How will ‘Doctor Sleep’ rate among Stephen King’s greatest hits/misses?

This Friday’s daringly dark horror story “Doctor Sleep” is merely the latest motion picture to be adapted from Stephen King’s prodigious output.

In a career that began over 50 years ago, King has sold over 350 million books. His prodigious output of novels, nonfiction and stories have been seen not just on the big screen but as TV movies, miniseries and even a cult Broadway musical (“Carrie”).

Not every King adaptation could be expected to hit the gong at the box office, as well as please critics and fans. In fact, if there were to be an entity dedicated to “Most Industrious Stephen King Adaptations” it would be wildly uneven.

Among the standouts that will endure and rate as SK Must See:

• “Carrie” (1976) — Bullied by a fanatically religious mother & mean girls, Carrie takes fiery revenge.
• “Maximum Overdrive” (1986) — King in his first and only instance as director created this cult classic about raging … trucks.
• “The Green Mile” (1999) — Live on Death Row: A miraculous healer and a mighty mouse.
• “Dolores Claiborne” (1995) — A murderous mom — maybe — and her grown daughter reflect on the last 30 years.
• “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994) — Wrongly convicted man bonds with inmates, hoodwinks corrupt guards and escapes!
• “Stand By Me” (1986) — Four kids walk and walk to see a corpse and grow up.
• “The Shining” (1980) — Caretaker goes crazy in snowbound hotel. Ghosts, murder and “Here’s Johnny!”
• “Misery” (1990) — Best-selling novelist meets his biggest fan. Amputation follows. King’s worst nightmare?
• “Apt Pupil” (1998) — Evil Nazi in hiding corrupts impressionable youth.

The movies that missed, movies that didn’t capture King’s “voice,” movies that were ignored by the public:

• “Gerald’s Game” (2017) — Woman handcuffed to bed with suddenly dead husband on floor. Inspired by real events.
• “Dreamcatcher” (2003) — Hunters with ‘shining’ power discover aliens and are quarantined. Escape!
• “It: Chapter 2” (2019) — Endless rehash of adults intent on destroying their childhood traumas.
• “Thinner” (1996) — A fat drunk driver loses weight thanks to a gypsy curse.
• “The Dark Tower” (2017) — Bitter disappointment for the fan favorite novel that stands as King’s magnum opus.
• “The Mist” (2007) — Stuck in grocery store by malicious fog and not very scary.
• “Silver Bullet” (1985) — Wheelchair-bound kid discovers vampire. Crazy uncle helps kill it.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2qifs1a