"King has written over 60 novels—not including screenplays, short stories, novellas, and nonfiction—and more there have been more than 85 on-screen adaptations. Now that nearly all of his books have been turned into movies, Hollywood has found a new way to profit off of King’s writing."
--Joaquin Montes de Oca, 7th grade
Stephen King’s chilling horror novels finally became an on-screen experience on November, 3rd, 1976, with the release of Carrie--and the world has never been the same. Stephen King movies have since been a significant aspect of pop culture that Hollywood just can’t get enough of. As new streaming platforms become more popular, you can find his movie and television series adaptations on Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, to name a few, without ever leaving the couch.
King has written over 60 novels--not including screenplays, short stories, novellas, and nonfiction—and more there have been more than 85 on-screen adaptations. Now that nearly all of his books have been turned into movies, Hollywood has found a new way to profit off of King’s writing and recreate the classic magic of his movies, now with advanced CGI and special effects. Some of the most popular adaptations are Carrie, It, and The Shining. Let’s take a look at both the originals and the remakes, and compare!
Carrie, 1976:
When King wrote Carrie, he was a fairly new writer of 25, still yet to publish a book and living paycheck-to-paycheck off his job as an English teacher at Hampden Academy and his wife Tabitha’s job at a Dunkin’ Donuts. King says he began writing Carrie one day when Tabitha brought home the previous day’s stale donuts to feed their kids. After writing the first few pages, King threw the book away. Later, Tabitha found it and read it. Being a horror writer herself, she saw its potential and convinced him to keep going. And on that night, an all-time classic of the horror genre was born. The book wasn’t actually a success at first, but after upcoming stars Sissy Spacek and John Travolta were cast in the movie version two years after the book’s 1974 release, it was suddenly flying off the shelf.
Carrie is a very good movie. It didn’t require much special effects (if we count pig’s blood), not that it had much at its disposal in the 70’s, which made it much more believable. Much like the book, Carrie exercises King’s strong belief that, to put it simply, being a kid sucks. In the words of King, “Let’s face it, No high school student feels that they fit in.” Carrie definitely reveals the true evil in people and is pushed to her limits and… well, I won’t spoil the end.
King has written over 60 novels--not including screenplays, short stories, novellas, and nonfiction—and more there have been more than 85 on-screen adaptations. Now that nearly all of his books have been turned into movies, Hollywood has found a new way to profit off of King’s writing and recreate the classic magic of his movies, now with advanced CGI and special effects. Some of the most popular adaptations are Carrie, It, and The Shining. Let’s take a look at both the originals and the remakes, and compare!
Carrie, 1976:
When King wrote Carrie, he was a fairly new writer of 25, still yet to publish a book and living paycheck-to-paycheck off his job as an English teacher at Hampden Academy and his wife Tabitha’s job at a Dunkin’ Donuts. King says he began writing Carrie one day when Tabitha brought home the previous day’s stale donuts to feed their kids. After writing the first few pages, King threw the book away. Later, Tabitha found it and read it. Being a horror writer herself, she saw its potential and convinced him to keep going. And on that night, an all-time classic of the horror genre was born. The book wasn’t actually a success at first, but after upcoming stars Sissy Spacek and John Travolta were cast in the movie version two years after the book’s 1974 release, it was suddenly flying off the shelf.
Carrie is a very good movie. It didn’t require much special effects (if we count pig’s blood), not that it had much at its disposal in the 70’s, which made it much more believable. Much like the book, Carrie exercises King’s strong belief that, to put it simply, being a kid sucks. In the words of King, “Let’s face it, No high school student feels that they fit in.” Carrie definitely reveals the true evil in people and is pushed to her limits and… well, I won’t spoil the end.
Carrie, 2013:
Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie is one of the less popular remakes. With a mediocre IMBD rating and no big celebrities to spruce it up, it stands in the shadow of the original. This remake is more of a redo than a reimagining, not presenting any new concepts or even adding any major parts to the movie it was based on. The only added theme from the original movie is that Carrie seems to have more control over her powers than in the 1976 original or the book. This makes us less sympathetic to her bullying when we are shown that she is a seemingly all-powerful being which takes away from what Carrie is really about.
Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie is one of the less popular remakes. With a mediocre IMBD rating and no big celebrities to spruce it up, it stands in the shadow of the original. This remake is more of a redo than a reimagining, not presenting any new concepts or even adding any major parts to the movie it was based on. The only added theme from the original movie is that Carrie seems to have more control over her powers than in the 1976 original or the book. This makes us less sympathetic to her bullying when we are shown that she is a seemingly all-powerful being which takes away from what Carrie is really about.
It, 1990:
Most children who experienced King’s It back in 1990 would agree that the move shook them to the core. Looking back on it now, the development of special effects over thirty years makes many classic scenes from the movie look silly, and make it hard to really be scared. However, considering the low budget and restrictions in terms of content by ABC, director Tommy Lee Wallace did a pretty good job of making a truly unsettling movie using the materials and resources available. The “movie” was actually released as a two-part miniseries that year.
Most children who experienced King’s It back in 1990 would agree that the move shook them to the core. Looking back on it now, the development of special effects over thirty years makes many classic scenes from the movie look silly, and make it hard to really be scared. However, considering the low budget and restrictions in terms of content by ABC, director Tommy Lee Wallace did a pretty good job of making a truly unsettling movie using the materials and resources available. The “movie” was actually released as a two-part miniseries that year.
It, 2017 & 2019:
Andy Muschietti’s interpretation of King’s dark tale was a very different approach from Wallace’s. The first It remake was released in 2017, 27 years after the first movie, as a fun nod to the clown returning every 27 or so years. Many would agree that Muschietti was able to capture King’s original idea more accurately due to his ability to do whatever he pleased in terms of special effects. For this same reason, this remake is arguably scarier than the original. Pennywise (the clown) is also shown differently in the movies, as Tim Curry embodied a more human clown using lower quality face paint rather than studio-grade makeup and prosthetics, like Bill Skarsgård did in the remake. Curry also used more of a grungy New York accent rather than Skargsgård’s high pitched clown voice.
Muschietti’s movie is overall very good and King himself even admitted that he approved, a rare occurrence, and even cameoed as a shopkeeper in the 2019 sequel. The remake even features some references to the 1990 It. In a video-conference scene at the beginning of the 2019 movie, Brandon Crane is one of Ben Hanscom’s coworkers, a nice touch as Crane played Ben in the original 1990 movie.
In addition, many scenes were almost shot-for-shot remakes. A clever crossover reference is seen briefly when a child’s skateboard is sporting the pattern seen on the rug at the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. This adds to the theory that the two are connected, a theory that began when fans noticed that Dick Halloran from The Shining is featured in the It original novel.
Andy Muschietti’s interpretation of King’s dark tale was a very different approach from Wallace’s. The first It remake was released in 2017, 27 years after the first movie, as a fun nod to the clown returning every 27 or so years. Many would agree that Muschietti was able to capture King’s original idea more accurately due to his ability to do whatever he pleased in terms of special effects. For this same reason, this remake is arguably scarier than the original. Pennywise (the clown) is also shown differently in the movies, as Tim Curry embodied a more human clown using lower quality face paint rather than studio-grade makeup and prosthetics, like Bill Skarsgård did in the remake. Curry also used more of a grungy New York accent rather than Skargsgård’s high pitched clown voice.
Muschietti’s movie is overall very good and King himself even admitted that he approved, a rare occurrence, and even cameoed as a shopkeeper in the 2019 sequel. The remake even features some references to the 1990 It. In a video-conference scene at the beginning of the 2019 movie, Brandon Crane is one of Ben Hanscom’s coworkers, a nice touch as Crane played Ben in the original 1990 movie.
In addition, many scenes were almost shot-for-shot remakes. A clever crossover reference is seen briefly when a child’s skateboard is sporting the pattern seen on the rug at the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. This adds to the theory that the two are connected, a theory that began when fans noticed that Dick Halloran from The Shining is featured in the It original novel.
The Shining, 1980:
Forget just Stephen King movies, Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film adaptation of The Shining is one of the most popular horror movies of all time. It’s a movie that, much like the book it was based on, takes its time getting the viewer fully committed to the characters making you care about them more for the climax of the film. The Shining shows multiple different genres including psychological horror, slasher and paranormal which makes the whole thing so unpredictable as you watch it. The cast is great, especially for a movie still made well in the era of overacting. Although most can agree it's quite dated and contains some pretty explicit imagery, you can still jump at this memorably frightening horror classic.
Forget just Stephen King movies, Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film adaptation of The Shining is one of the most popular horror movies of all time. It’s a movie that, much like the book it was based on, takes its time getting the viewer fully committed to the characters making you care about them more for the climax of the film. The Shining shows multiple different genres including psychological horror, slasher and paranormal which makes the whole thing so unpredictable as you watch it. The cast is great, especially for a movie still made well in the era of overacting. Although most can agree it's quite dated and contains some pretty explicit imagery, you can still jump at this memorably frightening horror classic.
Doctor Sleep, 2019:
Although not technically a remake, Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep was an overall good sequel to The Shining. This sequel plays more on the supernatural elements of the The Shining/Doctor Sleep storyline that are included in the books, and disconnects it slightly from The Shining. With modern day CGI, it was disappointing not to see actors that looked at least a little bit like Shelley Duvall, Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, or Billie Gibson (The Old Bathtub Lady) for that matter. Instead, seeing the actors that were cast as these roles try as hard as they could to channel the original greatness was frankly underwhelming. Aside from that, it was a very good movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Some references to The Shining include: the photo from the end of The Shining briefly seen on the wall, as well as a shot where Danny looks through the classic, “Here’s Johnny!” hole in the bathroom wall at the Overlook Hotel the same way Jack did in the original. In addition, several ghosts from The Shining reappear including The Old Bathtub Lady, The Twins, and various others. Once more, as with the original, the Overlook Hotel is shown after a long, eerie helicopter shot of a car approaching it. Finally, there is a nearly shot-for-shot remake of an early scene in The Shining where Jack is told about the history of the Overlook Hotel, and of the famous bloodbath, a scene that takes place on the stairs.
There’s no doubt that as time progresses, Hollywood will continue to recreate the immense amount of Stephen King classics that have yet to be remade, an we have no problem with that, rewatching these nostalgic horror movies that many of us grew up on can bring back great memories and be a device to make new ones.
Although not technically a remake, Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep was an overall good sequel to The Shining. This sequel plays more on the supernatural elements of the The Shining/Doctor Sleep storyline that are included in the books, and disconnects it slightly from The Shining. With modern day CGI, it was disappointing not to see actors that looked at least a little bit like Shelley Duvall, Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, or Billie Gibson (The Old Bathtub Lady) for that matter. Instead, seeing the actors that were cast as these roles try as hard as they could to channel the original greatness was frankly underwhelming. Aside from that, it was a very good movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Some references to The Shining include: the photo from the end of The Shining briefly seen on the wall, as well as a shot where Danny looks through the classic, “Here’s Johnny!” hole in the bathroom wall at the Overlook Hotel the same way Jack did in the original. In addition, several ghosts from The Shining reappear including The Old Bathtub Lady, The Twins, and various others. Once more, as with the original, the Overlook Hotel is shown after a long, eerie helicopter shot of a car approaching it. Finally, there is a nearly shot-for-shot remake of an early scene in The Shining where Jack is told about the history of the Overlook Hotel, and of the famous bloodbath, a scene that takes place on the stairs.
There’s no doubt that as time progresses, Hollywood will continue to recreate the immense amount of Stephen King classics that have yet to be remade, an we have no problem with that, rewatching these nostalgic horror movies that many of us grew up on can bring back great memories and be a device to make new ones.