Mick Garris vs Frank Darabont

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
I am puzzled as to how come Mick Garris has managed to direct half a dozen SK properties so far - I have found his work to be pedestrian at best. Is it just that he hasn't had very big budgets?

Contrast Frank Darabont - 3 projects, and every one has been right on the money.

He has a different sensibility for film than Darabont, shaped more by TV and 'big' acting/loud production. Darabont has more of a film sensibility--he looks for nuances of tone and performance. Both have their strengths, and I've enjoyed films by both of them.
 

HPMcClendon

Well-Known Member
Oct 12, 2012
200
495
United States
He has a different sensibility for film than Darabont, shaped more by TV and 'big' acting/loud production. Darabont has more of a film sensibility--he looks for nuances of tone and performance. Both have their strengths, and I've enjoyed films by both of them.

I agree. And I have enjoyed films from both of them too, I just prefer the work of Darabont.
 

guido tkp

Well-Known Member
Oct 1, 2009
2,632
480
outside the dome
ACH !! i should not even comment...but...i'm gonna...

i'll take darabont over garris any day...it's kinda like asking if you want all your teeth pulled out WITHOUT novacaine (garris)....or just some...maybe with a shot of whiskey (darabont)

garris has never failed to bore me...and darabont is right around...or maybe even a notch below such pedestrian almost-artisans like...ummm....ron howard...

ooooh...did i say that ??

can't say i'm thrilled at him being behind the DT adaption...maybe he could hire frank and mick...and i'll save all that $$$ and just reread the books...

at best, i find the darabont films to be good, economical adaptions...servicable, nothing spectaculor...never have seen what all the fuss is...probably never will...

now...i KNOW i'm in the minority on that...but, hey !
....there's gotta be someone looking out for that iceberg dead ahead...

...still...unka stevie luvs 'em both...so, much like paul mccartney...i guess we're stuck inside these four walls...sent inside FOREVER !!

(but...look !! up in the sky !! it's the real superman of king adaptions: rob reiner !! there's your hero, boys and girls !!)
 

muskrat

Dis-Member
Nov 8, 2010
4,518
19,564
Under your bed
Yeesh, Father Guido up there is gonna pop a blood vessel or somethin. Yoinks!

Anyhoo, this one's easy. Darabont, any day. He's the real deal. I've given Garris his shot, buncha times--bah, television after-school special variety hour with the solid gold dancers. Sure, he follows closely to the books, but...blah. It's Matlock, it's Murder, She Wrote. I'm asleep already.

Darabont walks the talk, Ponch.
 
  • Like
Reactions: blunthead and Neesy

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
I think Garris is not very suited for horror or suspense. There is a real lack of tension in his movies, they go through the motions but don't create an overall sense of dread, fear or urgency. Something is missing, I don't feel for the characters, even when they're good actors.
However I think he made the most of The Stand, that is probably not easy to do for tv and on the budget he had. But The Stand has a different tone, it is more dark fantasy than purely horror, so maybe he has a better feel for that - it takes different sensibilities, it has a different kind of scope (more apocalyptic). I think he might be more a sci-fi or fantasy director than horror.

I think he's made more adaptations than other directors, because he's probably easier at going with the demands of the networks. I think a lot of directors have a certain vision and if they can't have that, they quit. I think Garris just changes things according to the demands and proceeds. However since the response to a lot of the films has been negative (at least from many Kingfans and those are most interested in the adaptations), I think he might have called it quits on King adaptations in the meantime - there hasn't been anything since Bag of Bones. Filmprojects are not easy to get off the ground, so negative reception from press and public must always be disappointing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: blunthead