Since the 1976 release of Carrie, the surprise hit adaptation of his 1974 debut novel, there have been upwards of 80 adaptations of the works of Stephen King that have been produced for the big screen or television, a number that doesn’t even include such extremely tenuous and generally lackluster sequels as the seemingly never-ending Children of the Corn franchise or The Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, the follow up to a film that infamously had so little connection with the original short story that King sued in the hopes of having his name removed from the credits. Some of these films have been great (like many, I consider Stanley Kubrick controversial take on The Shining to be the greatest horror film ever made) and some have been downright awful (fill in the name of your preferred misfire here) but there have just been so many of them over the years that to attempt to cover them all within the framework of a single feature-length documentary would almost seem to be doomed from the start.
In attempting to do just that with her film, King on Screen, director Daphne Baiwir has chosen to avoid being a fully comprehensive look at King cinema—while including clips or references to nearly all of them, the film only goes into a few of the more notable ones in any real depth. In addition, she avoids a chronological recounting in order to examine the films according to varying themes and with the running commentary of a number of the filmmakers responsible for the movies under discussion, the most prominent being Frank Darabont, whose films The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist are all examined at comparative length. (King himself does not appear in the film at all except for archival footage, including a visit to the Green Mile set on his birthday that even saw him trying on that film’s electric chair for size.)
The results will no doubt be catnip to King fans—even if there isn’t much here that will seem new to them—but are nevertheless somewhat uneven. Although Baiwir has managed to get access to quite a number of the filmmakers King has attracted over the years, some notables—such as De Palma, David Cronenberg and John Carpenter—evidently eluded her grasp and as a result, their films are only briefly touched upon. (Rob Reiner is not on hand either but Stand by Me and Misery were such breakthroughs that they are still included.) More time is spent on The Shining than most but doesn’t really offer any new insights into that ever-fascinating work. More frustrating is that what could have been the most valuable exploration—the particular challenges and difficulties of transforming King’s vivid (and often expansive) prose stylings into cinematic terms, a problem that even vexed King himself when he directed his first and only feature, Maximum Overdrive (which, unless I blinked, is not mentioned at all, presumably out of politeness)—doesn’t come up until towards the end and when it does, the focus is mostly on the specific challenges of adapting Doctor Sleep, his sequel to The Shining, in a way that would hold true to both the book and to Kubrick’s particular and highly divergent take that King himself famously loathes to this day but which has gone on to become a permanent part of the pop culture firmament. On the other hand, we do get a strange wraparound mini-movie that basically exists to jam in a lot of in-jokes and cameo appearances by a number of people who have been involved in King-related productions over the years—it is the kind of thing that would probably play well in a convention setting, where the fans can chuckle knowingly at each bit, but which seems more curious than entertaining outside of that context.
King on Screen is nowhere near the definitive word on the subject—how could it possibly be?—but as an entry-level take, it is reasonably informative and entertaining. More importantly, it should hopefully inspire viewers to check out some of the more underrated titles on display (especially the alternately loopy and lyrical Silver Bullet and the genuinely creepy 1408) and give them the attention they deserve.