Steven Kings fans, CHECK THIS OUT!

WM,

that's a pretty freaky trailer. his books don't usually translate to film real well, but that preview looks pretty good. i've read a lot of his books, pretty much everything before and up to insomnia, and a few after that, but i don't remember that story. which book was it in? guess i could always do a search on that intarweb thingy... best movie in my opinion was the shawshank redemption, not really a horror movie, but damn good.

Winston

edit: nevermind, found it. i may have the book somewhere around the house, i know i've read it because i remember some of the stories in the review i found, but don't remember that one.
 
stevengregory said:
Isn't that fuuny. I've always thought his books were badly written, but I thought they translated well to movies. Perspective, I guess...:confused:
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I'm not a great fan of King's work, but the man is an outstanding writer. For nearly a decade the literary critics deemed him a "hack" scribbler of "nasty horror stories" -- and of course the Fundies thought he was Satan Incarnate -- but he is now acknowleged to be a Great American Author with honors and awards.

The only thing I've ever read (or, rather, tried to read) by him that sucked was The Tommyknockers . . . book sucked so bad I couldn't get past chapter 3, and it got nothing but bad reviews. Years later, in his memoir (On Writing), he confessed that he'd been consuming HUGE amounts of whiskey and coke at the time, and didn't even remember writing it!!! :eek:

His short stories are almost as good as Bradbury's, and the novel IT is a masterpiece.

Most of the movies based on his work are okay, but not as good as his writing -- and a few (like the original Shining) were so bad they even pissed him off! Silver Bullet, based on his novella, "Cycle of the Werewolf", is one of the best. Some pieces of crap, like Lawnmower Man, are only "interpretations" of his work (i.e., a story completely unlike the original -- written by some unknown hack -- who puts King's name in the credits because there are similarities to a story the studio had optioned the film rights to).

Which authors do you feel write better than King? :confused:
 
tyr_shadowblade said:
I'm not a great fan of King's work, but the man is an outstanding writer. For nearly a decade the literary critics deemed him a "hack" scribbler of "nasty horror stories" -- and of course the Fundies thought he was Satan Incarnate -- but he is now acknowleged to be a Great American Author with honors and awards.
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Sorry, I have to disagree. His writing has gotten better over the years, and I am a HUGE fan, but what what makes him great is that he is a fantastic STORYTELLER, not his prose. There is a difference.
 
Seems that he copied Lovecraft’s style or tried to, why read some johnny come lately when you can read the original. As far as someone’s ability to tell a story, I would put R.E. Howard near the very top of any list, he always seemed to make a great tale out of very few words.
 
tyr_shadowblade said:
I'm not a great fan of King's work, but the man is an outstanding writer. For nearly a decade the literary critics deemed him a "hack" scribbler of "nasty horror stories" -- and of course the Fundies thought he was Satan Incarnate -- but he is now acknowleged to be a Great American Author with honors and awards.

The only thing I've ever read (or, rather, tried to read) by him was The Tommyknockers . . . book sucked so bad I couldn't get past chapter 3, and it got nothing but bad reviews. Years later, in his memoir (On Writing), he confessed that he'd been consuming HUGE amounts of whiskey and coke at the time, and didn't even remember writing it!!! :eek:

His short stories are almost as good as Bradbury's, and the novel IT is a masterpiece.

Most of the movies based on his work are okay, but not as good as his writing -- and a few (like the original Shining) were so bad they even pissed him off! Silver Bullet, based on his novella, "Cycle of the Werewolf", is one of the best. Some pieces of crap, like Lawnmower Man, are only "interpretations" of his work (i.e., a story completely unlike the original -- written by some unknown hack -- who puts King's name in the credits because there are similarities to a story the studio had optioned the film rights to).

Which authors do you feel write better than King? :confused:
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Stephen King has written some classic stories of terror but he has fallen into the Random Plot Generator style of writing for dollars. The Hollywood hack industry hasn’t done his early works justice when they produced the epitome of cheese, Maximum Overdrive, and Kubrick’s disjointedly personal stylizing of The Shining. Later Hollywood renditions of The Sawshank Redemption and The Green Mile were excellent on a personal drama level but they were not really works of horror.

King has taken the common as in Christine or Cujo and made it horrifying with a good amount of success but his later work like the novella Stationary Bike borders on the ridiculous. What can we expect next…..The Amityville Toaster

Writers better than King? Koontz is as prolific and yuppie popular but not as good at characterization or as frightening as early King. There are two underrated authors – Robert McCammon and Clive Barker – whom I believe have placed their mark on the genre and whose work will stand well after King’s later efforts.

Robert McCammon paced King in his early years and his novels like Swan Song and Stinger are every bit as good as King’s best. McCammon however never had the press corps that King does and he is not as prolific, perhaps taking the time to develop his plot a bit better. His character development approaches that of King but, (except for Going South) does not include the quirks that King is so good at building in.

Clive Barker is a master of the horror genre in the classic sense of Lovecraft. There is no logical explanation for the fear and terror Barker brings. It is a deep dank abiding feeling of unease that stems from somewhere in the primal reptilian brain. I still keep the lights on to keep Barker’s horrors at bay when I reread The Books of Blood. Barker's works have not translated well to the screen either but the first three Hellraiser movies did have a dark redeeming quality to them. :D

I have yet to read Everything's Eventual and I may not before seeing 1408. I will go based on the recommendation's here and the trailer. (Sometimes its good to view a movie on it's own without preconceived ideas of what it should be like.) I would probably be severely disappointed at a screen version of The Mist but would love to see what Hollywood's special effects crew can do for one of my favorite King short stories.



:D
J
 
Dan Simmons and Lucius Shepard can write good horror when they want to. They usually work in other genres though.

Phil
 
java said:
Stephen King has written some classic stories of terror but he has fallen into the Random Plot Generator style of writing for dollars.
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Agreed. He has written some of the best horror ever written -- and, in his better works, prose is outstanding (@ Walking Man) -- but yeah, he likes money, and anything with his name on it is a guaranteed million plus, so he's been churning out drivel lately. Many other outstanding authors have fallen into the same trap (after writing 2 or 3 brilliant works, they develop a "following" guaranteed to turn anything they write into a bestseller -- look at Morrell, Clancy, Parker, etc.). Koontz has always been a hack, but even he has written about 3 significant books (out of 70+, including psuedonymous sci-fi & porn).

Two authors to check out are Thomas Ligotti & Michael McDowell . . . probably the two greatest authors who've written in this genre.
 
Holy crap! This looks like a great thrill ride, and with Samuel L. Jackson AND John Cusack??? Sweet.
 
Walking Man, Thanks for posting that. :thumbup:

Watching the clip, I got the same chills I got while reading the story. :eek:
Been reading Stephen King for the last twenty five plus years. I may be in the minority but the Dark Towers Series is really the only stuff I couldn't get into.

Robert McCammon DOES HAVE good stories out there. It's too bad he never got the publicity. Clive Barker? Well his name alone just equals horror stories! A must read for any horror fan. Another good, occasional read is Jeffrey Deaver.

Thanks again Walking Man. Can't wait to see it!!!
 
I have read many of King's books.
I have formed the opinion that there are at least two distinct styles of writing.
I sometimes wonder if there is not more than one person involved in the writing of King badged stories.
Dirk
 
I couldn't watch the trailer on my computer, but I really liked the short story. It's kind of funny to note that the movie is coming out on a Friday the 13th. Also, although it doesn't have anything to do with the story, the individual numbers of the hotel room add up to 13. (Cue spooky music.)

Stephen King's writing seems to be pretty inconsistent quality wise, but I still like most of his stuff. I do think that the Dark Tower series wasn't as good as some people might say. The first book and the last book in it were great, but there were some stinkers in between.

I'm a big fan of Clive Barker, although I haven't read anything of his for a few years. The last book I looked at was Galilee. I had to give up on it after a couple hundred pages because it was so incredibly boring. Imajica, The Great and Secret Show, and Everville are some of my favorite books though. Sacrament was pretty good too.

Dean Koontz is entertaining and fun. His stuff is really light reading though. I've probably read at least fifteen of his books and I can only remember the plots of about three or four of them. I think I've only read two books by Robert McCammon, but I second the recommendation for Swan Song. That was a pretty amazing book.
 
Been a fan of King since my Grandma Fries lent me the Shining when I was a kid.

I have a ton of his books but have not read anything of his in the last 15 years , I think horror books just got boring to me , unlike horror films.

IMO his best two books ever were the collaberation with Straub "The Talisman" (which would make a badass movie !!) and "The Eyes of the Dragon".
Both of those are excellent reading. :thumbup:

One of my favorites of his is a short story called "The Mist".

Anyways , yea this movie looks worth seeing.
 
Horned Toad said:
Seems that he copied Lovecraft’s style or tried to, why read some johnny come lately when you can read the original.
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Two questions:

1. Do you really think so?

2. Have you ever actually read any stories by H.P. Lovecraft or Steven King?
 
TorzJohnson said:
1. Do you really think so?
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Agree with you again Torz. I should start the Torz fanclub! :cool::rolleyes:
There's a few elements that SK has borrowed from Lovecraft, but really very few, and I think they mostly pop up in his short stories, and not really in his books (Only once that I remember, that underground leviathan that was chasing Roland in one of last Gunslinger novels). In fact, there was one story that Mr. King said was Lovecraft inspired, but I found it to be decidedly unLovecraftian. Weird, huh?
 
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