Place 1: The Shining
- Released: 1980
- Director: Stanley Kubrick
Putting The Shining in first place is controversial on one hand, but also not surprising on the other. The problem is that Stanley Kubrick’s film is not a truly faithful adaptation of the novel; as a standalone work, however, it is outstanding.
The story of the writer Jack Torrance, who moves with his wife Wendy and son Danny to a snow-covered hotel in the Colorado mountains to work there as a caretaker, is grippingly executed. Slowly but surely, madness creeps into family life, supernatural events occur, and the hotel increasingly becomes the actual villain.
Stephen King despises this adaptation because it deviates from the book in several important points – especially in character development. Nonetheless, the film is another masterpiece by Kubrick that can impress with fantastic actors like Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall throughout. And some iconic moments that are still quoted today were also created by The Shining. Keyword: “Here’s Johnny!”
These were 7 successful adaptations of stories by Stephen King. Of course, this is just a small excerpt, as there are a total of 55 films dealing with the works of the horror author. What are your favorites? Feel free to share them with us in the comments. Another film that does not appear here once brought joy to the writer: 42 years ago, Stephen King thanked for changing the ending of a film: ‘Never received so many hate messages’
