There are now more Stephen King film adaptations than there are books. The film adaptations of the Master Of Horror novels have almost become their own genre. From masterpieces like “Stand By Me” or “Shining” to absolute trash gems like “Langoliers” you will find everything here. I have a whopping 54 movies in total (here’s the full one list) that are related to the stories of horror master Stephen King – and it left an impression on me!
As a film lover you obviously cannot avoid Stephen King. You don’t even have to specifically study the successful writer himself to come into contact with works originally written by him. Almost everyone knows classics like “Carrie – Satan’s Youngest Daughter”, “Shining”, “Stand By Me” or “The Condemned”. But that’s just the (glittering) surface.
After spending a lot of time with Stephen King’s literary work and then watching the accompanying films, the same effect occurred that is almost always the rule with new adaptations: the originals are different. In the case of Stephen King (except for, say, ‘Stuffed Animals’ Graveyard’), this isn’t meant to be particularly judgmental. Many of the films succeed in cinematically portraying the madness unleashed in King’s earlier books. And often in a wonderfully helpless, uninhibited way.
A cinematic resume dedicated to Stephen King only becomes truly exciting when you say goodbye to the popular, critically acclaimed entries, ignore the recognized masterpieces and delve into the territory of B-movies. Here I experienced a few hours that, with their infantile lack of inhibition, truly left a lasting impression on me and left me speechless. Above all, at this point I would like to “Sleepwalker” Of all things, this trash horror became for me the most important Stephen King viewing experience to date, because it had a decisive influence on me:
“Sleepwalker”: Groundbreaking madness as an awakening experience
The 1992 horror film is based on an unpublished novel by Stephen King, who also wrote the screenplay. It’s about Charles (Brian Krause) and his mother (Alice Krige), who belong to a dangerous species that can take a reptilian form and crave human flesh. But that’s only secondary, because the madness the film creates in terms of body-altering nonsense, including inbreeding, cat paranoia and coming-of-age nonsense, is unique.
For me, ‘Sleepwalker’ was something of an awakening experience that made me delve even deeper into the Stephen King films that spawn a shadowy existence in the second and third rows. There are surprises that are really good (like “The Night Flier”), there are absolute crap that turns into an absolute riot in a social setting (like “Children of Wrath III”) and there are atmospheric gems like “The Dark Half” , “Hearts In Atlantis” and “Cat’s Eye”, in which it becomes clear again and again in the context of the genre that King is more than just the man for supernatural horror.
My immersion in the (in all respects) varied film work of Stephen King has now become a permanent tradition, because I am far from finished with all the film adaptations. Every month I try to expand the list of King adaptations I’ve seen so far – and it’s worth it. Not just because it’s a lot of fun to listen to this sometimes unfiltered, almost anarchic nonsense from ‘Rhea M.’ to watch.
It also shows how little fervent desire for the over-the-top contemporary genre works often really turns out to be. As simple as some films can be, when Charles first reveals his true form in Sleepwalker, it’s more memorable than many of today’s horror films, which love to be iconic. I can only advise you to let yourself be consumed by this madness.