No author has provided material for as many movies as the horror master Stephen King. Even though he is not satisfied with some adaptations, he was grateful for the ending of a horror film because it differed from his book.
Which film is it about? In 1981, Stephen King published the novel Cujo, which was adapted by director Lewis Teague just two years later. In the film, the Saint Bernard Cujo is bitten by a rabid bat.
Slowly, the dog goes insane due to the disease and terrorizes not only his own family but the entire neighborhood of a suburb. The film changed the original ending of the novel, but as the lead actress Dee Wallace, known from E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial, revealed in a recent interview, Stephen King actually liked it.
A more modern Stephen King adaptation can be found in The Monkey.
Even Stephen King thanked the filmmakers
What does Dee Wallace say about the ending of the film? In the novel version of Cujo , the child Tad Trenton, played by Danny Pintauro, dies at the end of the book. In the film, this situation was changed. There, Tad survives the events of the film, and the character played by Dee Wallace takes care of Cujo.
In an interview with Remind Magazine, the actress explained that the director, the producer, and she decided against the ending of the novel. Stephen King even reportedly called their producer to thank him. She says: He [Stephen King] has never received so many hate messages about something as he did about the killing of the child at the end of Cujo.
What about other adaptations? Ironically, Stephen King has a completely different opinion on one of the most famous adaptations. In 2016, he stated in an interview with Deadline that he is not a fan of the film The Shining. In the film, he particularly has a problem with the character of Jack Torrance, who, according to him, has no arc
in the film.
In the film, he misses the visible change of the character: In the book, he is a man who struggles with his mind and ultimately loses it. For me, that is a tragedy. In the film, there is no tragedy because there is no real change.
Even in 2025, adaptations of Stephen King’s works will not stop. In 2025 alone, there are four films adapting short stories or novels by the author: The Monkey, The Long Walk, The Life of Chuck, and The Running Man. You can find more horror films here: 9 horror films that even scaredy-cats can watch
