Its apt that Stephen King makes appearances in The Simpsons because when it comes to adaptations of his work, youd swear some of them were dreamed up by the shows writers. Sometimes They Come BackAgain, starring Hilary Swank as a damsel in distress prone to and-then-I-woke-up-and-it-had-all-been-a-dream moments, was bad enough, but anyone seeking proof of how desperate producers are to profit from the King brand need look no further than Carrie The Musical. Transferred to Broadway at a cost of $8 million (more than Brian De Palmas 1976 film cost to make), the production was compared to the Hindenburg disaster by critic Frank Rich, who lambasted its faceless bubble-gum music and uninhibited tastelessness. He had a point. Act II opened with Out For Blood (which was presumably performed unplugged), a song and dance number about the slaughter of a pig. The show opened on May 12, 1988, to widespread derision, with boos heard from the audience during the curtain calls. Critics were predictably scathing, and the financial backers, fearful of losing the shirts off their backs, pulled out 3 days later. After 16 previews and 5 performances, the show closed, resulting in what the New York Times called the most expensive quick flop in Broadway history. In the absence of a film version of this folly, here are the big screen adaptations whose questionable motives produced equally amusing results.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
