Best (not scariest) Steven King

[Randy M.]

If you were coming to King for the first time, his novella "The Mist" (from Skeleton Crew) would be a good introduction as well as being one of his best works.

Randy M.

 

[Power to the J]

If you were coming to King for the first time, his novella "The Mist" (from Skeleton Crew) would be a good introduction as well as being one of his best works.

I have to disagree here. I'd say CHRISTINE would be the best starting place because it is an excellent example of who/what King is and leads well into other, better works.

 

[krighton]

anyone other than myself have trouble getting through The Dark Tower....really didn't enjoy it at all, and never did finish it, he seemed out of his element for some reason.

 

[Arash]

I'm surprise no one has mentioned The Secret Window yet.

 

[Power to the J]

I'm surprise no one has mentioned The Secret Window yet.

Not many novellas or shorties. King needs characterization to be effective.

 

[Phellim]

The Stand was my favourite, although I'm sure some of the others were ruined because I had already seen film adaptions when I was younger.

Cell was good too because I like post-apocalyptic scenarios. And I thought The Shawshank Redemption & Rita Hayworth (was that the title?) was one of the better short stories I've read (although at over a hundred pages he may as well have made it into a novel, but I can see how that would have affected the story).

 

[theDood]

I too enjoyed Cell very much. It was like The Stand on a miniature scale. It also reminded me of 28 Days Later, because the "zombies" weren't really zombies at all but these humans reverted to savage beings. I also enjoyed Lisey's Story which was more of a mainstream book with "magic realism" as they like to say.

But for me, his best work is a tie between The Shining and Salem's Lot. Their just pure classics. Ben Mears and Jack Torrance were great characters.

 

[Power to the J]

Good: Eli Roth (director of Hostel) is writing/directing Cell.

Bad: J.J. Abrams (Lost creator) is directing The Dark Tower.

Cell basically begged to be a movie. After DT2, the books get too long and difficult to translate. And Roland is King's best character.

 

[Konrad]

Are you absolutely sure?

They could do The Gunslinger as a cool standalone-movie but not the whole series. And they should stay away from Cell, why not make a thriller of the much-better Lisley´s Story?

 

[Power to the J]

Sources:

Cell: Eli Roth interview.

Dark Tower:ign.com <-- that isn't advertising right?

 

[MR. BAD GUY]

To PTTJ from MR. BAD GUY

That is one hard question brother. I'm going with either Insomnia, The Shining or Salems Lot. All his books rock.

 

[Power to the J]

All his books rock.

True that. Honestly, I've never finished a book by him and not liked it. Never.

 

[Power to the J]

And they should stay away from Cell,

Really? I think Roth could turn it into a really good movie. That's just me though.

 

[Konrad]

If we just say that Cell is a zombielike story. Is that really the best alternative if you could make a movie? The world doesn´t need another zombiemovie right now and I think that the book was too poorly written to be a good movie. The first chapters were good but how could he give the zombies "brainpowers", in my opinon that made it sour.
So I would say: Go for another film.
But now that I think, every movie based on a story by King has been completely different from the book. Mostly this was bad but sometimes the movie were a good movie that you could put apart from the book. They could, in theory, do this to Cell.

 

[Power to the J]

If we just say that Cell is a zombielike story. Is that really the best alternative if you could make a movie? The world doesn´t need another zombiemovie right now and I think that the book was too poorly written to be a good movie. The first chapters were good but how could he give the zombies "brainpowers", in my opinon that made it sour.
So I would say: Go for another film.
But now that I think, every movie based on a story by King has been completely different from the book. Mostly this was bad but sometimes the movie were a good movie that you could put apart from the book. They could, in theory, do this to Cell.

I think you're right, which is why I really want the Dt movie to be somehow called off.

 

[Takoren]

But now that I think, every movie based on a story by King has been completely different from the book.

Carrie hardly deviated at all from the novel. I mean it was an almost literal translation.

Salem's Lot, at least the original, was very close to the story but took some liberties with characters' motivations, appearances, etc. I didn't mind the minor variations there were with the soul exception of making the vampire a brainless monster.

The Stand was close enough to suit me, with a few liberties taken.

Christine took very few liberties, the biggest being how Arnie died and how it sort of implied that the car was possessed by its previous owner when in the novel the car had possessed the owner and the owner before him, even.

Pet Sematary changed a few things very, very slightly.

It was as faithful as any novelization of that weird novel could be.

Misery was surprisingly faithful.

The Green Mile lifted whole sections of dialogue from the novel.

I think you and I might have a different idea of what makes a novel "completely different" from its movie. To me, it's like what they did with Lawnmower Man wherein the lawnmower was the only thing in common between the story and the film, or The Shining which left in only a few elements from the story and "glitzed up" or "scaried up" the ones Kubrick didn't care for.

So it would appear that not every King movie differs from the book. I personally have faith that Abrams will make a good movie, but I sincerely hope he does it as a series of mini-series, which is about the only way it could be done.

Finally, the answer to the original question on this board; I picked The Stand because words cannot describe the epic scope, absorbing characters and incredible insights found within. I could write a ten-page essay on that book and feel like that wasn't enough space to get all my thoughts down.

The Green Mile was another favorite, but in a more emotional way. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more votes.

I of course love Salem's Lot, It, The Talisman, the entire Dark Tower series (despite having issues with the last book) and Bag of Bones. I actually have not read all of King's works, but it's rare (not impossible, just rare) to find a King novel that I just plain don't like at all. Dreamcatcher was one of them. The Regulators (though that was really a Richard Bachman book) was another. I was told to read Regulators first and then read Desperation. I think I understand why (because Desperation was loads better) but I think Desperation would have helped me understand The Regulators more.

 

[Konrad]

Yes, but although I don´t like several of the Kingmovies I don´t say that they are bad I just say that they are different from the books. I´m one of the persons who complain about how much The Lord of the Ring movie differs from the book. But the movie is still good.

But I saw movie a few days ago that changed my mind about King´s movies: Desperation. Very good Kingmovie.

 

[Colonel Worf]

I really really like Bag of Bones. It's very engaging.

 

[Power to the J]

I´m one of the persons who complain about how much The Lord of the Ring movie differs from the book. But the movie is still good.

That's how we have to look at all changes in mediums. The Godfather and Lord of the Rings are the two most faithfull adaptions that I can think of, and there are lots of differences. IMO, thats why people should stop with all of the adaptions.

 

[lilithesque]

Pet Cemetery

This my favorite. Whole Indian Burial Ground thing, and the concept of this pet cemetery which can lead to the mystic burial ground where reality is elastic, well, just great. But I also love Salem's Lot cause it was my first, and I was so surprised how good it was.