9 by Stephen King

9 Random Stories By The Master Horror Writer made into films in the 80’s and 90’s.

By the time his second adaptation, The Shining came out in 1980, Stephen King started lining up the movie deals for his works. Some were novels, some were short stories and some he just contributed ideas. No other writer has been nearly so profitable since that time. The following reviews contain no films one could consider to be classic, along the line of Stand By Me, Misery The Shawshank Redemption, It: Chapter One or Doctor Sleep. What this does represent is the assembly line grist of filmmaking in the last two decades of the 20th Century. There are some films that seemed ok at the time, but for the most part, time has not been kind to these works. A writer as prolific as King can’t be expected to spit out A-material all of the time. Even his most admired work, The Dark Tower, wilted in its initial attempt to be made into film. This collection is just a bunch of stuff that made him millions that I haven’t watched or reviewed until now.

Cujo – 1983
Director Lewis Teague
Cinematography Jan De Bont
Screenplay Don Carlos Dunaway, Barbara Turner
Starring Dee Wallace, Daniel Hugh-Kelly, Danny Pintauro, Ed Lauter, Christopher Stone

Review: A solid film that explores characters as well as a situation that imperils two of the most vulnerable. Wallace’s Donna Trenton is not a perfect protagonist. In fact, until the 2nd act it seems like she is the antagonist in Hugh-Kelley’s Vic Trenton. The dog, a massive St. Bernard, devolves from mopey to vicious with an admirable set of stunts and costumes. The lead up has some now typical King victims, usually sloppy, unintelligent men lacking compassion(umlc). Once we get to Donna, Tad and the rabid dog, De Bont’s excellent camera work helps to ratchet the tension.

Rating (*** out of *****)

The Dead Zone – 1983
Director David Cronenberg
Screenplay Jeffrey Boam
Starring Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom, Anthony Zerbe, Colleen Dewhurst, Martin Sheen

Review: Typically slow, clunky and Canadian work by Cronenberg mutes what turns out to be a pretty good story by King, adapted by Boam. Sheen’s boorish politician is easy to hate, but the ending is clever. It’s one of the few protagonist roles of Walken’s career. That alone makes the film an achievement.

Rating (*** out of *****)

Silver Bullet – 1985
Director Dan Attias
Screenplay Stephen King
Starring Gary Busey, Everett McGill, Corey Haim, Megan Follows, Terry O’Quinn, Lawrence Tierney, Bill Smitrovich

Review: Bottom of the barrel stuff here. King brutalizes his own story, making logic leaps that don’t coincide with other parts of the story. The killer kills once out of compassion, but the rest? Outside of a couple of genuine scares involving the children, there are no performances here worth remembering. They even make Gary Busey boring, while wasting Terry O’Quinn.

Rating (*1/2 out of *****)

Maximum Overdrive – 1986
Writer / Director Stephen King
Starring Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, Christopher Murney, Yeardley Smith, Frankie Faison, Giancarlo Espisito, Marla Maples

Review: The so bad it’s good category. King was coked out through the entire process of this catastrophe. Somehow, he wrangled AC-DC to do a superb soundtrack to this pile. Most of the deaths are the typical umlc’s though there is a surprise or two.

(**out of *****)

Running Man – 1987
Director Paul Michael Glaser
Screenplay Steven E de Souza
Starring Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Maria Conchita Alonso, Yaphet Kotto, Richard Dawson, Jesse The Body Ventura, Jim Brown, Mick Fleetwood, Dweezil Zappa, Erland Van Lidth

This is one of those films I loved as a kid, but has not aged well. Starsky from Starsky & Hutch Glaser directs this clunky film with horribly aged special effects. Dawson is a gem, right to the point where he bites back to Arnold’s “I’ll be back,” tagline. Everyone else, outside of he and Schwarzenegger, is stale to the point of absurdity. The story is a decent one, but it’s lost in a bad 80’s film.

(*** out of *****)

Pet Sematary – 1989
Director Mary Lambert
Screenplay Stephen King
Starring David Midkiff, Fred Gwynne, Denise Crosby, Brad Greenquist, Michael Lombard, Miko Hughes, Blaze Berdahl

Review

Rating (**1/2 out of *****)

Graveyard Shift – 1990
Director Ralph S. Singleton
Screenplay John Esposito
Starring David Andrews, Kelly Wolf, Stephen Macht, Brad Dourif

Review: Awful. Just a lazy effort through and through. There are very few consistent thoughts or even moments of rationality in this slog. An ever present exterminator (Dourif) who never seems to get rid of the rats. Workers disappear and they just put up another help wanted sign. The stupid is strong with this story. King has said this is the worst rendition of any of his properties. He may be right.

Rating (zero out of *****)

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie – 1990
Director John Harrison
Screenplay Michael McDowell, George A. Romero
Starring Deborah Harry, Christian Slater, David Johansen, William Hickey, James Remar, Rae Dawn Chong, Steve Buscemi

Review: Stellar cast that take on three stories (one original King entry “The Cat From Hell”). The result is less than the sum of its parts. Harry and a young Matthew Lawrence are entertaining, but the special effects are laughable. The weakest story is King’s entry, the strongest is Chong and Remar’s doomed love story.

Rating (*1/2 out of *****)

Thinner – 1996
Director Tom Holland
Screenplay Michael McDowell, Tom Holland
Starring Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna, Lucinda Jenney, Michael Constantine, Kari Wuhrer, Sam Freed, Daniel Von Bargen

This is a solid film, even if the fat suit Burke starts off with is pretty obvious. Still, his graduated performance in all phases is excellent. Mantegna’s gangster is an nice touch. An extremely solid cast even allows for a few umlc’s to be cursed and suffer deliciously. The ending is like something out of Thomas Hardy. Good film.

Rating (***1/2 out of *****)