Mike Flanagan names some of the most underrated Stephen King adaptations

The career of genre filmmaker Mike Flanagan is strongly tied to the works of author Stephen King. Flanagan has directed film adaptations of the King novels Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep. He tried and failed to bring an adaptation of King’s Revival to the screen. His upcoming film The Life of Chuck is another King adaptation, he’s developing the author’s Dark Tower saga as a Prime Video series, and we recently heard that he’ll be turning Carrie into an eight episode Prime Video series. He knows his King – which is why Movieweb asked him to name some of the most underrated King adaptations. Flanagan gladly did, mentioning a few great ones.

When Movieweb asked which King adaptations he thinks are underrated, Flanagan answered, “You know what jumped immediately to my mind? The Night Flier with Miguel Ferrer is a really good movie that I don’t think gets the appreciation that it deserves. I mean, I think with the books, it’s easier to point at ones where it’s like, ‘Oh, that book doesn’t get the love. Like, I always wonder where the swell of love is for Revival, which is one of my favorites of his books, or Hearts in Atlantis, which I think is just an incredible, incredible piece of work. But on the movies, yeah, The Night Flier, I think, is underappreciated, and I think the storytelling is great. The ending is phenomenal. Miguel Ferrer is wonderful in the role, and it just doesn’t get the love it should get.“

Flanagan went on to say, “Christine is one I find that, whenever I revisit it, I’m always glad I did. That’s one where I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, that one really worked.’ And that you don’t hear that brought up enough. I think Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone, this week, feels a lot more impactful than it might have last week. But that’s one, whenever I revisit it, I’m like, ‘What a beautiful piece of work.’ And yet it doesn’t end up in kind of the upper echelon of the movies people bring up right away. I could talk about this all day. There’s a there’s an amazing hopelessness in that, there’s this fated kind of sadness to it. I got to do a commentary track for that with Eric Vespe and Scott Wampler last year, and that was the last time I saw the movie. And I remember the three of us watching that for that commentary track, just kind of all being like, ‘Why isn’t this more celebrated? Like, why? Why aren’t we kind of trumpeting the merits of this movie from the rooftops?’ There’s so much in it that’s so amazing.“

He wrapped up by saying, “So I’d say, if people are looking to dive into underappreciated King, get your hands on The Dead Zone and do The Night Flier. Oh, you know what else I’d put up on there? It’s hard to find, but the limited series Storm of the Century is so good, and not nearly enough people have appreciated it and seen it, and I find myself evangelizing about it all the time. And then you can’t find it anywhere. It’s like impossible to track down, but Storm of the Century is, I think, my favorite of the miniseries.“

As for King movies that do get the love they deserve, Flanagan mentioned The Shawshank Redemption, Stand by Me, The Green Mile, Misery, and Carrie.

Do you agree that The Dead Zone, The Night Flier, Storm of the Century, and Christine deserve more attention than they get? Which King adaptations do you think are underrated? Let us know by leaving a comment below.