‘King on Screen’ shows which Stephen King adaptations shine – and which don’t

Review by Brian Lowry, CNN

(CNN) — “King on Screen” dutifully lays out Stephen King’s cinematic legacy, which is no small feat when encompassing more than 80 movie and TV projects (some of them do-overs) over a span of nearly 50 years. Almost inadvertently, though, this new documentary highlights what a mixed bag all those productions have yielded, with insights into where and how King-inspired productions shine, and where they haven’t.

Watching filmmakers (primarily) discuss the challenges that surround bringing the prolific author to the screen – and the inherent differences between books and filmed versions of them – reinforces both an admiration for the breadth of King’s bibliography and the issues that have nagged translating it into popular entertainment.

Historically, all roads lead to “Carrie,” director Brian De Palma’s 1976 adaptation of King’s story about a psychic girl, played by Sissy Spacek, a movie that featured one of the more memorable promotional lines ever: “If you have a taste for terror, take Carrie to the prom.”

The signature moment for King came a few years later, with his intense dislike of acclaimed director Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 version of “The Shining.” (One director laughingly recalls mentioning how much he liked the movie as an icebreaker when first meeting King, which, not surprisingly, didn’t go well.)

King’s stance thus became a sort of bemused indifference toward the results in adapting his books and stories, expressing his contentment to trust filmmakers, hope for the best and not sweat how things turned out thereafter.

In an extensive 2016 Deadline interview, King insisted he had no regrets about movie or TV deals he had made, singling out a few where he was “really pleased about the outcome” – “Carrie,” “The Dead Zone,” “Stand by Me,” “Misery” and “The Shawshank Redemption” – while adding that when a project doesn’t work (the 2017 Idris Elba/Matthew McConaughey misfire “The Dark Tower” comes to mind), “I can say, well, they went out and they gave their best shot but I didn’t have anything to do with it. I’m just a bystander in this car wreck.”

From a distance, that sounds like healthy advice for authors who brave selling their works to Hollywood. It also reflects King’s recognition that the printed word is seldom sacrosanct when trying to serve the visual needs of filmmaking.

Conversely, the directors interviewed express reverence for King’s work despite the liberties many have taken with it. Frank Darabont, director of three King adaptations – “Shawshank,” “The Mist” and “The Green Mile” – sums that up by noting in the documentary that the goal is to convey the same emotions and experience as the book, even when “sawing the wood a little bit differently.”

As “King on Screen” makes clear, there have been trends within the King filmography. Television, with its latitude to indulge in longer, more novel-like storytelling, has often surpassed movies, and King’s more understated titles have frequently eclipsed the iconic horror staples.

In the TV column, consider the original miniseries “The Stand” and “It” from the ’90s, and more recently, HBO’s “The Outsider.” On the film front, highlights include the aforementioned “Misery,” “Stand by Me” and “Shawshank,” a movie that always seems to be playing on cable somewhere. (Darabont tells an amusing anecdote about insisting on directing his screenplay after Rob Reiner had expressed interest in doing it.)

Directed by Daphné Baiwir, “King on Screen” works best as a collective reminder of just what a huge footprint King has had touching six decades, from that run of high-rated ABC miniseries to the resurgence of his work after the two-part “It” remake floated away with a vast box-office bounty.

In that sense, King’s legacy shines brighter in the sheer weight of its totality, finally, than its individual parts.

“King on Screen” premieres August 11 in select US theaters and on demand and Blu-Ray on September 8.

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