Best of King Edition
    Question Of The Day

    Major Spoilers Question of the Day: Best of King Edition

    Matthew PetersonBy 5 Comments1 Min Read

    Thanks to an accidental reference on a TV Tropes pages, I’ve been delving once more into the works of Stephen King, specifically ‘Mr. Mercedes’, his take on hard-boiled detective stories.  Of course, that led me to the realization that they’ve made it into a TV series, but my mind doesn’t think I can watch it because the casting is all wrong.  It’s a common problem with King adaptations, as the things I see in my mind’s eye are seldom what makes it to the screen.  And in the case of ‘The Mist’, it’s just a dream-crushing horror of a movie, one that I’ll never forgive.  Of course, I’ll never forgive ‘Maximum Overdrive’, either, for different reasons, leading to today’s Best of King query…

    The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) reminds Faithful Spoilerites that this category includes both ‘Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘Stand By me’, asking: Which live-action TV or movie adaptation constitutes the BEST of King?

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    Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.

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    5 Comments

    1. Daniel Langsdale on

      Shawshank Redemption

      Having only read one Stephen King novel, but also having seen many adaptations of his work, I would say that the best of King lies in his writing characters under stress, and that the supernatural bits always seem a bit silly or off. So, the BEST of King for me would be something that plays into this strength and ignores the other bits, hence Shawshank, with Stand By Me taking a close second.

      Reply
    2. Jarmo Seppänen on

      I guess its Shawshank. Not a big Stephen King guy, I’ve read few of his novels in my early teens. I have a soft spot for that one in which the whole world gets munched by some weird creatures.

      Reply
    3. Dan on

      Yeah….as an overall finished product, it’s hard not to say Shawshank. Pressure and time, that’s all it takes.

      It’s a shame that the arguable “best” of King’s supernatural work tend to move the furthest away from the source….your It remakes, your Kubrick Shinings, etc. I read a good chunk of his stuff as a kid (weirdly never read his non-spooky stuff like the short stories that Stand By Me or Shawshank were based on tho), and i feel like Salem’s Lot is due for a decent remake. It’s certainly one of the most straightforward of his novels, and maybe a 4 part Netflix series would finally get it right.

      Reply

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