unilad homepage
unilad homepage
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • World News
    • Crime
    • Health
    • Money
    • Sport
    • Travel
  • Music
  • Technology
  • Film and TV
    • News
    • DC Comics
    • Disney
    • Marvel
    • Netflix
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Stephen King clashed with movie fans after taking savage swipe at 'boring' film based on his book
Home>Film & TV>News
Updated 19:55 4 Apr 2025 GMT+1Published 19:49 4 Apr 2025 GMT+1

Stephen King clashed with movie fans after taking savage swipe at 'boring' film based on his book

Stephen King didn't agree with one of his top-rated adaptations

Britt Jones

Britt Jones

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover
Featured Image Credit: KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images

Topics: Film and TV, Stephen King, Books

Britt Jones
Britt Jones

Advert

Advert

Advert

Sometimes, calling a film boring can cause a stir online when loyal fans catch wind, even if it was an adaptation of your own book.

Nobody is exempt from criticism, not even renowned horror writer Stephen King.

But it might have come as a shock to many when he slammed a film based on his book which has gone on to become a cult classic.

As of right now, King has had his works turned into over 100 projects, including the likes of Carrie, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and It.

Advert

It seems there's nothing the author has produced that hasn’t become an instant hit, and he’s truly become a legend in the genre.

However, there is one movie that he branded as ‘boring’ and fans were not happy with his remarks.

Stephen King isn't a fan of one flick (Mathew Tsang/Getty Images)
Stephen King isn't a fan of one flick (Mathew Tsang/Getty Images)

According to Far Out Magazine, there's a lot of things King liked about the film adaptions of his books, but others just didn’t live up to expectation.

He began: “Several honourable adaptations have come from this 30-year spew of celluloid.

“And the best of those have had few of the elements I’m best known for: science fiction, fantasy, the supernatural, and pure gross-out terror.”

King added: “The books that do have those elements have, by and large, become films that are either forgettable or outright embarrassing.”

However, if you’re a fan of The Shining… It’s bad news.

The writer went on to say: “Others, I’m thinking chiefly of Christine and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, should have been good but just, well, they aren’t. They’re actually sort of boring.”

He added: “Speaking for myself, I’d rather have bad than boring.”

It appears that King’s dislike for Kubrick’s adaptation is a badly kept secret, and even though The Shining's 83 percent Tomatometer and 93 percent Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes, proves that people love it, it’s just not for him.

One fan wrote: “One of the best ghost stories and Kubrick's meticulous recreations of the source material. This movie deserves to be a 99%+. Ignore the 'official' critics that give this movie a rotten rating. I've read a lot of them and they are pretentious to say the least.”

It's The Shining (Murray Close/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)
It's The Shining (Murray Close/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)

Another said: “This film is absolutely perfect. It perfects the depiction of insanity by amazing performances and intense scenes.”

In a 2016 interview with Deadline, King said he thought Jack Nicholson's character got progressively 'crazier' as time went on.

However, the 1980 movie apparently lacks the depth that the book had.

King explained that the novel depicted Nicholson’s character to be a struggling man who finally ‘loses it’.

He shared this was ‘the real tragedy’ of the story.

King added: “In the movie, there’s no tragedy because there’s no real change.”

Another difference between the flick and book is that the hotel blows up at the end of the book, but Kubrick changed this to the hotel freezing in time.

Nonetheless, the author noted: “I met Kubrick and there’s no question he’s a terrifically smart guy.”

Choose your content:

a day ago
2 days ago
3 days ago
4 days ago
  • Netflix
    a day ago

    Taylor Parker's fake pregnancy was almost uncovered by gender reveal report before she killed for a baby

    Taylor Parker, 33, was sentenced to death for her crimes

    Film & TV
  • Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation
    2 days ago

    Where Maternal Instinct's Taylor Parker is now after faking pregnancy and killing for a baby

    Taylor Parker stabbed her pregnant friend more than 100 times

    Film & TV
  • Netflix
    3 days ago

    How woman who faked a pregnancy and killed for a baby hid the truth from her partner

    Taylor Parker's heinous crimes have been revisited in the new Netflix documentary, Maternal Instinct

    Film & TV
  • Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
    4 days ago

    This is where E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial cast are now including surprising career changes

    From The Walking Dead to reality TV and wealth management, the stars of Spielberg's 1982 classic have had some wildly different paths

    Film & TV
  • Stephen King reveals the two movie adaptations of his books that got it right
  • Netflix deadline issued as sequel to horror movie loved by Stephen King to leave streaming site
  • Netflix viewers urged to watch Stephen King backed mini-series boasting 100% Rotten Tomatoes reviews
  • Netflix movie based on Stephen King novel has scene so grim it's making people pass out