And believe it or not, we're not talking about a third chapter to IT!
There's so much from Stephen King as it is, so it's easy to miss even the most obscure. Part of the reason for that is the fact that many get plenty of press, lots of sold tickets, interviews and hoopla. Whereas others are just back-burned due to being under major development or limited to a particular platform. Hence why you have to read up on this! Take notes. Prepare. And.... Perhaps subscribe to those streaming platforms?
The First Is the Announcement of THE DARK HALF
Soon Stephen King's THE DARK HALF Will Be Back for More
When you look at the entirety of King's filmography (we might as well call it his filmography), the list is staggering. In fact, some of the films were written specifically for the theater! -- like SLEEPWALKERS. Getting a grasp of all of them is hard enough, such as CARRIE, CHRISTINE, CUJO, MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE and more. And it may be argued that those were massive cult classic hits both on the silver screen and on paper.
But THE DARK HALF? Talk about obscure....
A rather under-appreciated film adaptation from 1993 turned the blink-and-you'll-miss King novel into a psychological horror cinematic masterpiece ironically led by a certain zombie flick pioneer by the name of George Romero: no one would have ever thought this book needed this.
Let's Not Forget About LISEY'S STORY
What Is Stephen King's "Lisey's Story," and Why Should We Care?
There's a real chance you might not even have heard of this particular novel (unless you're a die-hard King fan). This is yet another reason why sometimes we'll miss the gems within the cracks of the literary and cinematic industry, because there's just so much out there already.
After all, if you have that subscription to Hulu, chances are good you've reaped the benefits of his time traveler thriller 11/22/63 and the King homage series Castle Rock. If you were on Netflix, you had the pleasure of checking out Gerald's Game as well. Long story short, King might be easily more well known for his demons and devils over demonized serial killers or devilish fathers with a screw loose.
But have you read LISEY'S STORY? That might be one of those missing gems, but you haven't even grasped the scope of what this property's getting into -- check it out.
Lastly, THE OUTSIDER....
THE OUTSIDER May Be King's Best Cinematic Adaptation, and Here's Why
Aside from exceptions like Paolini's ERAGON and perhaps other rare instances, we often don't see a lot of books immediately adapted into film or television even after penetrating bookstores. Even Harry Potter took a while. George R.R. Martin's work also took a long time before HBO was able to snag them up. Even within King's entire portfolio, we'd say 90% of his work saw the adaptation engine only after some time in selling brick, mortar and digital.
THE OUTSIDER, however? There's a reason why King happens to be quite involved with this most recent published work of his.
A tour de force of Stephen King that's so not King -- like THE GREEN MILE and HEARTS IN ATLANTIS -- and yet the book has utterly broke the mold and will soon shatter more on a certain premium cable network. Check it out.
Let's Not Forget What's Coming....
We're looking forward to the likes of 'SALEM'S LOT seeing the remake mill soon. That was to be expected since it honestly has been overdue (we've only seen a TV film adaptation). THE STAND will also rawk like it did on television once upon a time. There will even be a THE DARK TOWER television series adaptation not off-shooting from the ill-received Idris Elba-Matthew McConaughey feature film.
No one can deny that King is the most adapted author in history. And this list of three may only be the beginning; you can thank Pennywise for that.
