All hail the King! (Stephen that is)

[horrorfan]

EDIT: Spoiler warning in case you haven't read a book that is being discussed in this thread.

Well, since the book thread seemed to have turned into a Stephen King discussion, I thought it would be appropriate to create a thread about the great writer himself. Here we can discuss all things King...books, films...whatever.

I have no specific subject in mind to start, so I'll leave that to the first poster. Let's begin...

[MoreCanadianTeams]

The Dark Tower is among my favorite series ever. I agree with Prairie Dog that the opening line is amazing. One of my favorite parts is later in the series when Roland is facing policemen who are out of shape but have excellent handguns. Roland says something like, "Why didn't they care as well for the weapons they are as they did for the weapons they carried".

That part still gives me chills for some reason when I reflect on it.

[SeaDawg]

Agree that the Dark Tower season was incredible. I'm not a big King fan. I did read some of his horror books in high school but haven't read anything of his since, besides the Dark Tower series. I will have to check out this book thread you are talking about.

[Dutch]

one of my favorites are "The Langoliers" not super known, but very decent.

Nothing beats the Shining tho, in my opinion

[Pengwin7]

I'd definitely have to say my favourite King was also the Gunslinger series... although I've only read the first three (3rd released while I was in high school).

There is one book though that I've been racking my brain to remember the title, and after enough searching I finally found it.

The Long Walk - published as Richard Bachman.

Most books are way better as books then movies.
And then some books, like this, have little hidden discoveries that can only be hidden if the story is told/read (and not viewed). This was one of them. I loved it. I remember how insanely shocked I was when a key ticket was explained. So... this will go down as my 2nd fave King of all-time.

[natgeo]

My personal favourite is The Dead Zone. Nicely plotted and paced.

[horrorfan]

one of my favorites are "The Langoliers" not super known, but very decent.

Nothing beats the Shining tho, in my opinion

I really liked the Langoliers as well - kind of creepy when you imagined hearing those static sounds and wonder what was coming.

Shining was awesome, agreed.

[horrorfan]

There is one book though that I've been racking my brain to remember the title, and after enough searching I finally found it.

The Long Walk - published as Richard Bachman.

Can't remember all of it but it's also one of my favourites. And it was quite original for its time, considering it was written in the 60s. It was actually the first novel he ever wrote.

[PrairieDog]

The Dark Tower is among my favorite series ever. I agree with Prairie Dog that the opening line is amazing. One of my favorite parts is later in the series when Roland is facing policemen who are out of shape but have excellent handguns. Roland says something like, "Why didn't they care as well for the weapons they are as they did for the weapons they carried".

That part still gives me chills for some reason when I reflect on it.

WARNING! ***Possible Dark Tower spoilers!!!***


.....



I don't have time right now, but The Dark Tower books are just spellbinding, really.

The gunfights he describes, the way he does it, its waaaay more intense that ANY movie could ever be.

For example, I think it was in The Drawing Of The Three (DT2) where there is an entire chapter that is 4 words long, right in the middle of an epic battle:

"It wasn't a misfire."

Stuff like that, King has the ability to build you up for 300 pages, then turn you on your head with one very short sentence that just makes you know you are going to be reading into the wee hours.

Another one, from The Wolves Of The Calla, like 300 pages in, so much build up and then one line:

"The Wolves were coming."

The effect in context is pretty intense.

[Bomm Bastic]

Oh Children of the Corn (the original...not the hundreds of sequels) was kick ass too.

Ok, now did anyone read Night Shift and/or Skelton Key? Two books comprised of short stories. A number of which were made into movies - Children of the Corn, Jerusalem's Lot(a/k/a Salems Lot) etc....

But one in particular was The Lawnmower Man (in Night Shift). Dunno if anyone else read this or not, but it was eventually made into a movie.

Here's the kicker: The movie had absolutely zero, zip, nada, nothing, zilch, null set in common with the written short story.

The story as it appear in Night Shift....and bear with me cuz it's been awhile and my memory ain't what it used to be.....was about a dude who advertised himself for hire as lawn care/landscaping. A homeowner contracts this guy to come over and do some landscaping.

SYNOPSIS of the short story:
Harold Parkette decided to sell his lawnmower after a tragic accident where one neighbors dog chases another neighbors cat under the running mower.

The lawns begin to get quite high, so Harold decided to hire in a contractor called "Pastoral Greenery and Outdoor Services" to mow his lawns. They arrive soon, but they have an interesting way of mowing - the mower runs automatically while the lawnmower man crawls along naked behind eating up all the cut grass and bugs and mice and a cat.

Harold calls the police, but the lawnmower man decided that there is time for a quick trim of Harold as well. (eats him too)

Now check out the synopsis of the movie
A scientist performs experiments involving intelligence enhancing drugs and virtual reality on a simple-minded gardener. He puts the gardener on an extensive schedule of learning, and quickly he becomes brilliant. But at this point the gardener has a few ideas of his own on how the research should continue, and the scientist begins losing control of his experiments.

You have no idea how bad I demanded my money back after that let down!!! And yea, if you're wondering it was advertised as "based on the short story by Stephen King"

Very big let down.

[Bomm Bastic]

C'mon....no one but me????

[sigh]....I'll be over here, in the 'loser' corner.

[NoWayOut]

I've learned to just avoid Stephen King movies. I love his books, but aside from The Shining and The Stand, his movies only disappoint. His work just, for whatever reason, doesn't translate to a visual medium. Maybe it's the constraints of time, or possibly not finding the right people to work on adapting his books and making the fantasy worlds his characters inhabit come alive, I don't know.

I do agree with the majority on the Dark Tower series. Absolutely riveted the whole way through. At the time when I first finished reading the series, I felt a bit hacked off that he finished it the way he did, Roland having to set off on his quest for the Dark Tower all over again. I guess after all that had come before and all that the characters endured I was expecting it to all culminate in some great revelation for Roland. Now I've come to believe that it was a fitting end to the story.

[mister_mcgoo]

I read the first 3 or so of that Gunslinger sega, then it started to get redundant and boring so I never finished, first couple were pretty good though. Other than that I read all his books when I was younger...the Shining was one of the few that was both a good book and a great movie

[Rylant]

I have always really liked Stephen King books, but for whatever reason, they rarely turn into good movies. For good King movies, I think that Shawshank is probably his best and it is one of my favourite movies of all time. Misery and Stand by Me were both very good movies. I thought Cujo was decent, although I hated that they bastardized the ending.

As far as books go, the Dark Tower series is amazing. I really enjoyed Salem's Lot and The Shining. I thought that The Talisman and It were also very good and also really enjoyed Thinner, although it was a Bachman. I loved The Eyes of the Dragon, although I thought it was a lot lighter than normal King. Hands down, The Stand is the best King book ever written for me.

I haven't read anything really recent from him except The Darktower. Besides that, the most recent thing of his I have read is proabbly Insomnia, although I did read almost everything before that and certainly all of his classics.

Rylant

[InForAPenny]

The Long Walk - published as Richard Bachman.

fave King of all-time.

Definitely my favourite book of his. Whenever things seem to go pear-shaped I like to bust out the following: "I think, I wish were insane". It only makes sense if you've read it and no one understands it when I use it (except my brother).