3. The Dark Half
The Dark Half came out in 1993 and performed quite poorly in the box office. Critics were torn between it and it holds a 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. King released the book in 1989 and it was the second best-selling book that year.
Big Names Attached: Timothy Hutton stars, as does cult favourite Michael Rooker. Oh, and just the Grand-Daddy of horror, George A. Romero. Yep, Romero penned and directed this.
Is The Book Better?: Yeah. The main issue with this film is that the collaboration of King and Romero promises to be a dream team. It's like a horror fan's ultimate dream to have one of these adapt the other one's work. They worked together before on Creepshow in 1982 and it was brilliant, so perhaps that's where so much of the disappointment stems from. The Dark Half could have been much more. Hutton does a good job and there's one or two decent moments, but ultimately, the film is just incredibly dull. Romero's films are usually much more passionate than this, and it's hard to place a finger on where things actually go wrong with this film. It's not a terrible film at all, it just lacks excitement and engagement. And considering the talent involved, scares.