and House of Mystery. That legacy is reflected in the execution of Creepshow, which revels in its juvenile, B-movie status. The film also has the distinction of featuring original material written by King, rather than a script wholly adapted from his prose work. Two of the five vignettes are based on his short stories, while the remaining three are unique to Creepshow. These vignettes are cleverly glued together with animated sequences and a framing sequence starring King\u0027s son, Joe (now an accomplished horror scribe in his own right)\r\n
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\r\nAt times the movie doesn\u0027t really seem to know if it\u0027s aiming for comedy or horror, which is perhaps its biggest flaw. But such a unique pairing of writer and director is not to be missed.\r\n”,”height”:1080,”width”:1920,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/01—creepshow-1501850169708.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/01—creepshow-1501850169708_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:”Warner Bros.”,”objectRelationName”:”Creepshow”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/creepshow”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:”02″,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”12. Apt Pupil (1998)\r\n
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\r\nIf there\u0027s one trend you\u0027ll notice on this list, it\u0027s that most of the films picked aren\u0027t necessarily based on King\u0027s most famous horror tales. Instead, the ones that most successfully made the transition to film were often those lesser-known short stores, or those not even overtly steeped in horror.\r\n
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\r\nCase in point – Apt Pupil. Based on the short story collected in Different Seasons, the movie revolves around a high school student (Brad Renfro) and his elderly neighbor (Ian McKellen). The boy discovers that the seemingly kindly old man is actually a Nazi war criminal living under an assumed identity. That revelation is the spark for a troubled relationship as the boy forces the man to relive his darkest years and begins discovering a darkness lingering within himself as well.\r\n
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\r\nCritics were somewhat torn on the movie, especially as to whether the changes director Bryan Singer made to King\u0027s story were improvements. But everyone seemed to agree that Renfro and McKellen carried the movie on the strength of their intense, unsettling performances.\r\n”,”height”:751,”width”:1335,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/02—apt-pupil-1501850169709.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/02—apt-pupil-1501850169709_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:”TriStar Pictures”,”objectRelationName”:”Creepshow”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/creepshow”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:”03″,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”11. Pet Semetary (1989)\r\n
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\r\nIf you want a classic, terrifying King novel, there\u0027s no better place to turn than Pet Semetary. This story focuses on a successful family man whose world is overturned by the death of his son and his fateful decision to bury the boy in a cursed cemetery with the unholy power of resurrection. The two scenes involving main character Louis Creed trekking through the Maine woods at night while ghosts flitter by and a wendigo tromps among the trees are among the scariest of King\u0027s long career.\r\n
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\r\nThe movie adaptation stuck pretty close to the source material. And even if it didn\u0027t fully replicate the sheer terror of those key scenes, it still did justice to the text. Easily the most iconic Stephen King movie this side of The Shining, Pet Semetary is a must-see for horror lovers. It\u0027s even repeatedly served as spoof fodder in South Park (most notably in the episodes \u0022Butters\u0027 Very Own Episode\u0022 and \u0022Marjorine\u0022).\r\n”,”height”:767,”width”:1364,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/03—pet-semetary-1501850169710.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/03—pet-semetary-1501850169710_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:”Paramount Pictures”,”objectRelationName”:”Pet Sematary [1989]”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/pet-sematary-1989″,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:”04″,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”10. The Mist (2007)\r\n
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\r\nThe Mist is another horror flick based on a King short story, in this case one from the collection Skeleton Crew. Ostensibly a monster movie, The MIst sees a group of people trapped in a remote grocery store after a strange mist envelops the region and terrifying, dinosaur-like creatures begin appearing. But the core of this horror\/sci-fi fusion is survival, and the lengths some will go to ensure theirs.\r\n
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\r\nThe movie benefited from a solid cast (including stars Tom Jane and Marcia Gay Harden) and director\/King veteran Frank Darabont. Unlike Apt Pupil, whose changes to the original King story were controversial, Darabont\u0027s revised ending was praised for its shock value and for furthering the dark tone of the story.\r\n”,”height”:720,”width”:1280,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/04—the-mist-1501850169710.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/04—the-mist-1501850169710_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:”MGM”,”objectRelationName”:”Stephen King\u0027s The Mist”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/stephen-kings-the-mist”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:”05″,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”9. 1408 (2007)\r\n
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\r\nKing pretty much wrote the book when it comes to haunted hotel stories – literally – with The Shining. Even M.R. James would have been impressed. So you can imagine the surprise when it was learned that King planned on revisiting the haunted hotel formula with \u00221408\u0022 (released first in audiobook form via Blood and Smoke and in print as part of the collection Everything\u0027s Eventual).\r\n
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\r\n1408 is about a writer named Mike Enslin (John Cusack), a man who built a career on visiting supposedly haunted spots and debunking them in his books. But one visit to the Dolphin Hotel in New York and its infamous room 1408 makes up for years of false leads.\r\n
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\r\nThe original story was very short and to the point. Luckily, director Mikael H\u00e5fstr\u00f6m and his writers managed to flesh out the tale and provide a more fully realized account of Enslin\u0027s terrifying stay. Like Samuel L. Jackson\u0027s hotel manager says, \u0022It\u0027s an evil f***ing room,\u0022 and the movie did a great job of conveying that with its pervasively, unsettling atmosphere and sudden scares.\r\n”,”height”:820,”width”:1457,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/05—1408-1501850169711.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/05—1408-1501850169711_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:”Dimension Films”,”objectRelationName”:”Stephen King\u0027s The Mist”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/stephen-kings-the-mist”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:”06″,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”8. The Dead Zone (1983)\r\n
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\r\nLong before The Dead Zone served as fodder for the popular TV series (well, popular until it was canceled without a proper finale), it inspired a 1983 film from director David Cronenberg. Cronenberg had already made quite the name for himself with surreal horror films like Videodrome and Shivers. He brought that signature touch to what is really more a psychological drama than a classic King horror story.\r\n
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\r\nThe Dead Zone starred Christopher Walken as Johnny Smith, a humble school teacher who is injured in a car accident, trapped in a coma for five years, and awakens to discover he can psychically glimpse into a person\u0027s past, present, and future with a mere touch.\r\n
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\r\nLess grotesque and violent than many of Cronenberg\u0027s horror efforts of the day, Dead Zone was a bleak and unsettling film that made full use of Walken\u0027s peculiar presence and gravity as an actor.\r\n”,”height”:675,”width”:1199,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/06—the-dead-zone-1501850169712.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/06—the-dead-zone-1501850169712_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:”Paramount Pictures”,”objectRelationName”:”Stephen King\u0027s The Mist”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/stephen-kings-the-mist”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:”07″,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”7. The Green Mile (1999)\r\n
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\r\nDirector Frank Darabont crafted what many consider to be the definitive Stephen King movie with The Shawshank Redemption (more on that film later). Some feared he was revisiting overly familiar territory when he returned to adapt another of King\u0027s prison dramas, The Green Mile. Yes, this movie did hit some familiar beats, but that didn\u0027t stop it from finding great dramatic success.\r\n
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\r\nLike Shawshank, The Green Mile is a period piece set largely within a prison and entered on a wrongly convicted felon. In this case, the prison is the Depression-era Cold Mountain Penitentiary, and the felon is John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan). The corrections officer in charge of the death row inmates (Tom Hanks) is enthralled by Coffey\u0027s gentle nature and apparently supernatural healing powers, causing great emotional turmoil as he debates whether he can allow such a marvelous and obviously innocent man to be executed.\r\n
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\r\nEasily one of the most emotionally gripping King films (or books, for that matter), The Green Mile is further proof that his non-horror tales are often the ones most ideally suited for film.\r\n”,”height”:748,”width”:1330,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/07—green-mile-1501850169713.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/07—green-mile-1501850169713_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:”Warner Bros.”,”objectRelationName”:”Stephen King\u0027s The Mist”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/stephen-kings-the-mist”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:”08″,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”6. Stephen King\u0027s IT (2017)\r\n
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\r\nFittingly, one of King\u0027s most iconic novels is also one of his most successful adaptations, shattering box office records in its opening weekend. But more than just being a moneymaker, IT is a very effective horror film that pits a group of intrepid middle schoolers against the terrifying, inhuman killer lurking beneath the streets of an idyllic Maine town. While the scares aren\u0027t always as subtle as we\u0027d like, there\u0027s no denying that Bill Skarsgard\u0027s Pennywise had plenty of moviegoers shrinking in their seats.\r\n
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\r\nIT works well not just because it\u0027s scary, but because it does something that so few horror films ever manage – it makes you care for these heroes as they face down the unimaginable. That\u0027s especially key as the film works to set the stage for a sequel, one that will reunite the adult-age members of the Losers Club as they once again join forces to confront pure evil. If the sequel lives up to the original, expect it to make an appearance on this countdown in a couple years.”,”height”:1154,”width”:2051,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/09\/12\/it-2017-1505222366353.png”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/09\/12\/it-2017-1505222366353_{size}.png”,”credit”:”New Line CInema\/Warner Bros.”,”objectRelationName”:”Stephen King\u0027s The Mist”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/stephen-kings-the-mist”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:”09″,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”5. Carrie (1976)\r\n
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\r\n\u0022If you\u0027ve got a taste for terror… invite Carrie to the prom!\u0022\r\n
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\r\nThat was the Grindhouse-worthy tagline for Carrie, and it said all that needed to be said about this teen horror drama. Carrie was King\u0027s big break as a writer in 1974. A mere two years later, it also became fodder for one of the better films based on his work.\r\n
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\r\nCarrie is the story of the titular character (Sissy Spacek), the prototypical awkward teenage girl who suffers from bullying at school and an overbearing, fanatically religious mother (Piper Laurie) at home. She also happens to manifest destructive, psychokinetic powers when she\u0027s upset. So you can imagine what happens when Carrie becomes the victim of a cruel prank at her prom.\r\n
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\r\nCarrie was praised both because of its terrifying qualities and its serious exploration of a very troubled character. It still ranks as one of the very best of the traditional Stephen King horror movies. And it\u0027s inspired a number of follow-ups in recent years, from the disastrous sequel, The Rage: Carrie 2 to the 2002 TV remake to the 2013 film remake starring Chloe Grace Moretz. So far, none have managed to hold a candle to the original.\r\n”,”height”:1080,”width”:1920,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/08—carrie-1501850169713.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/08—carrie-1501850169713_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:”United Artists”,”objectRelationName”:”Stephen King\u0027s The Mist”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/stephen-kings-the-mist”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:10,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”4. Misery (1990)\r\n
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\r\nMisery operates on a very simple formula. It features only two main characters who spend most of the film locked away in a remote cabin in winter. But both the 1987 novel and Rob Reiner\u0027s 1990 adaptation really made the most of this formula.\r\n
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\r\nAs with so many of King\u0027s stories, Misery features a troubled writer as the lead protagonist. James Caan starred as novelist Paul Sheldon, a man who is rescued from a car crash by a nurse named Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates). Unfortunately, as Sheldon\u0027s \u0022number one fan\u0022 Wilkes uses her unique opportunity to trap Sheldon in her cabin and force him to write a new book that will resurrect his most famous creation, Misery Chastain.\r\n
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\r\nIt was a great premise that allowed for Hitchcock-levels of tension as Sheldon struggled to placate his demanding host and find a way to escape her clutches. Bates won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Wilkes, a character who still ranks as one of the all-time great horror villains.\r\n”,”height”:675,”width”:1199,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/09—misery-1501850169715.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/09—misery-1501850169715_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:”Columbia Pictures”,”objectRelationName”:”Stephen King\u0027s The Mist”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/stephen-kings-the-mist”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:11,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”3. Stand By Me (1986)\r\n
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\r\nFrank Darabont isn\u0027t the only director with a real knack for bringing Stephen King tales to life on screen. Before Misery, Rob Reiner also directed this coming-of-age tale based on King\u0027s novella \u0022The Body\u0022 (collected in the book Different Seasons).\r\n
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\r\nStand By Me featured narration by Richard Dreyfuss and a who\u0027s who lineup of up-and-coming teen actors at the time, including Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O\u0027Connell. This quartet played a group of friends who hear a rumor about a dead body being discovered and venture out to track it down and find small-town glory. Along the way, they battle some ruthless bullies and learn a thing or two about each other.\r\n
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\r\nThis was another King film with a deceptively simple formula that really thrived on the strength of the performances. King himself labeled it as the first truly successful adaptation of his work.\r\n”,”height”:1139,”width”:2025,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/10—stand-by-me-1501850169716.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/10—stand-by-me-1501850169716_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:”Columbia Pictures”,”objectRelationName”:”Stephen King\u0027s The Mist”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/stephen-kings-the-mist”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:12,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)\r\n
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\r\nThe first of Frank Darabont\u0027s feature-length Stephen King adaptations, The Shawshank Redemption also remains his best. The movie was adapted from the relatively lesser-known novella \u0022Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption\u0022 (another inclusion in the Different Seasons collection). The movie starred Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne, a banker convicted of murdering his wife and her lover based on circumstantial evidence and doomed to spend the rest of his days within the cold walls of Shawshank Penitentiary. Morgan Freeman co-starred as Red, the wise, world-weary smuggler of contraband.\r\n
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\r\nWhile Shawshank often veered into dark territory, the movie was really more of an uplifting tale about one man\u0027s refusal to give up hope in even the most depressing circumstances. Robbins played a capable everyman hero, but often it was Freeman who stole the show, both in person and through his now iconic narration.\r\n”,”height”:1080,”width”:1920,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/11—shawshank-redemption-1501850169717.png”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/11—shawshank-redemption-1501850169717_{size}.png”,”credit”:”Columbia Pictures”,”objectRelationName”:”Stephen King\u0027s The Mist”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/stephen-kings-the-mist”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:13,”albumTotalCount”:14},{“caption”:”1. The Shining (1980)\r\n
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\r\nThe Shining isn\u0027t necessarily Stanley Kubrick\u0027s greatest film. It materialized well after the director\u0027s golden period that begat films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dr. Strangelove. But the fact that even a lesser Kubrick film could top out a list like this says a lot about the man\u0027s talent.\r\n
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\r\nThe Shining adapted what might be King\u0027s most famous novel – a tale of a man named Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), another of King\u0027s struggling writers with a pronounced dark side. Torrance serves as winter caretaker for the remote, luxurious Overlook Hotel in Colorado\u0027s Rocky Mountains. A combination of cabin fever and a strong supernatural influence compels Jack to try and murder his family and join the many restless souls trapped within the Overlook\u0027s walls. The only thing standing in the hotel\u0027s way is young Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd), whose psychic gifts the hotel both craves and fears.\r\n
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\r\nKing has always been very adamant in his dislike of this adaptation, which he chalks up to Kubrick downplaying the family themes and the supernatural nature of the hotel. But both elements are now among the film\u0027s more praised qualities. There\u0027s a raw, simple, archetypal approach to the story and its characters. Kubrick intentionally framed the film in a way that nearly every instance of ghostly manifestation (dead girls in the hallway, blood spilling out of the elevator, the terrifying woman in Room 237) could be explained away as hallucinations brought about by cabin fever. There\u0027s a subtlety to the movie despite its often garish imagery.\r\n
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\r\nKubrick\u0027s directorial style also shines through. The Shining is a very technically brilliant film, with innovative camera work (particularly the tracking shots of Danny on his tricycle) and the use of physically impossible building layouts to create a subtle but very unsettling feeling. And Nicholson seemed born to play Jack Torrance, as even at a young age he was the personification of the creepy, haggard ax murderer.\r\n”,”height”:692,”width”:1229,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/12—the-shining-1501850169718.png”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2017\/08\/04\/12—the-shining-1501850169718_{size}.png”,”credit”:”Warner Bros.”,”objectRelationName”:”Stephen King\u0027s The Mist”,”objectRelationUrl”:”\/movies\/stephen-kings-the-mist”,”albumName”:”The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories”,”relativePosition”:14,”albumTotalCount”:14}]’
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Warner Bros/United Artists