Are there any SK adaptations that you absolutely hate?

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Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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Haven't seen The Dark Tower yet.

I don't hate movies that quickly, but there are some I dislike/care little about: Graveyard Shift, Pet Sematary Two, Sometimes They Come Back and its sequels, The Mangler (there's even a sequel which I haven't seen). Return to Salem's Lot and Firestarter: Rekindled I don't remember that well, but I believe I didn't like those either.

A lot of the other weaker adaptations I put in the 'so-so' category. Something like Creepshow 2 isn't very good, but still The Hitchhiker segment is entertaining.

From what I recall, Pet Sematary Two comes the closest to 'hating' for me.
 

Gerald

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The Dark Tower is coming on the movie channel I'm subscribed too halfway June, so I'm glad I held off buying the blu-ray.

The latest word is that the forthcoming tv-series WON'T be connected to the movie anymore (which will make most people happy no doubt) and that it will be completely new and not focus on Wizard and Glass most likely, as previously reported. Glen Mazzara (Walking Dead first three seasons, Damien) will be showrunner. It's one of a number of original series for Amazon and being developed and written, but hasn't been fully greenlit yet.
 

Ceefor

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I wasn't entirely enamoured with Jimmy Smits as Gard in The Tommyknockers. The movie in general went in the complete opposite direction of the book, a lot of things were missed out, though I think that was probably down to time restraints and budgets.
 

Wayoftheredpanda

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I like the Christine movie for some reason but I did read the book first - I don't know if it's the music or what but I like John Carpenter as a director - another good one of his is a movie called The Thing.
Don't get me wrong, I like John Carpenter films, The Thing is my favorite horror movie next to Psycho, I just don't like this one
 
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Debbie913

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May 27, 2011
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I haven't seen any I would say I outright hate, but there were a few that I wasn't especially impressed with exactly. I'm not a big fan of movie adaptations that completely change the original story, for example.
 

OpheliaC

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Does Sleepwalkers count? Probably not as it was a screenplay right off the bat. And I wouldn't say that I *hated* it per se. I loved the idea, hated the execution. And as much as I dislike remakes, it is one of those stories that might do better with a retelling.
And I'm gonna go out of a limb and say that I didn't hate "The Dark Tower" as much as absolutely everyone else did. I actually liked it. My problem is that it never should have been made a movie. The series is a wonderful series(a huge part of my teen years), but I knew from the moment they announced the movie that it was gonna bomb. I mean, even if they'd stuck to the book, I don't see how they would have been able to translate it appropriately.
A tv series might've worked better, probably.
 
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Gerald

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It's strange (at least compared to the rest of his output) how with some screenplays he seems to take a far less serious approach from the start. Mostly with Maximum Overdrive and Sleepwalkers. It's kind of like he wanted to create cheesy B-movies from the beginning - he loves cheesy B-movies after all. But it just looks bad against his usually more sophisticated and intelligent approach to the genre.
Doesn't Sleepwalkers have a police officer who goes patrolling with his CAT? That makes the entire movie impossible to take seriously, and it's so purely put in, in the least subtle way, just because the story demanded it.
 

Gerald

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Return to Salem's Lot I watched again for the first time in ages. I wouldn't say it's absolutely awful, but it's strange how it seems partly a comedy. Michael Moriarty especially plays it very broadly like it's a comedy. Samuel Fuller who plays a Nazi hunter has some comedy moments too. It looks like they meant it as a sort of commentary on society rather than making a straight horrorfilm - it's all about how it's easier to live as a vampire and it only has benefits if you are one (a theme also of another horror/comedy from the same year - 1987 - The Lost Boys).

It could have worked, but the tone is too uneven and especially the vampire make-up/masks look very, very bad. Also there is no connection to the original, apart from the name of the town and the theme of someone going back to the town of their youth.

I don't know why and how the film came into being and if Larry Cohen ever commented what his intentions for it were exactly.
 
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