20 Stephen King Adaptations: Original vs. Remake

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20 Stephen King Adaptations: Original vs. Remake

We’re big fans of Stephen King here at Cracked. The man has almost single-handedly created contemporary horror, and hell, even his alter-ego is kind of a genius. Similarly, his more specific contributions to cinema are also praise-worthy. High-brow literary snobs might look down at his novels, yet a quick look at movies inspired by them show that some of the greatest directors of all time have used his works as inspiration to create cinematic masterpieces. Well, and there’s also the CGI Langoliers from The Langoliers, so his contributions to comedy are also well-established.

Now, there are so many movie adaptations of King’s works—around 50, to be precise—that remakes are bound to emerge. Until Hollywood finally answers our pitch to make a new, hyper-serious Langoliers movie with even worse special effects, then, here we offer 20 comparisons between original King adaptations and their remakes, re-imaginings, and squeakquels. Has any Stephen King remake surpassed the original? Just read to find out. Oh, and that is the name of the Langoliers remake pitch, by the way —The Langoliers: The Squeakquel! The exclamation point is non-negotiable, Hollywood.

Pet Sematary

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1989 PET SEMATARY The campy-but-classic original was remade as a mix between effective studio shlock and failed elevated horror. 2019 CRACKED.COM

Pet Sematary

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1989 PET SEMATARY One major change is precisely who dies. In the remake, the roles are reversed and it is the older sister, who is run over by a truck. We're not big fans of this change. 2019 CRACKED.COM

Pet Sematary

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1989 PET SEMATARY The original burial ground looks spooky but beautiful. In the remake, it looks like a Zack Snyder destruction scene. PET SEMATARY 2019 CRACKED.COM

Salem's Lot

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1979 SALEM'S LOT Tobe Hooper's darkly atmospheric TV movie was remade years later as yet another TV movie with Rob Lowe and Donald Sutherland. Hum... it looks nice? 2004 CRACKED.COM

It

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1989 IT The first part of the remake was an improvement over the original miniseries. The sequel lost all momentum, became formulaic, and fizzled out by the end. 2017-2019 CRACKED.COM

It

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1989 IT Tim Curry's depiction of Pennywise the Clown is simply iconic. Bill Skarsgard's got big (clown) shoes to fill, but his terrifying Pennywise does deliver the chills. 2017-2019 CRACKED.COM

It

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1989 IT In the original miniseries, Georgie's death is a flashback after another child dies. The remake begins with Georgie's death (like the novel), but it looks green-screeny and kinda Saw-style cheesy. 2017 CRACKED.COM

Carrie

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1976 1999 2002 2013 CARRIE There's a post-Scream sequel, a made-for- TV remake, and a glossier adaptation. Nothing comes close to Brian De Palma's original, which has aged like fine wine. CRACKED.COM

Carrie

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1976 CARRIE на - - - 2002 Sissy Spacek's Carrie is simply flawless, but underrated Angela Bettis can also deliver her strangeness. And Chloë Grace Moretz does a fine job as well. 2013 CRACKED.COM

Carrie

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1976 CARRIE Angela Bettis' Carrie shows her real power level. She rains meteors on her house (which does happens in the novel), and ends up going full Super-Saiyan on an entire CGI town, 2002 CRACKED.COM

The Shining

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1980 THE SHINING The novel was re-adapted as an ABC miniseries. It got mixed-to-bad reviews, but do you know who prefers it over Kubrick's movie? Yup, Stephen King. 1997 CRACKED.COM

The Shining

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1980 THE SHINING Kubrick being the big-brain boy he was, Jack Torrance's paranormal encounters function as a metaphor. In the remake, the ghosts are just ghosts. 1997 CRACKED.COM

The Shining

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1980 THE SHINING The remake keeps the topiary animals from the novel, showing that Kubrick was onto something when he chose to replace them with a hedge maze. 1997 CRACKED.COM

The Dead Zone

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1983 THE DEAD ZONE David Cronenberg's dark and moody movie became a more sci-fi oriented, but still decent, series-which ended in a cliffhanger when it was canceled. 2002-2007 CRACKED.COM

The Stand

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1994 THE STAND The original show remains well- appreciated, even though its TV budget shows. The remake seems to have lost its way along its nine episodes, only receiving mixed reviews. 2020 CRACKED.COM

Maximum Overdrive / Trucks

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 1986 1997 MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (Trucks) King's adaptation of his own short story showed that he's no Kubrick, Cronenberg, or De Palma. The TV remake works a bit better (but just a bit). CRACKED.COM

The Mist

Stephen King Movies Original vs. Remake 2007 THE MIST Frank Darabont's movie is one of the all- time best King adaptations. Spike's series, well, very much isn't (even if its technical aspects caused a good impression). 2017 CRACKED.COM
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