Eric Vespe and Scott Wampler dive deep into the movie versions of the author’s tales.
“It’s revealed all these personal connections that people have with the material.
Elijah Wood came on and didMisery, and he hadnt actually readMisery, but hed seen the movie.
Kathy Bates in ‘Misery’.Credit: Everett Collection
He was able to talk about his experience with fandom through the prism ofMisery.
That was a fascinating thing to hear.
They grew up in a small town where it turned out their cub scout leader was a serial killer.
I was like, ‘Well, f— yeah, we want to hear about that!'”
A new episode ofKingcastis released on Wednesday.
Wampler and Vespe lead us through their own ten favorite Stephen King adaptations, below.
In both cases, you had directors who more than rose to the challenge.
Its the best possible version of that.
I would also like to go on the record forDoctor Sleep.
Mike Flanagan is the miracle worker of Stephen King adaptations.
He can do anything.
Andy Muschietti did a great job with it.
The designs are great.
Its a very scary movie; its a very funny movie.
He captured a lot of what I love about the book.
The Dead Zone (1983)
VESPE:This was a title I kind of forced on Scott.
I said we cant make a top 10 list and not haveTheDead Zonein there.
It is one of the early examples of a great King story thats not super crazy with the supernatural.
David Cronenberg shot the hell out of it.
Its a good character study.
Walkens great in it.
I just love it.
Pet Sematary (1983)
WAMPLER:This is likeThe Dead Zonein that its a rock solid adaptation.
Its an all-timer horror ending.
King himself said, had he thought of that ending he would have written it.
He wanted to keep his vision.
And god bless him because he pulled it off and it hits like an uppercut.
Misery (1990)
VESPE:Miseryis another one that people take for granted.
This is Rob Reiner at the height of his powers.
He makes something that is both really disturbing and also really funny.
I think he hits the perfect tone with that movie.
It also has one of the most iconic performances in any Stephen King adaptation with Kathy Batess Annie Wilkes.
People know that Stephen King was the guy that wroteShawshank.
Carrie (1976)
VESPE:Its arguably the most important film on this list.
And for sure, Brian De Palma made an iconic movie.
Virtually every friend group has those archetypes.
Do we approach this as best adaptations or best movies?
But it is unquestionably an incredible film.
WAMPLER:Its Kubrick plus King, right?
If this movie did not exist, this is a movie that we would daydream about existing.
Its impossibly important to the horror genre.
An entire generation watched this on sleepovers and were scared witless and now claim allegiance to King and Kubrick.
