It's that time of year again: leaves are changing color and falling off trees, pumpkins are showing up in grocery stores, the nights are growing cold and long. Halloween, of course, is just about here, and with the coming of autumn comes author Stephen King's birthday. (Man, was he born at the right time of year or what?) We're celebrating it a little belatedly this year—he was born on September 21, 1947 (the vernal equinox), in Portland, Maine. The birthday boy is the world's best-selling novelist, and the diabolical mind behind such page-turners as Salem's Lot, Bag of Bones, and the upcoming Lisey's Story. In addition to punching out some 50+ books, the author is an undeniable force in the world of movies. Almost all of his novels—and a lot of his short stories—have been made into films, for both the big screen and TV (and, yes, we're counting all the miniseries). The films range from the Oscar-winning Misery (featuring Kathy Bates' kick-ass performance) to the craptastic, brain-dead Graveyard Shift. And King has even directed a movie of his own: a little turkey called Maximum Overdrive.
So, happy belated b'day, SK. And for you fans, here's a list of what we think are the definitive King movies. They're not merely the best and/or creepiest, but rather a selection that shows the wide range of themes the author explores in his work (yes, he writes horror—but not only horror), along with some that showcase terrific acting, and a few that have become cultural icons. (Hint: "Heeeeere's Johnny!") In other words, these are Stephen King movies no King fan—or cinephile—should be without.
The Stand
When you ask a King reader what his or her favorite book is, odds are she/he will say The Stand. The novel, originally released in 1978—with an expanded, uncut edition released in 1990 that runs over 1,000 pages—is the mother superior of all apocalypse novels. In 1994, ABC aired a six-hour miniseries based on the book and directed by Mick Garris (Masters of Horror), one of King's frequent collaborators. Starring Gary Sinise, Rob Lowe, and Ruby Dee, to name a few, The Stand is about the survivors of a government-developed super flu that's killed off almost everybody. It's also a classic good-vs.-evil story, as some of the survivors must fight those who have fallen in with one Randall Flagg (Jamey Sheridan), a true badass who has the power to eliminate what's left of the human race.
Misery
Many of King's stories have featured a writer as the protagonist, and Misery is no exception. James Caan plays Paul Sheldon, a romance novelist who has just completed his first "serious" novel. When he's involved in a car accident on a snowy Colorado road, a nurse (Bates), who happens to be his "Number One Fan," takes him back to her home and nurses him back to health.if nursing means holding him captive and breaking his ankles with a sledgehammer so he can't escape. Bates' Oscar for Best Actress was well-deserved. As the psychotic Annie Wilkes, she's deliciously over-the-top, which makes Misery feel like a black comedy along the lines of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? That is, if the Joan Crawford character was a writer instead of an actress.
Pet Sematary
Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) isn't the brightest bulb in the ceiling. Not only does he move his wife, kids, and kitty into a house on a dangerously busy country road, he has this unfortunate attraction to the pet cemetery behind the house—and to the cursed Indian burial ground beyond that. Based on King's 1983 novel, Pet Sematary is beyond freaky—in fact, it may be the scariest adaptation of a King novel. But it's far from being a horror flick; it raises questions about what happens when a man tries to play god.despite the warnings of Fred "Herman Munster" Gwynne and a super-creepy zombie wearing red jogging shorts. (You should have listened to that sporty zombie, Lou.)
Maximum Overdrive
Yes, you read that right. We're including Maximum Overdrive in this list. Directed by King himself (and based on his short story "Trucks"), 1986's MO is quite possibly one of the worst movies ever made, but in the so-bad-it's-good way. The premise of the movie: Emilio Estevez and some people trapped at a truck stop battle evil semis who've gone insane after a meteoroid screwed up every machine imaginable. Add a kick-ass soundtrack by rock band AC/DC and a pre-Donald Trump Marla Maples getting hit by a watermelon, and you've got a masterpiece on your hands. Well, it's a masterpiece after a few drinks or hits from the bong. Heh.
The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile
According to users on IMDb.com, Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption is the #2 movie on their Top-250 list—and with good reason. Based on King's short story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the movie stars Tim Robbins, who turns in a great performance as Andy, a man wrongly incarcerated for the death of his wife and her lover. Morgan Freeman, as Robbins' friend and co-conspirator in an in-house money laundering scheme, isn't half bad either. The picture is moving because Andy never loses hope while he's in the slammer, and the scene where he finally breaks out of prison is triumphant and inspiring.
Darabont also directed The Green Mile, another prison story by King. Set on Death Row in a Louisiana prison, circa 1930, the movie boasts an all-star cast that includes James Cromwell, David Morse, Patricia Clarkson, and some guy named Tom Hanks, who oversees all the operations on Death Row. Hanks and Co. are used to dealing with violent, unrepentant criminals, so they get a surprise when Paul Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a gentle giant of a man with apparent healing powers, winds up there. Not only does he cure Hank's nasty bladder infection, he brings Mr. Jingles, the resident mouse, back to life. To say anything more would spoil the plot, but The Green Mile, nominated for a bunch of Oscars, including Best Picture, is a total tear-jerker. So much for King only writing horror, huh?
Stand by Me
When King was growing up, he and a friend went to go see the corpse of a classmate who was killed by a train, and so the seed for Stand by Me was planted. Rob Reiner's 1986 movie, based on King's novella "The Body," is about four young boys who go off in search of the body of one of their classmates. They also face some of their own personal demons, such as abuse and parental neglect. Starring River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell, Stand by Me is a moving coming-of-age story made even more poignant by Phoenix's untimely 1993 death at the age of 23.
Carrie
The first movie made from a King book (and based on King's first book), Brian De Palma's Carrie is a classic shocker. Sissy Spacek stars as a teenage outcast who, among other horrors, has her first period in a locker room shower and is pelted with pads and tampons thrown by her biatchy classmates. Too bad those skanks don't know that Carrie has telekinetic powers and that she's going to use them to murderous ends if they don't cut the sh*t. They don't, and she does. Also starring Piper Laurie as Carrie's loony, religious fanatic mom and Nancy Allen as the queen teen bitch, Carrie will make you think twice about drenching someone in pig's blood.
The Shining
Stanley Kubrick's 1980 tour de force is the best King adaptation, hands down. And here's the kicker: King doesn't like the movie. In a 1982 TV Guide article, the author remarked that "the film is cold and disappointingly loveless." Ouch. His criticism respectfully put aside, the movie is entertaining and creepy as hell. And it has one of the landmark moments in cinema: a bat-shit crazy Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) chopping down a bathroom door to get at his screeching wife (Shelley Duvall) and screaming, "Here's Johnny!" Yikes! And let's not forget little Danny Torrance riding his Big Wheel through the Overlook Hotel's corridors and coming face to face with the dead Grady twins (brrr!). And what about the kid's eerie, psychic conversations with the Overlook's chef, Dick Halloran (Scatman Crothers)? No matter how many times you've seen it, The Shining still has the power to freak you the eff out.