01x05 - Stephen King Adaptations

[bunniefuu]

[ominous music]

Stephen King is just quite hard

to adapt, right,
because 90% of his books

take place in someone's head.

And it's not just
someone's head,

but it's like their backstory.
It's their mother.

It's how they grew up.

It's this like interesting
story about these pair of pants

they're wearing and
why they're important.

And that's why we love
to read Stephen King.

But you can't do that
in a 90-minute movie.

It doesn't translate.

It doesn't work.

And so all of these
people, God bless them,

who chose to adapt Stephen
King, that's a tough job, right?

And there's some that I think
really work and some that don't.

You could do a whole season of
just the King and all the work

in film that his writing
has inspired from the stuff

at the very bottom that is
still kind of wonderful...

and I'd love to watch the
Graveyard Shifts of the world...

all the way up to
cinema classics.

What are the must see
Stephen King adaptations?

[classical music]

JOE HILL: The very best
Stephen King adaptations

are not horror films.

The very best of them would
be Shawshank Redemption

and Stand By Me...

You guys want to
go see a dead body?

...which aren't scary pictures.

They have scares in
them, but they're

clearly not horror films.

Why did he have to die, Chris?

Why did Danny have to die?

One of the reasons that
Shawshank and Stand By Me were

so effective is
because the filmmakers

were free to focus on the rich
inner lives of those characters.

Hope is a dangerous thing.

Hope can drive a man insane.

JOE HILL:... whereas
with the horror films,

they always find
themselves in competition

with the scares on the page.

[ominous music]

I'm coming for you, Rachel.

And that is a competition
they are almost always destined

to lose that it's
always going to be more

frightening on the page
and in the reader's

imagination than anything they
can possibly get on the screen.

BOY 1: Georgie.

BOY 2: Bill.

[ominous music]

[muffled speech]

Of the horror films there's
no doubt that the best of them

is Andy and Barbara Muschietti's
take on It chapter 1.

I think It chapter 1 is and
what the Muschietti has put

on the screen was
better than anything

De Palma managed, anything
that Kubrick managed.

[ominous music]

Part one is a masterpiece.

I think everything works
so well in that movie.

And it's also so much love
for Stephen King that...

[ominous music]

...that's a book that
changed my life.

And when I watched the movie,
I was like so relieved.

It's like, oh, he nailed it.

Stan, we all have to go.

That's a fantastic
adaptation because it stayed so

close to the source material.

No.

No.

It felt like the book.

You know, I got that feeling
of the struggles of being a kid

and how you're going
to figure that out...

Boop, boop, boop, boop.

[laughs]

...the monster kind of being
representative of all of that.

[laughter]

One of the reasons the film
is so effective and so powerful

is that we sense
that the Muschietti's

care about those kids.

Stay cool, Ben
from social class.

Yeah.

You too, Beverly.

Think tough new
kid on the block.

JOE HILL: They respect
and love those kids.

And that compassion for Bev and
Bill and Ben and Stan and Eddie

run so deep that we can't
help but be swept up by it

and care for them as well.

And so when they're
put in mortal danger,

we feel it very deeply.

That seems like one of
the main elements you need

for a successful adaptation
is taking a little bit of time

to build that world and to
put those characters forward.

I'm not afraid of you.

You can't just
lead with the action.

You can't lead with the horror.

You have to lead with the
protagonist and the world

around them.

[ominous music]

Oh, The Mist, oh, the movie that

will never leave your brain.

Oh, the way you feel
the cold wetness

of what that mist must have
felt like and that almost like

got in my mouth.

It tasted sort of moldy.

What's it, daddy?

Mist.

Yeah, it's the darkest
of all adaptations,

[laughs] the one
in which humanity

gets to really show its colors.

The Mist mostly takes
place in a supermarket.

There is a big storm, all these
people go to the supermarket

to get supplies.

And during that time,
a mist rolls in.

Something in the mist.

Something in the
mist to John Lee.

And monsters come
out of the mist.

[screaming]

But the thing that's scary about
the movie is not the monsters,

it's the people.

Well, it is this kind of
hubris that brought the wrath

of God in the first place.

This kind of pride
and defiance of...

[bangs]

You know so much
about this community

so quickly because they
are both specific point

of view characters and
universal stereotypes.

So you can immediately
click in, but then

King has created
such specific voices

for every single character.

And the adaptation honors
that in a beautiful way.

Well, if you need a friend.

I have a friend, God up above.

I talk to him every day.

The story is about human
dynamics, what happens to people

when they're under pressure.

Shut up you miserable buzzard.

You old b*tch!

No, no, no, no, no.

But who are you?

Are you the crazy lady
in the supermarket?

Or are you the hero who's going
to try to actually help people?

Douse the lights.

[screaming]

Look out!

Look out!

Frank had always been very
much a formalist as a filmmaker.

[ominous music]

His movies were
very studio style.

They were very elegant and
precise and well thought out.

After he had done a
pilot for a TV show,

he completely changed his
philosophy about filmmaking.

Glass is going to give.

[glass shattering]

And The Mist is very by
the pants, a lot of handheld

and a lot of CG
that's very realistic

looking, especially considering
the year that it came out.

At the very
beginning of the movie,

there is a woman who is like,
I have to go find my family.

I can't...
I can't stay here.

I got to get home to my kids.

[ominous music]

And she leaves.

And you just assume that these
monsters just ate her right up.

But instead they're
in the car at the end,

and they realize these
monsters are everywhere.

There's nothing they're
going to be able to do.

So he takes the g*n.

He kills everyone in the car.

[g*nshots]

And then he realizes
there's no b*ll*ts

left for him to k*ll himself.

[screaming]

[bangs]

So he gets out of the
car ready to sacrifice

himself to the monsters...

[ominous music]

...only to have the military
pull up at that exact moment

with the woman who
left in the opening.

She made it.

She made it through the end.

She had the best
idea the whole time.

And it is so dark.

The ending of The Mist is
such a powerful and ballsy

change to do because
the novella has

a completely different ending.

They just keep going.

And there's some
sort of hope, and

Darabont was like, f*ck hope.

[chuckles]

[screaming]

To put your protagonist
in that state in the end

the movie there was
probably the cruelest thing

in the history of horror films.

But it was honest.

You don't have much
faith in humanity, do you?

None whatsoever.

Gerald's Game was something
I wanted to make for years.

As soon as I read it,
I thought this is going

to be a hard movie to make.

Nobody's going to want
to make this movie

because it's basically 90
minutes of a naked woman chained

to a bed.

And how do you make that happen?

And if I couldn't do it, I'm
glad that Mike Flanagan could

because I just think he's one
of the best guys out there.

Gerald's Game was
a feat of filmmaking.

Jessie and Gerald go to
this house to try to like

spice up their marriage.

And in doing so, Gerald
handcuffs her to the bed.

This is good.
You'll like this.

It's not working for her.

Daddy's going to
get what Daddy wants.

f*cking stop it!

Uncuff me now.

And he gets angry
about this and starts

talking about how badly
their marriage is going

and during that
has a heart attack

and falls on top of her dead.

So now she's alone
in this House...

Gerald

BREA GRANT:... with her
dead husband on top of her.

Gerald.

And the entire movie takes
place with her handcuffed

and trying to get out
of these handcuffs...

No!

Somebody help!

BREA GRANT:... while
her husband is taunting

her from beyond the grave.

You can pull to
your wrists break,

you're not getting
out of those cuffs.

He is dead, but
yet sticks around

because he is a shitty husband.
[laughs]

[classical music]

Gerald's Game is
probably one of the best

adaptations of taking
an unfilmable story

and bringing it to screen.

Mike Flanagan did an incredible
job because in the book,

the voices in her head
are multiple characters.

And narrowing that down to
just one version of her talking

to herself...

He put you in those handcuffs
way before Gerald did.

...is a brilliant solution
because otherwise you kind

of get lost in the character
drama, and that's not

what it's about, right?

Jesus.

It's about the need to
survive and distilling it down

to that moment of survival...

The last thing I want is to have

to take you to
the emergency room

and have your finger sewn back,

...which then blows everything
up like a nuclear b*mb

as we're all sitting
there with our hands

over our eyes just not wanting
to watch that degloving...

[moaning]

Gerald's Game is some of the
only horror movie gore that has

ever made me feel lightheaded.

[ripping]

[crying]

The scene where she
degloves herself

to get out of the
handcuffs, I genuinely

felt nauseous and dizzy.

And that just not
happened to me.

I watch horror
movies for a living.

But for some reason, that
scene really got to me.

It's disgusting.

[crying]

And Carla Gugino, chef's kiss.

Carla Gugino is one of
the most underappreciated

actresses of our generation.

She approached that part with
such a relentless bravery.

At every turn, there was a lack
of vanity or a lack of fear.

She just dove in and
ripped herself apart.

I mean, just to be handcuffed to
a bed not even for three days,

but for sh**ting days.

I think it was 16
days in that position.

So the physical demands
of the role aside,

the emotional demands of
that role playing both sides

of the character and
dealing with the trauma

she was dealing with as
the character, flawless.

[suspenseful music]

[rumbling]

Girl, I don't have the ba*ls
to wear anything like that.

Don't I wish.

Just give me a beer.

[suspenseful music]

Holy old Jesus!

And now, may the Lord
bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his
face to shine upon you.

So give us your report, Craig.

Tell us how much
money you made for us.

I ain't taking the rap on this.

I locked this place
up every night.

It's not my fault if
every pervert, weirdo...

Don't talk to me.

Go talk to someone in charge.

[rumbling]

On the day of my judgment
when I stand before God

and he asks me why did I k*ll
one of his true miracles,

what am I going to say?

MICK GARRIS: When you're
adapting Stephen King,

you got to realize
that the story is

the most important
thing and the people

are the most important things.

So many people just use
it as a jumping off point.

I ain't never seen
me flick a show.

But King's books and
stories are very cinematic.

Paul Sheldon: I guess it was
kind of a miracle you finding me.

No, it wasn't a miracle at all.

In a way, I was following you.

You were following me?

Well, it wasn't
any secret to me.

You were staying at the
Silver Creek seeing as how I'm

your number one fan and all.

Don't move now.

I wouldn't want
to hurt this neck.

Misery feels like a
really strong adaptation.

It actually felt a
lot like the book

and like a lot of the
best King adaptations.

It also has the directors
eye on it, stank on it.

James Caan is driving along
one day in this blizzard,

and he gets in a wreck.

[bangs]

And thank God, Kathy Bates,
Annie, she finds him.

And she takes him
back to her house.

And she's going to nurse
him back to health,

but it turns out that
she's also a big fan.

How weird?

Oh, Paul, I've read
everything of yours.

The misery novels, I know them
all by heart, all eight of them.

I don't think there's
ever been a movie that

sort of centered on a
frumpy sort of character

like that becoming
the main character

and the k*ller and the film.

It was really scary at the time.

A character like Kathy Bates
was always sort of like the MPC.

They were just someone
in the background.

Right.

Misery really put that type
of character in the foreground.

Kathy Bates was
terrifying in that movie.

They just cheated us.

This isn't fair.

He didn't get out of
the c*ck car.

The performance that
Kathy Bates gives,

there's nothing like it.

There's never been
anything like it.

There will never be
anything like that

in the pantheon of horror.

She's so exquisite.

When you first came here, I only

loved the writer
part of Paul Sheldon,

but now I know I love
the rest of him, too.

I have this g*n.

[clicking]

Sometimes I think
about using it.

As a writer myself,
the idea of being

held hostage by a superfan
is already so terrifying.

But wow, she is basically
the portrait of the superfan

you never want to meet.

You did it.

You did it.

You m*rder*d my misery.

Hey.

[clattering]

She ends up having a
say in his new manuscript.

And her say is that
she does not like it,

and he needs to rewrite it.

And it becomes this horrible
fan versus creator movie.

You're going to write a new
novel, your greatest achievement

ever Misery's Return.

Misery's return?

I know you didn't mean
it when you k*lled her,

and now you'll make it right.

KATE SIEGEL: There's
something about the marriage

of the filmmaker and the
source material in Misery

that just radiates
through your body.

The slow burn of the obsession
and the realization of what

the author is going through, I
mean, when she brings the sledge

hammer out to smash his
ankles, I don't think there's

a person in the world
who doesn't tense up.

Kathy, please.

[screaming]

It's just a
perfectly paced film.

Almost done, just one more.

In the novel, she
chops his foot off.

[screaming]

And I think this was so
much harder to watch.

God, I love you.

And Cujo, my God, I read
the book in like one day.

[suspenseful music]

And I think he wrote
it in two or three.

What are you growling at?

Such an intense movie,
it's so brilliant because it

doesn't need to go big.

It's just the simplest thing.

[growling]

I talk to writing students all
the time about the brilliance

of a story like Cujo, which
you could just characterize

as a mother and son
trapped in a car

while a dog is barking
outside, right?

[growling]

[screaming]

In the novel, Stephen King is
a master of characterization.

So you're in the car.

You have no choice but to care.

The film, you don't have that
interiority, but what you do

have is some
really, really great

performances,
including a child actor

I used to watch on soap operas.

[mumbling]

Oh, there's no monsters.

I knew that kid from one
of my favorite soap operas.

So I knew he was a great
actor, but not that great.

So he really is
kind of the heart

and soul of this horrible
situation that is so mundane.

[crying]

[bangs]

The car won't start.

We've all been in
that situation,

but we haven't
been in a situation

where there's a rabid,
really monstrous

dog trying to get inside
and trying to savage you.

[screaming]

[growling]

That ending in the novel
spoiler, if you haven't read it,

the little boy dies.

He's the cost of
the mother's secrets

and the mother's
mistakes in some ways.

And I wondered, are they going
to do that in the movie version?

Could we sit through a two-hour
movie where the little boy dies?

Well, absolutely not.

[crying]

Baby.

So I'm not surprised they
changed that ending one bit.

[glass shattering]

I hate to be that guy.

There is this... I
do have this one

tiny pet peeve about
the fact that, you know,

people say that dog was scary.

It's just like Cujo.

And the film is called Cujo,
and everyone in the film

calls the dog Cujo.

[growling]

In the book, it's made
clear that the dog's name

is actually pronounced
Cujo, that it's

a Spanish pronunciation.

But I guess it's too
late to fix that one.

[growling]

[g*nshots]

It's the tiniest
little thing, but even

my dad calls the dog Cujo.

[ominous music]

Cujo.

Christine was one of
the first ones I read.

And I remember it as a ghost
story, as a possession story.

That's an aspect that Carpenter
completely dropped in the movie.

He kind of changed the nature
of the menace, and it works.

And it works partly
because he builds Christine

like she is a proper character.

The very fact that I would
say she instead of it

instinctively makes you
see that this is a person.

And he films her like a person.

[screaming]

It's a John Carpenter
film, and it looks it.

It is the most beautifully
shot atmospheric

of the Stephen King films.
- Come on.

Get it, man.

Christine follows
this nerdy student

at this school, this
social outcast who doesn't

have a lot going for him.

Stop the car. Stop the car.
Stop the car. Go back.

Go back.

One day he's driving
with his friend,

and out of the corner of his
eye spots this rusty junker

out in the middle of the yard.

It's the only thing
he's ever wanted,

and he's not going to
be talked out of it.

So he throws the
money down immediately

to purchase this vehicle.

And that becomes his life.

That becomes his passion.

He restores this car to how
we saw it come off the line

at the beginning of the film.

Everyone starts kind
of looking at him

and getting jealous of the car.

The girl he's with starts
getting jealous of the car.

[ROBERT & JOHNNY, "WE BELONG
TOGETHER"] You're mine

And we belong together

Yes we belong together

These bullies
that he had who had

threatened his life before
in this violent way try

to take the car out.

[bangs]

It's a love story.

It's a love story between
a boy and his car.

And it's a love story that has
weird moments of, you know,

that moment where he
says, OK, show me.

And the car rebuilds itself.

And he's just there watching.

And even the lighting
and the way it's filmed,

it all looks like
a girl stripping.

It looks like something
that's supposed to be teasing

and a little bit
sexual, which is

such an interesting idea for
a piece of junk essentially.

[upbeat music]

[engine roaring]

We watch the car,
and these amazing shots

get revenge against the
people that attacked it.

[screaming]

[clattering]

There's this incredible scene
of the car after k*lling several

of these bullies in
this gas station,

making the entire thing explode.

And this huge plume
of fire chases

down the final leader
of these bullies

completely just in a blaze.

And it's just this incredible,
beautiful shot that

looks like something
out of like,

you know, any slasher film
of this terrifying monster

coming after this potential
victim, but it's a car.

Please.

[engine roaring]

[crashing]

It's played so straight that you

kind of forget how outlandish
the subject matter is.

John Carpenter really
puts us all into this.

AXELLLE CAROLYN: I don't
think that Carpenter

was very happy with it
at the end of the day.

It's a little miracle
that something

so elegant for
the subject matter

would come out from
a filmmaker who

didn't have full confidence in
what he was doing, I suppose.

It's a real testimony to
his technical abilities

and to his instinct
to find what's going

to make it work on screen.

[suspenseful music]

I want you to feel
this on my nose.

Why you look at?

You're the one who looks like
he could use a vacation, Doc.

Well, you were
having a bad dream.

You must have been a
real wowser by the sound.

I'm in the mood
for some music, '80s.

I'll make that happen.

You want me to sign it for you?

No.

I didn't like the ending.

[rumbling]

TOM HOLLAND: When Stephen
first appeared on the scene,

horror was minuscule.

[ominous music]

Stephen single-handedly
popularized horror

as America understands it.

Bill.

[ominous music]

I will fear no evil.

And he did it that way by
writing about people like you

and me, middle-class people,
lower middle-class people,

whatever, working people.

And he made it real and made
you feel like, oh my gosh,

this could be happening to me.

The meiosis is
the Stephen King's

name blots out everybody else.

The pluses of it are that
there's some terrific material

to choose from.

I got offered Thinner.

And Thinner is very
odd in the sense

that I thought the
story was very...

was terrific and very solid.

But there was something that
was also humorous about it.

Usually when you're
in a Stephen King story,

you like your protagonist, like
you're following them around.

You feel for them.

You want to side with them.

They're... they're somebody
that you feel connected with.

Thinner, not so much.

Just doing my job.

Robert John Burke is the
lead and is not playing

it sympathetically at all.

He starts out an
absolute shithead.

He's getting a blowjob from his
wife and runs this woman over.

[screaming]

[crashes]

And then they
tried to, you know,

kind of corrupt the court
system so that he gets off.

And then that's what
enacts the Gypsy curse.

Sir.

In the film, of course,
they do that thing

Thinner where he rubs his face.

Thinner.

I will quote that with
my friends all the time.

Thinner.

Why is he saying it?
Does he have to say it?

And does he have
to rub his face?

I don't know.

He's been cursed to lose
weight until he dies.

I've lost 100 pounds.

Before you know it, you'll
be able to see your ba*ls

without using a mirror.

[laughter]

You can eat as much as
he wants it doesn't matter,

he's going to keep
losing weight.

[laughs]

That was one I saw
when I was very young,

and it was so scary to me.

Seeing his body actually
get thinner as a kid,

I was like, how?
How?

Like, how are they doing this?

I just didn't understand
special effects at that point.

And I was like, I...

this is so unsettling.

[laughs] I'm not a fan.

I'm being erased.

Instead of accepting this curse

or going back and apologizing,
he takes violence.

He chooses violence and he
goes, and he attacks them.

I curse you and everybody I see

by the light of this fire,
the curse of the White man

from town.

And then ultimately
under duress, they

tell him how to fix the curse.

You got to give it to this pie.

Then you give this pie with the
curse inside to somebody else.

And what happens in
the book and I filmed it

and I thought it was
great was that Billy

realized his wife was
being unfaithful with him

to the doctor.

And he's transferred the curse
from himself into the pie.

And he puts it
down in the kitchen

knowing when she gets
up in the morning,

she's going to have a piece.

And then she'll have the curse.

And so he'll have his vengeance
on her for cheating on him.

And then he gets
up in the morning...

I'm talking about the book
now, gets up in the morning

and he goes downstairs.

And my God, a piece
of the pie is gone.

And he's thrilled.

And he turns around.

And there's the only person
he really loves in life,

his 17-year-old daughter.

And she's saying, oh, dad, the
strawberry pie was delicious.

I love you.

And he is destroyed.

And now he has to do something
to save his daughter.

And the only way he can do
anything is take the curse back.

And so he eats the
strawberry pie.

And the audience
absolutely hated it.

They hated that ending.

So I finagled it a little bit
to try to give them a little bit

of audience satisfaction.

He invites the doctor in to have
a piece of pie in the morning

when he shows up.

As matter of fact, I was just
going to dig into a big slice

of this breakfast pie.

And I think maybe
that made the audience

feel a little bit better.

But I felt like I was a
wh*re to the audience.

But I had spelling
entertainment,

and I had Paramount
standing in my back saying,

do something, do
something, do something.

So that's what I did.

Wow, those are your cats.
There's a lot of them.

They're strays, but
we'll get rid of them.

The first time I
worked with Stephen King

was on Sleepwalkers.

It was his first produced
original Screenplay.

Sleepwalkers is one of the
wackier Stephen King plots.

And it's one of my favorite
Stephen King adaptations.

It takes place in a very,
very classic Stephen

King town high Americana.

It's an underrated classic
most known for a scene

that comes early
on in the picture.

You can't hear us.

We have a young boy who
comes home and sees his mom.

And the mom seems very
close and very touchy.

And end up full-on kissing.

And the reactions that it gets
every single time that you watch

that with friends is priceless.

Sleepwalkers are where
the vampire myth came from.

They turn into cat people.

And they feed on the
essence of virgin females.

[ominous music]

The way you feed that
essence, you suck it

out of the female virgin human.

And you feed it to the
female Sleepwalker sexually.

So you emit that essence
into the Sleepwalker.

Pull over, m*therf*cker.

Everything about this
movie is so bizarre.

The makeup that very well known
scene where he's in the car

and he turns into, you see a
flash of what the cat looks

like.

And it's this demented
bizarre, grinning creature.

What the f*ck?

It almost makes me think of
House, the Japanese movie...

[meows]

...and those kind of grinning
cat in Japanese lore.

[meows]

MICK GARRIS: They're
also deathly afraid

of the fatal scratch of cats.

Stop looking at
me, you f*cking cat.

And cats can sense
them and seek them out.

This is both a
horror movie for cats

and a cathartic
revenge film for them.

Get that m*therf*cker.

[laughs] All right.

Good boy, Clovis.

The town Sheriff had a
beloved pet cat Clovis.

Everything's going
to be all right.

[screaming]

The demon teenager
k*lled the town Sheriff.

[meows]

So Clovis has had it with these
people who came into the town,

colonized the town,
k*lled his parent,

and now they're going after
Madchen Amick who he also likes.

[screaming]

[meows]

So he knows that they
must be destroyed,

but he can't do it on his own.

[meows]

Luckily, all the cats in
the town are sick of this.

So like, a good union organizer,
he gets them all together.

And he says, we have to
go get these demon f*ck.

And in the cl*max
of the film, they

march up to the house
where the demons live,

and they attack them.

[meows]

There were 126 cats
in Sleepwalkers.

[meows]

You've heard the
term herding cats?

That's very much what wrangling
cats on the sleepwalkers set

was like, although they
were very well trained.

[meows]

[gasps] Clovis.

It's the kind of story I guess
you could only make if Stephen

King's name was on it because it
gave people confidence that it

would be something scary.

And then it turned out to be...

I would never say that
Sleepwalkers is scary,

but it's very strange and
unique and interesting.

And dealing with
bizarre themes and kind

of beautiful at the same time.

It's just you and me, Clovis.

Just you and me.

Silver b*llet is such a
highly entertaining watch.

[ominous music]

I recognize that
there's flaws to it,

but I'm really sensitive
to that because I really

do love the movie so much.

Silver b*llet's made from
Cycle of the Werewolf, which

was actually an illustrated
book that Stephen

King did with Bernie Wrightson.

Bernie wrightson is
the greatest horror

illustrator that's ever existed,
as far as I'm concerned.

I love werewolves.

And something I love
about werewolves

is that oftentimes,
it's a mystery.

[growling]

And Silver b*llet's very
much a horror mystery.

It takes that idea of every
time there's a full moon,

the wolf man is
going to show up.

[screaming]

And then little by little, we're
going to have clues as to who

it could be in the village.

Hey.

It's mad man Marty
in the Silver b*llet.

I loved Silver b*llet when
I was a kid because it's

ultimately a kid's tale.

It's Stephen King's kind of
classic kids on bikes battling

the evil in their
small town, except it's

a kid in a wheelchair.

You always take his side
because he's crippled.

Well, it's not my
fault he's crippled.

You just want to be quiet
or I'm going to smack you now.

I mean it.

TRACEY SALISBURY: It's about
that brother-sister relationship

where you get on
each other's nerves

and where adults
won't believe you,

but kids believe each other.

And that's what's always
important in horror films

that kids believe each other.

And there's nothing scary in
horror films that bump off kids.

Has anybody in here seen my son?

Brady.

[classical music]

Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with Thee.

You know, because when you bump

there's no rules because, you
know, everybody could get it.

[ominous music]

TIM KASHER: So you
have a werewolf

literally attacking
a handicapped child,

like young teenager.

I mean that's horrific
in and of itself.

That's just my little brother
gets me so mad sometimes.

AXELLLE CAROLYN: I
love the villain, too.

Well, Jane, brothers
sometimes do that.

It's perhaps the person
you expect nowadays,

but at the time, I felt
like it was a surprise.

[screaming]

[growling]

The movie gets schlocky,
and I recognize that.

But don't we love that, too?

Don't we just love it when
things get schlocky sometimes?

It's one of the best
Stephen King adaptations to me

because it captures
the essentials

of what he likes to do.

He loves kids living their life.

He loves these small
communities that

are living kind of peacefully
and have this entity come in.

And then how do they react?

How do they lose their humanity?

Or how do they retain
being a community?

[growling]

[g*nshots]

Holy jumped-up Jesus palomino!

You know, in the end, he's
always on the side of the kids.

And then the monsters can
sometimes be sympathetic.

[growling]

[screaming]

[ominous music]

MIKE [VOICEOVER]: Do you know
why I can stay in your spooky

old room, Mr. Olin?

Because I know the
ghoulies and ghosties

and long-legged
beasties don't exist.

Hey!

[yells]

[screaming]

Will you help me, Delores?

[screaming]

Bring him the blood
of the Outlander.

All: Praise God.

Praise the Lord.

Praise God.

Many people have tried to
adapt Stephen King novels.

And people always ask
like, what is the reason

some work and some don't?

And I don't really have a
good answer because you think,

oh, let's just hew very
closely to the novel.

[screaming]

Check!

But then you think
about the changes that

are made to these
books when they

make it to the silver
screen, they are successful.

The Dead Zone is an
example of an adaptation

of a Stephen King novel where
so much is stripped out.

And it's leaner, it's
clearer, and it's

more compelling because
you're not changing

perspectives all the time.

There's less digression.

That's just the nature of
filmmaking versus literature.

Literature is all
about the digression.

And filmmaking is
all about getting

to the next exciting moment.

So when you have
a great filmmaker,

like a David
Cronenberg, they know

how to make a movie out of it.

And the vision there
was something missing.

It was something I couldn't see.

How do you mean?

I don't know.

It was like, a blank
spot, a dead zone.

The Dead Zone doesn't have
the signature body horror

of a Cronenberg, but it
does feature a lot of very

cozy-looking sweaters being
worn by Christopher Walken,

which is kind of why I like it.

There's something very wintry
and nice about this movie,

even though it does deal
with a possible inevitable

nuclear holocaust.

[ominous music]

The Dead Zone is a Stephen King

adaptation about Johnny Smith
played by Christopher Walken.

He's just a regular guy.

He's happily in a relationship,
gets into a car accident,

goes into a coma, wakes up, and
now he has psychic abilities.

[screaming]

[rumbling]

Baby.

Because that's what happens
when you go into a coma

is you get super powers.

And he can see things
before they happen.

He has a premonition about
bad things happening.

[clattering]

The ice is going to break.

So it's that cost
of having second sight

of having lost everything.

He loses the love of his life.

He's debilitated
by this accident.

And he's saddled with knowing
things he shouldn't know.

Johnny is brought
in by the police

to find this serial k*ller.

[suspenseful music]

And then the third part of the
movie, the end of the movie,

he has a premonition of
the end of the world.

GREG: Hey.

How are you?

- Good to see you.
- Hey.

Thanks very much for coming.

He sees Martin Sheen's
future where he is this cartoon

villain president
who has the suitcase

with the nuclear button in it.

Do it, Joe.

And it's just so
maniacal and over the top.

I think that's something
I like about it

is it almost feels like a
weird satire of politics

and political imagery.

He has a choice to make.

Is he going to allow
this to happen?

Or is he going to assassinate
a candidate for the Senate?

[cheering]

It's a movie about
duty in a way.

What do you do when
you have power?

There's a lot of
that in King's work.

It's what do you do with
power, and how do you wield it?

How do you choose not
to or choose to use it?

He chooses to sacrifice
himself for the greater good...

[g*nshots]

...which is the most
heroic thing you can do.

[bangs]

But this is not really a movie
about heroism necessarily.

It's a movie about a curse.

Who are you, you son of a b*tch?

Who sent you?

This poor man is cursed
with this knowledge,

with this understanding.

[g*nshots]

Telekinesis thought
to be the ability

to move or to cause changes in
objects by force of the mind.

[glass shattering]

I think Carrie is
the most authentic

to King in terms of the
transposition of the book

to the film.

[classical music]

De Palma's Adaptation of Carrie

shows someone that has a
true respect for the genre

and the source material.

Oftentimes, filmmakers will
approach something like horror

as campy or soapy or something
to kind of push limits with.

Creepy Carrie.
Creepy Carrie.

Ha, ha, ha.

But De Palma clearly respected

the character and the story.

And you see that
in the filmmaking.

Hi, Carrie.

I love that lush opening
theme where the camera's

going through the showers.

And, you know, Carrie's
having a moment of just

relaxing in the hot shower.

And it's just kind of this
beautiful dream-like music.

[classical music]

Then she has her period, and she
doesn't know what's happening.

And she becomes terrified.

It's so brutal.

[murmurs]

It's the understanding that
a woman can bleed for five days

every month and not die.

We all accept that as reality.

But when you consider
it, that's magical.

That's horrific.

Help me!

Help me!

That was a very
interesting point of view

through de Palma's lens about
how terrifying female sexuality

can be.

Can I talk to you?

Right now?

It's real important.

[wheezing] All right.

The women in Carrie,
the young women,

not only come into this place
of power with their sexuality,

but their brains come
online with manipulation

and using men as tools for
the cruelty and the power.

It's kind of a flip of what you
encounter a lot in the world.

And when you become
an adult, you're

very familiar with the trope of
men manipulating young women.

But this kind of
off-putting manipulation

of young men by women is
disturbing in a unique way.

- Billy, I hate Carrie White.
- Who?

Carrie is a nasty story.

It's a heartbreaking story.

It's so unfair, but that's what
makes it such a lasting horror

movie and why there have been
so many remakes because you want

to just put that
lightning in a bottle

that unfairness of life when
you haven't had a shot and you

haven't been popular and
people have misunderstood you

and you finally have
a chance to shine.

[ominous music]

And you end up with a bunch
of pig blood on your head.

[ominous music]

It's satisfying on one level
to see her light up that place.

I never get tired of that scene.

But it's such cost.

[ominous music]

I saw the movie, and
then I read the book.

And the book is so good.

I just didn't realize
like how, like bad a*s

Carrie was because
in the movie, she

like does the whole gym thing.

But in the book,
she's like messed

up the whole town, like she
just... she leaves the gym.

And she's like going
just walking home,

just being like
blowing everything

up, burning everything down.

And there's just so much
more details in the book.

DAVID DASTMALCHIAN: He's
such a personal writer.

There's so much of
him in his work.

It's very hard to transpose
that to the screen well.

So you live in a
Stephen King book

in a way you'll never live
in a Stephen King movie,

in my opinion.

I just have not had
that experience yet.

[ominous music]

The Shining is
probably the most revered

King adaptation while
also being the adaptation

he likes the least.

The Shining is a complete
reboot of the book.

I mean, it's a
complete departure.

It just works.

And it's great, but it's
not the book at all.

[ominous music]

I almost don't think of it
as a Stephen King movie.

It's just it's so
Stanley Kubrick and Jack

Nicholson's movie in that way.

It changed a lot
of King's intentions.

Jack is going to take care of
the overlook for us this winter.

Jack Torrance is kind of him.

And he related to Jack.

And Jack was an
avatar for his fear

of being a bad parent, of being
an alcoholic, being violent

or, you know, unhinged...

[screaming]

...and the solitary
nature of being a writer.

But the movie turns
Jack into a slasher

villain in a lot of ways.

He's not sympathetic
even at the beginning.

ALEJANDRO BRUGUES: I'm
not one of those directors

that dies over Stanley Kubrick.

I see The Shining, and
I see all the bad things

Stephen King says.

There's no transition
in that character.

It's only Jack Torrance, Jack
Nicholson with his psycho

face there.

Here's Johnny.

[screams]

And you're like, well,
who thought about putting

this guy in this place?

But it just... it's just great.

It's great filmmaking.

[ominous music]

Jack gets this power.

He starts to feel powerful
through the course of the film.

And that leads him
to become a k*ller

trying to k*ll his own family.

Have you ever thought for
a single solitary moment

about my responsibilities
to my employers?

This corrosive
self-hatred, I think,

is at the core of the film.

I think it's probably also in
the book a little bit, too.

It's why do we lash out?

Why do we become violent?

Why is Jack violent
towards his son?

Why is he violent
towards his wife?

Why is he not successful?

Why is he miserable?

Why are all of these things?

And it comes back to not having
any faith or belief in yourself.

[suspenseful music]

The Shining has really
transcended from just being

a Stephen King adaptation and
become more of like a canon

of classic film cinema.

It is considered to
be art in itself.

It is something that
is revered, that

is taught now in film classes.

TANANARIVE DUE: There's so much
iconic imagery... the elevator

doors with the
blood pouring out,

the twin girls standing
in the hallway, the bar.

Everything looked
exactly the way

I pictured it, except
there was this one

major change from the novel.

And that is d*ck Hallorann who
was the Black character who

survived the novel and literally
ends up with an axe in his chest

as soon as he walks
through the door.

Now from a story
standpoint, I get it.

It's like you want to show
this is a dangerous situation.

You want to surprise the viewer.

Especially if you read the book,
you weren't expecting that.

And it also raises the
stakes for Danny and his mom.

But it's such a tired trope
that sacrificial n*gro.

And to take d*ck Hallorann
and Scatman Crothers who's

such a legend and
lose him that way,

that's just one thing that
just really, really bothers me.

And I'm so, so glad that
Mike Flanagan corrected

that when he made Doctor Sleep.

The overlook it was
always just pictures to me.

But I didn't shine like you.

Nobody shines like you.

Yes, Doctor Sleep, the
beautiful child of two

divorced parents.

I'm thinking about my dad.

TANANARIVE DUE: I was initially
surprised at how I was really

drawn in to this sequel
to see what happened

to Danny as an older
man, how the trauma has

sort of gone through his life.

That theme of alcoholism
is always coming up,

the alcoholism of Danny's
father and the first movie

and now it's sort of
that unhappy curse

that the son is still carrying.

Danny, you can't get away.

There's no more extreme trauma
than having your father chase

you and your mother around
with an axe like poor Dan

did when he was a child.

So now he's grown, and
he is trying so hard

to rid himself of the
psychic infestation

that has taken over his mind.

[screaming]

If he could just cut
through the noise,

maybe he could help end
this needless suffering

that is happening at the hands
of these terrifying people.

Well, hi, there.

Doctor Sleep, I think, is
at least as good as the book.

The book wasn't what
people expected.

You know, you expect a
really claustrophobic

ghost story, like The Shining.

You expect it to be The
Shining 2, and it's not.

With Doctor Sleep, it becomes
a sprawling story that

involves a lot more people.

I think Mike Flanagan when
he fused the Stephen King

vision and the Kubrick
vision, it was walking a razor

wire between two things.

And Mike somehow got to a
place where both things lived

in harmony not only
simultaneously,

but they elevated each other.

If you read the novel, they
don't go back to The Overlook.

The Overlook's burned down.

And so I think audiences
would have been rioting

if the overlook wasn't there.

And if you go to The
Overlook, obviously you have

to go to Kubrick's Overlook.

And so threading that
needle took great skill.

For someone to take
the source material that

comes from Stephen
King and then bring

it into the cinematic realm...

Go.

DAVID DASTMALCHIAN:... requires
artists of the caliber

of the Flanagans who can
understand tone, theme,

understand the
spirit of the story,

and know that sometimes breaking
it loose of the world in which

it was constructed within
the narrative of the book

is going to be
necessary as well.

TRACEY SALISBURY: From The
Shining to the Dead Zone,

bad things happen
to good people.

And they have to react
to it a particular way.

And in the end it may be unfair,
but that's how it works out.

And it's always a
darkness to him.

There's something that
might be out there.

And if you leave it to
chance, you might find out.

And that's Stephen
King in a nutshell.

[ominous music]

JOE HILL: I asked my dad
once if he was scared of AI.

I said, you know, what if people
start using AI to pump out

bad Stephen King imitations?

He said, "People have been
pumping out bad Stephen

King adaptations for 40 years.

I haven't let it bother me yet."

[suspenseful music]

[rumbling]

[screaming]

[gasps]

[snarling]

The ice is going to break.

[screaming]

This is what you're looking for?

[screaming]

Great party, isn't it?

[suspenseful music]

Thinner.

[ominous music]