10 Most Disappointing Stephen King Movies

In the words of one critic, Stephen King is “a !*$% industry” whose work has inspired scores of movies, TV shows, short films and miniseries. Filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick, Frank Darabont and David Cronenberg have brought his books to the screen, with impressive casts that include Jack Nicholson, Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken.

Given the number of adaptations, it’s hardly surprising that several future stars made early appearances battling some small town evil. Alongside the telekinetic cheerleaders and creepy kids, the sharp-eyed will be able to spot Naomi Watts, Charlize Theron and Hilary Swank, among others.

To paraphrase a remark made by King himself, though, you quickly realize that if you don’t keep a sense of humour when it comes to adaptations of his work, you’re done for. Several films promised a great deal but for some reason or other just didn’t deliver. Either they missed the point of the book or they didn’t meet audience expectations, but they didn’t connect with viewers as they should.

Here are 10 of them...

It’s not every week that Tobe Hooper directs a King adaptation starring Robert Englund, but The Mangler is an unspeakable horror whose very existence disproves the possibility of a tender and merciful God. Given the calibre of talent behind the film, you’d expect more than a fast-and-cheap exploitation movie.

Slung together with all the grace of a movie intended to be filler for late-night TV, the picture squanders one of King’s best early short stories in favour of gore and cheap shocks. In the wrong hands, the premise of a haunted laundry press was never going to work, but the absence of logic results in a film that’s never less than ridiculous.

You can’t blame Englund, who’s pretty good as the laundry’s twitchy owner, nor should outraged viewers direct their ire at Hooper. He was fired during production and replaced with another, uncredited director.