It’s the Booze Talkin’, Bring Stephen King Back to the Big Screen!

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Growing up with horror movies, I’ve always had a fondness for Stephen King. The author has crafted some seriously spooky tales and while not all of them made for great cinema, there are quite a few that haunted my dreams. When it came to feature films you had CUJO, PET SEMATARY, THE DEAD ZONE, CARRIE, FIRESTARTER, MISERY and THE SHINING. That is only a small handful of the amazing stories that had been adapted from his works. Sure there is a ton of bad like DREAMCATCHER and RIDING THE BULLET, but his wicked imagination was tailor-made to create some intense and horrifying visuals. To this day, if I hear a tapping on my window, I have memories of the terrific 1979 made for TV movie Salem’s Lot floating around in my membrane – and hell, that sucker was on TELEVISION!

As of late, there has been a lot of back and fourth on the feature film versions of IT, THE STAND and THE DARK TOWER. All of these ambitious projects initially got us excited, but time and time again, they’ve either been put on hold, cancelled or both. While the status of IT is up in the air, THE STAND and THE DARK TOWER “appear” to be back on track – but for how long? Is Hollywood scared to put a big-budget Stephen King tale on the big screen?

We all remember the old 1990 mini-series of IT and the bravura performance of Tim Curry as Pennywise. Of course many had issue with the second part and the final reveal of the less-than-scary creature the heroes had to defeat. Personally, I found enough goodness in it that had me walking away from an open drain afraid of what may be lurking inside. However, nothing can compare to the novel. Reading this beast of a book creeped me the f*ck out, and to this day it remains one of the scariest novels I’ve ever disappeared into. So wouldn’t it be fantastic to bring some of that terror to an R-rated thriller and create some of the more haunting images that appeared in the pages of this classic?

A few years back it may have been inconceivable to bring THE DARK TOWER to life on the big screen. But as audiences have proven time and again, it is absolutely possible to present expanded stories on the big screen. Whether it was J.R.R. Tolkien’s hobbit adventures or a girl named Katniss and THE HUNGER GAMES, film fans are willing to digest continued chapters in the theatre. The beauty of something like THE DARK TOWER is that you could go and present this vast horror fueled genre bending western in some fascinating ways. After a long gestation period, word is that Sony is going with Nikolaj Arcel (the Danish filmmaker who scripted the original THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and his own feature, 2012’s A ROYAL AFFAIR). This would also lead to a TV-series that would extend from the film, and in a day and age where audiences are clamoring for the next episode of Game of Thrones, this seems like a complicated, yet feasible task.

And speaking of TV, do you remember the made for the small screen version of The Stand in 1994? The one thing that stuck out from this is the always entertaining Matt Frewer as “Trashcan Man.” Again, this is an sprawling tale, this time of a world destroyed by a man-made plague. It sure sounds like it could make one hell of an entertaining watch in an IMAX theatre near you. Another great story from King that transcends the horror genre. In fact, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS director Josh Boone who has been attached to the project hopes to create a massive three hour flick with A-list stars. Slap an R-rating on this sucker and give it that Stephen King horror and heart and you may have something truly mind-blowing.

Each one of these projects could be terribly risky, that is for certain. Yet at the same time, there is still enough passion from not only audiences but the filmmakers as well to return to King country. It may have been a long damn time since we were seeing a ton of Stephen King stories adapted for the big screen, yet it is entirely conceivable that his audience is still out there. In 2007, Frank Darabont did an admirable job in bringing THE MIST to life. It wasn’t a huge hit, but it made a bit of money and it certainly reminded me of just how fantastically freaky these stories can be.

Maybe it’s the booze talkin’, but can somebody take a chance on a big-budget Stephen King feature? IT is still one of my favorite horror novels, and I’d give anything to see a truly successful retelling of it. The same can be said for both THE STAND and THE DARK TOWER. As a fan of the author, I’d love to see his work brought to the big screen in a big way. And I truly believe you get the right talent, and a director with vision, perhaps we could finally see a feature film that successfully takes on his material once again. As a fan, I hope that we will be seeing these projects actually come to fruition, and not just random reports and speculation. All I can say is bring back the King to the big screen!