Stephen King Goes to the Movies (Mass Market Paperback)

by Stephen King (Author)
Key Phrases: bike fund, ring around the sun, big gray dog, Andy Dufresne, The Corner Pocket, Lord of the Flies (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Stephen King revisits five of his favorite short stories that have been turned into films: The Shawshank Redemption (based on the novella "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption") was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and best actor for Morgan Freeman. 1408 starred John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson and was a huge box office success in 2007. The short story "Children of the Corn" was adapted into the popular Children of the Corn. The Mangler was inspired by King's loathing for laundry machines from his own experience working in a laundromat. Hearts in Atlantis (based on "Low Men in Yellow Coats," the first part of the novel Hearts in Atlantis) starred Anthony Hopkins.

This collection features new commentary and introductions to all of these stories in a treasure-trove of movie trivia.

About the Author
Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Lisey's Story and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He was the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Maine with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (January 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416592369
• ISBN-13: 978-1416592365
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #277,570 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 98% previously published fiction repackaged around a movie theme., January 9, 2009

By	George Beahm "www.georgebeahm.com" (Williamsburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews

Because the stories are all excellent, I've given this book five stars. But prospective customers ought to know exaclty what they're buying, and in this case, you're buying an anthology of previously published fiction that share a movie theme: each has been adapted to the silver screen.

If you have all of King's books, you already have the stories in previous collections: "The Shawshank Redemption" appeared in DIFFERENT SEASONS, "1408" from EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL, "Children of the Corn" from NIGHT SHIFT, "The Mangler" from NIGHT SHIFT, and "Low Men in Yellow Coats" from HEARTS IN ATLANTIS.

In other words, most of the text is reprinted.

Which raises the question: What's new?

Short introductions -- the kind Harlan Ellison popularized decades ago in his collections of short fiction -- serve as set-ups: 2 pages for "1408," 2 pages for "The Mangler," 2 pages for "Shawshank," 1 page for "Children of the Corn," 2 pages for "Low Men," and 1 page for a list of his 10 favorite fiction-to-film adaptations. That works out to 10 pages (actually, less than that: some are 1.5 pages) out of a 626 page book. In other words, there's less than 2% of new material and 98% of previously published material.

One major omission: "The Body" from DIFFERENT SEASONS, but its inclusion would mean that HALF of DIFFERENT SEASONS would be available in this new anthology, so King wisely limited his selection to one novella from D.S. But "The Mist" would have been a great choice--reprinted in SKELETON CREW.

So, is it worth it? Well, if you absolutely must have the new introductions, it's a slam dunk: Get the book and enjoy the brief intros. For me, it's $7.99 that's well spent, since these short intros won't appear anywhere else.

But given that King could have written much more about each story in this book and their respective adaptations to the screen, I think he missed an opportunity to hold court, so to speak. DANSE MACABRE and ON WRITING shows King's strengths as a nonfiction writer, and this would have been a great opportunity for him to talk at length about each adaptation, as opposed to the abbreviated introductions.

Appropriately, the book is dedicated to film director Frank Darabont, whose adaptations of SHAWSHANK, GREEN MILE, and THE MIST rank among the best King fiction-to-film adaptations. Too bad Frank didn't do an introduction, since I would have liked to see through the lens of his imagination as to how successfully he felt these stories had been adapted to the screen.

Bottom line: If you've already got everything by King, this is a nice but not essential addition, given the brevity of the introductions. But if you're a completist, or specifically want a movie-themed collection of King's best fiction, this is worth the asking price.

PS: "Trucks" from NIGHT SHIFT should have been included, because of its uniqueness: it's the only film King himself directed. The story of King behind the wheel as director is as entertaining as the short story itself. The film version was MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, which is something of a misnomer: the film really never got into first gear, so to speak, but stalled in neutral.

Note: Subterranean Press is issuing a $75 edition in hardback, with art commissioned especially for their edition. It's a run of 2000 copies and, if you want it, you'd have to get it directly from the publisher to guarantee receiving a copy, as they tend to sell principally to subscribers and, if there's anything left over, then to online booksellers. Again, my recommendation is that this edition is more for completists than a new reader, who will want all the King anthologies in their original appearances.

Truth in advertising: I've written a little bit about Stephen King here and there, so I'm reasonably familiar with his work.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing new, January 21, 2009

By	sister honey (USA) - See all my reviews

Like another reviewer, I was going to buy this book until I realized it was just a compilation of short stories I already own. I went through the book a few times in the store thinking there must surely be pages of SK essays I am missing, but no. The only "new" material are very short intros to each story and one page with a list of SK's top-ten movie adaptations. The scariest thing about this book? Buyer beware!!!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Repackaged Material: King fans be Warned!, January 20, 2009

By	N. Bilmes "bookaholic" (Vernon, CT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was psyched when I saw this at the book store tonight, and promptly put it in my 'buying' pile. Luckily, the checkout line was long and I took another look. PHEW!

While I originally thought I was buying a memoir of Stephen King's film memories of being on set, I discovered I'd almost been tricked into buying a book with five short stories I'd already read. Sure, King wrote microscopic introductions for each of the stories, and a one page list of his 10-favorite adaptations of his work (with no info beyond the list), but those few pages of liner notes are hardly worth forking over some of your hard-earned money.

Buyers: BEWARE!!!!