The Top Ten Stephen King Movies of the 80s

Grab some microwave popcorn and dim the lights — we’re heading back to the 1980s when every video store shelf had at least one Stephen King nightmare staring back at you. From haunted hotels to killer cars, we’re counting down the top 10 King flicks that made us sleep with the lights on (and made Maine seem like the worst vacation spot ever!).

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Children of the Eighties is brought to you by Q
one O six point five Internet Radio. You can find
it online at Q one o six five dot com
or download the app.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome back to another episode of Children of the Eighties.
I am one of your hosts, Jim, and I am
joined as always by the lady who's never been stuck
in a car while a rabid dog waited outside for
her to dare get out of the car. It's my
co host, Lindsay.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
I would just run over it. No, your car wouldn't start. Oh,
my car won't start. Yes, So it's a waiting game.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
So yeah, you're just trapped in there while a rabid
saint nerd is out there waiting to attack you.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
It's a big yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah. It's not like a chihuahuah because you just get
out there.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
And those chihuahuas are mean.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
They are very mean. I've been chased down and attacked
by one before.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Literally.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
I was on a jog in a You're not on
a jog. I was on a walk that turned into
a jog because the chihuahua started chasing me.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
You were on a stroll, yes, that turned into a job, yes.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
And at one point turned into a flat out sprint,
and I should have just turned around and just punted
the thing. But you know, I love dogs, but this
one was a little bastard. He was attacking me and
biting my ankles.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
He was he wasn't on his best behavior. No, that
was a weird situation. But anyways, a day in the
life of John Butler.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, hey, what are you gonna do?

Speaker 1 (01:51):
So we debated on whether or not we wanted to
record tonight, and I said, you know what, let's just
go upstairs to the podcast room. Let's get it done.
Because I have had two cups of Starbucks coffee and
a small pack of Cheetos. I'm ready to go.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
You're gonna be talking like the micro machine guy.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
I'm so ready. And then I started thinking, I feel
a little bit like the macho man. Oh yeah, I
see brother, you got them josizes.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
That was a great mind impression.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
And then that led me to think about I saw
recently on like an Instagram reel or a Facebook reel
or I don't even know what these things are. It's
on social media. It's a short video of Bob Ross
painting the Ultimate Warriors face paint on his face, and

(02:46):
I saved it because I'm like, oh my gosh, this
is so cool. We got to talk about this on
the podcast, and then it hit me and it was Ai,
this isn't real, and I'm so I'm kind of embarrassed
that I didn't catch that already, but I'm also thinking

(03:12):
AI's just getting to be really good. Yes, because it
looked so legit that I googled did Bob Ross and
The Ultimate Warrior were they ever seen in a room together?
And the answer is no, what like that?

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Because because soon as you said Bob Ross painting The
Ultimate Warrior's face made and I'm like, that's fake, he.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Was like, let's just put a happy little tree right here,
right by your eyeball. Oh my gosh. Did you ever
watch Bob Ross? Yes? He would.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
He be a perfect to go to sleep to.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
So that was something that Nanny and I used to
do together.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
We would watch what was his show called Happy Trees.
I don't know, I don't remember.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Wonderful Experience with Bob Ross.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
I don't think that's what it was called.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
We used to watching giggle over him talking about the
happy tree.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, and he was just always so calm and peaceful,
and they have a Netflix documentary about him.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Right, yes, not a good businessman, no, no, but a
good painter.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, it's unfortunate, good painter in a very calming influence.
I feel like if the world still had Bob Ross
to watch on PBS, then there might not be as
much anxiety in the world.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
You know what's causing me some anxiety right now?

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Gary Busey trying to get into trouble because he somehow
snuck his way into.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
The As Jim's talking, he's waving his arm, he's doing
his arm and I mean, like, do you expect that
the cat's gonna know what that means?

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Well, yeah, he's afraid of me, so I do expect
that he would know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
And you just pulled a Fred flint Stone. But the dinosaur.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Outside I did. I tossed him outside like Fred does
Dino and whatever that cat is that never appeared in
an episode of The Flintstones. Yes, don't know what that
opening was about, but I did just do that to
little small, ten pound Gary Busey.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Boy, we've chased some rabbits, haven't we.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
We sure have Bob Ross, the ultimate warrior, macho man.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
Gary Busey, Fred Flintstone, Dino Cheeto's Starbucks Coffee. So what
you got going on?

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Well, I've been busy this week, tell me about it.
This episode will drop on a Wednesday. But if you
can't get enough of Jim, you can go back to yesterday.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
And you fool can't get enough a gym?

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Hey, you know some fools can't. I appear on Totally
Eighties and nineties recall doing a movie bracket. We did
sports movies and I may have ruined Rob's night that night.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Oh no, really, yes, didn't he deserve it because he
did something.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
They ruined my whole bracket on the TV theme Songs
when they voted down Hill Street Blues the greatest TV
theme song of all time, So there you go. And
then I was also a last minute guest on Shirley
You Can't Be Serious podcast Patreon episode doing a one

(06:36):
hit wonder, and I won't announce what that one hit
wonder is. For those that want to go listen you
can see if you can guess it before I did,
and honestly you probably can, because, as I told Jason,
when my brain gets stuck on something, it won't get off.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
No, it doesn't.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Buch and even though he was leading me in a
different direction. My brain was stuck on one song and
so I guess the wrong song and he said no,
And then as he went further along, then I finally
got it. But I would guess that probably ninety percent
of the audience is going to grab it before I do.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Man, you've got a good agent. Your agent must be
better than my agent.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Ummm, yes, I think my agent is better than your age.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
Do you know what my agent aligns for me? When
we're not recording our show?

Speaker 2 (07:25):
What's it?

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Laundry dishes?

Speaker 2 (07:28):
You know what?

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Driving the kid around?

Speaker 2 (07:31):
You need to hire Jerry McGuire, then.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Oh, I'd like to. I'd like to hire Jerry McGuire
a couple of things.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
I bet you would.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
I don't even know what that means.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Well, I think we've got a fun episode planned for tonight.
Are you ready to get to it?

Speaker 1 (07:54):
We better start recording before the coffee hits the bladder.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Okay, here we here we go.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
This is a podcast that looks back on the decade
of the nineteen eighties. We talk about things that were
important to us as children and what we look back
on with fond memories as adults. Ultimately, this is a
nostalgia podcast.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yes, and for today's episode, we are celebrating movies based
on novels or stories by Stephen King that were released
in the nineteen eighties. Now these are movies to watch
during the Halloween season. So I have to ask you
before we dive into this, what do you think about

(08:45):
this topic.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
I have never seen a Stephen King movie.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
False.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
I have never read a Stephen King book.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
That may be true.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
False.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
You have seen a Stephen King movie?

Speaker 1 (08:59):
What movie?

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Sawshank Redemption? Oh? That's right, stand by me.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
Oh, okay, there you go.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
The Shining Yes, so there's three that you've seen for sure.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
So a few years ago, I fancied myself a writer.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
So I reached out to someone else who also fancied
themselves a writer, and I said, Hey, I feel like
I don't even know what I don't know. Is there
a book that I need to read that will teach
me how to be a writer, because this is something
I really want to pursue. And she recommended I read

(09:40):
Stephen King's biography Dance maccobb. Is that the name of
his bio?

Speaker 2 (09:48):
I don't know. That's what I was asking. Is that
what you read.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
No, that's not what I read, and so I did so,
but that didn't teach me anything about writing.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Oh it didn't. No, Oh, well that was it.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
It taught me all about Stephen King's.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Life, but not about writing.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
And I kept waiting for the chapter on like how
to write a good book, and I never got to it.
So I do kind of think that I actually might
be a Stephen King expert, but not about his books
or movies, but about him as a person.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Oh okay, I am not an expert on him as
a person, but I when I was a teenager and
young adult, I consumed almost all of his novels, and
I think at one point I had read all of
his novels that he had released, SAMs one or two,
and then I got to at least one of those two.

(10:48):
But since then he's released like twenty other novels, and
I just can't keep up. You know, I'm an adult
with adult responsibilities now, right, it starts to be too much. So,
but I was a big Stephen King novel fan. And
then of course I had to see the movies after that,
and very rarely, if at all, did the movie hold

(11:09):
up to the book. Really, the exceptions being Shawshank, Redemption,
stand By Me, the Green Mile. Those were some easis.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
You do the Mile?

Speaker 2 (11:22):
He did do the Green Mile. Oh, that was a
really good one. Yes, And so those movies are excellent.
But none of those movies are of the horror genre, right,
And he doesn't write just horror, obviously, but most of
his stuff is based on horror, supernatural, or just something frightening.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
And so that's what we're going to be talking about
because we are in the Halloween season. Next week is Halloween.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
So I love Halloween. It is possibly my favorite holiday.
But I love Garfield Halloween, yes, and Charlie Brown Halloween.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
And I can't think of what else.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
You like the eerie more than the scary.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yeah, I don't do scary because I believe that we
have to be careful with what we consume because the
bad will stay with us. I have enough bad in
my life that I don't want the bad from a
movie to stay with me. So that's why I am

(12:26):
totally oblivious and clueless on these movies.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
So this is gonna be fun because you have not
seen most of these and I want to get your
opinion based on the data in the synopsis. Okay, but
I would say that most of these movies aren't scary,
especially for an adult. But even as a kid, they
weren't really scary. So are you ready to get to it?

(12:51):
I'm ready, all right, counting down top ten.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
So we're starting at ten, going to starting at ten,
going to one. Are these in like the order of
what you like? No, these are in the order of I.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Took the rating on Rotten Tomatoes and put in the
rating for the Popcorn Meter by the audience, and then
also did like the domestic gross. Oh god, put all
those three together, and this is how it's spit out
the top ten.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
That's exhausting.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
But I would agree these are This is not my
top ten because they're the number nine one. I would
probably have it like two or three or four. Oh wow, okay,
but this is how it came out, So this is
how we're going to do it. So why don't you
go ahead and give us the number ten and then
give us some of the beats, and then I'll get
into the plot and see if I can't convince you

(13:56):
whether or not you want to watch this movie.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
Okay, Number ten. Maximum Overdrive was released July twenty fifth,
of nineteen eighty six, I had been seven for one month.
It was directed by Stephen King. Stephen King also wrote
the screenplay. It was based on his short story Trucks.

(14:21):
It starred Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingel, Laura Harrington, and Christopher Murney. Yes, Merne, Mernie.
Sometimes I wake up in the mornings, I feel Mourne.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
So this was his directorial debut.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
It had a budget of nine million dollars. Wall had
a box office of seven point four million.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, kind of a dud. So here's the plot. After
a comet causes a radiation storm on Earth, machines c
to life and turn against their makers. Hold up in
a North Carolina truck stop, a group of survivors must
fend for themselves against a mass of homicidal trucks. A
diner cook named Bill Robinson played by Emilio Estevez emerges

(15:15):
as the unlikely leader of the pack, attempting to find
an escape plan for himself and the survivors, who includes
his boss, Bubba Hindershot played by pat Hingele, and a
newlywed couple Bubba hinder Shot Bubba Hindershot. Now, so that's
the plot. So I want you to remember the plot.
Oh my gosh, it gets fourteen percent on the Beyder meter.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
That's bad.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Fifty percent on the popcorn meter though, and uh for
some of the reviews, Roger Ebert, I could not find
a review of this movie, so I pulled a one
critic review in one audience review from Rotten Tomatoes, and
so Kevin Carr said, he's the critic. Someone once said
to me, Stephen King didn't direct this movie. Cocaine directed

(16:02):
this movie, and it certainly shows. Someone on the audience
review named m jay or with the initials MJ. Said,
I don't think it was Michael Jordan or Michael J. Jacksons. No,
they said obviously cheesy, poorly acted, and dreadfully directed. Wow.
But it has a c DC and is linked to
my favorite writer, Guilty Pleasure, for sure. So it was

(16:27):
nominated for some awards, believe it or not really well,
two golden raspberries.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
Oh of course we're.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
Given out nominations Emilio Stebs for Worst Actor and Stephen
King for Worst Director. But this movie has gained cult
following status. It's a bad Guilty Pleasure movie and I
have actually enjoyed it when I watched it I'm not
sure how many more times I want to see it,
but I have enjoyed it in the past.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Okay, So for a second, pretend that you are Stephen
King and I am I don't know who would I
be his wife? And he's gonna pitch this story to me?

Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, So what do you think about my story?

Speaker 1 (17:15):
I mean, give me a little something else here?

Speaker 2 (17:17):
Uh Tabitha, that's his wife's name. What do you think
about my story? After a comet causes a radiation storm
on Earth? Now no, keep going? Machines come to life
all hell no and turn against their makers.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
I mean, what a grown man wrote that? Or was
he a child when he wrote it? No, I'm sure
he's the stupid is he wrote? I have ever heard?
And who in the world allowed Emilio Estevez to take
this part? Did he just need the cash? Well?

Speaker 2 (17:57):
I mean, Emilio at this point had really only Breakfast
Club and what was he and what was that after
the Breakfast Club saying almost fire?

Speaker 1 (18:08):
So he thought that Maximum Overdrive was going to launch
his career to the next level.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
Well, listen, when you've got the most famous horror rider
of the time and he's directing a movie, I mean
you didn't realize that it was going to be a flop.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yes, yes I did, because I've got truck stop, homicidal trucks,
radiation storm, no I Bubba hindershot.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
So at one point, the soda machine starts firing out
sodas at Randy Johnson, tight speed fans balls?

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Are you kidding?

Speaker 2 (18:48):
And nailing people? An ATM mocks a person trying to
get money right when it first starts, you know, starts
poking fun at that person.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
It's hysterical.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
So so you're saying that you would not like to
see this, No, I do not want to see this.
All right, let's move on. Let's go to number nine.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
Children of the Corn. It was released March ninth, nineteen
eighty four, directed by Fritz Kersh, screenplay by George Goldsmith,
and it's based on Stephen King's story also the same name,
Children of the Corn. It starred Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
Do you recognize that name? Linda Hamilton?

Speaker 1 (19:31):
My dad had a little thing for Linda Hamilton?

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Really?

Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Why is that? What was she and that he would
have seen? Besides, I mean she was in the terminator
and the terminator too.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
Oh, probably that's probably what he saw.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Is that what he saw.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
I don't know. I just know he liked Linda Hamilton. Okay,
had a budget of three million dollars, and that's pretty
good when it comes to making a movie. Yeah, box
office of fourteen point six million.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Of how you paused there, like you were getting ready
to say it had like Titanic type numbers fourteen point
six million. All right. So here's the plot. As physician
Bert Stanton played by Peter Horton and his girlfriend Vicki
played by Linda Hamilton, drive across the Midwest to his
new job. Their trip comes to a sudden halt when

(20:21):
they encounter the body of a murdered boy in the road,
and trying to contact the authorities, Burton Vicki wander into
a small town populated only by children followers of sinister
young preacher Isaac Kroner played by John Franklin. Soon the
couple is fleeing the youthful find fanatics who want to

(20:41):
sacrifice them to their demonic deity. So this had thirty
six percent on the Mader meter and forty percent on
the popcorn Meter. Roger Ebert gave the film one out
of four Stars, describing as being about a sinister force
behind the cornfields. He found the movie not very frightening

(21:02):
and considered the horror elements to be more about mass
hysteria than true horror. Critic consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says
Children of the Corn strong premise and beginning gets shucked
away for a kittie thriller that runs in circles. In
later years, Children of the Corn has been revisited by
critics for its eerie atmosphere in lasting influence within nineteen

(21:26):
eighties or cinema. I will give my thoughts on Children
of the Corn after I hear your thoughts.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
Okay, so I initially, when you talk about that this
couple come across the body of a murdered boy in
the middle of the roadway, I thought, Okay, that sounds
like a dateline I saw recently, so I'm like, okay,
I'm intrigued. But then they wander into a small town
and then there's children, and there's a crazy young preacher,

(21:56):
and I'm like, uh, why didn't they just leave? Just
drive your car, just hit that gas and go.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
It's been so long since I've seen it, I don't
remember why they didn't just leave. I'm thinking the kids
probably pulled some stuff off their car. The kids came
out of the corn and pulled Yes, And this is
a town filled only with kids.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Why are your eyes why are you doing your eyes
at me like that? Because you're freaking me out? Because
that's frightening in and of itself. A town filled only
with kids, like teenagers or like preteener like.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
Children, like preteens. Probably preteens, yes, and maybe a couple
of teenagers. I'm thinking Isaac was probably a teenager. And
then they had a Malakai who was freaky as all
get out, red red hair. Yes, he was freaky. So okay,
so tell me your thoughts on just based on this

(22:51):
would you like to see this movie based just on
what you've readen, I would consider it. You would consider it.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
I would consider it.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Okay, what would be because it because it starts out
like a dateline, That's why you'd consider it. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
But the instant I realized that they could hit the
gas and go and they don't. I'm out.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
So this movie came out when I was ten years old.
Oh wow, I bet it was really good at ten.
I saw it at ten or eleven and it scared
the living tar out of met it. Yes, I would
have this movie at like three, probably if I was
choosing now. I'm sure I could go back and watch
it now and it would be a joke and it
probably wouldn't be good at all. But I'm telling you,

(23:33):
seeing this as a ten or eleven year old, there's
something about seeing scary movies as a kid that sticks
with you and you think they're the scariest of all time.
That's why I still love the movie Halloween, and kids
nowadays would laugh at it and call it a joke.
All right, But I love the movie Halloween because I
saw it as a kid and it scared the tar
out of me, and so this movie was the same way.

(23:55):
All Right, You ready to move on?

Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (23:57):
Number eight.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Firestarter released May eleventh, nineteen eighty four, directed by Mark l. Luster,
screenplay by Stanley Mann, based on the novel Firestarter by
Stephen King. Listen to Who's in this movie? Okay, now,
I'm I can get behind it just by who's in it.

(24:19):
David Keith, Drew Barry Moore, Freddie Jones, Heather Locklear, Martin Sheen.
He's gonna try to like beat Emilio Estevez, George C. Scott,
Art Carney, and is it Louise Fletcher.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yes, that is a heck of a cast. It really
is a heck of a cast.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
I had a budget of twelve million. It made seventeen
point one million in the box office.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
All right, so let me give you some more The
plot as youths Andy McGee played by David Keith and
his future wife Vicki played by Heather Locklear, participated in
secret experiments allowing themselves to be subjected to mysterious medical tests.
What yeah, think of like eleven? Think of like right?

(25:10):
Think think of that? So years later, the couple's daughter,
Charlie played by Drew Barrymore, begins to exhibit the ability
of setting fires solely with her mind. This volatile talent
makes the youngster extremely dangerous, and soon she becomes a
target for the enigmatic agency known as the Shot. So

(25:30):
you can see where stranger things may have gotten a
little bit of their thoughts behind what they've done.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
So the reception on this forty on the major meter,
fifty two percent on the popcorn meter. Roger Ebert gave
it two stars out of four and called it boring.
There isn't a role in this movie not filled by
a capable actor, And there's not a character in this
movie that is convincing even for a moment, nor a
line in this movie that even experienced perform can make real.

(26:02):
The critical consensus on Rotten Tomato says firestarteris concept hughes
too closely to other known Stephen King adaptations, though it's
got nice special effects, including scenery chewing. George C.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
Scott, Wait, what does that mean? Scenery chewing?

Speaker 2 (26:20):
I don't know, that's just what they said.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
Is that a compliment or an insult or?

Speaker 2 (26:25):
I think it's a compliment. After seeing a rough cut,
Stephen King declared it one of the worst of the
bunch of the adaptations of his work he had seen,
dubbing it flavorless. So this movie was remade in twenty
twenty two starring zach Efron.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Whoa is that what caused zac Efron to go crazy? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Maybe so. I want to know your thoughts based just
on this. Nope, nope, No, open it on back. You
got to give me more than that. You got to
give me more than Nope.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Okay, I do not like the words participated in secret experiments.
I am not okay with that. I will never allow
anybody to do a mysterious medical test on me, nor
do I want to watch it happen to someone else
in a movie. No, thank you.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
I saw this movie probably sometime in the nineties. I
did not enjoy it. I'm going to nope on home.
And I really didn't enjoy the book that much. The
book was better than the movie, for sure, but I
wouldn't put this in my top twenty five Stephen King novels.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
Well that's too bad, but I mean it is what
it is. It sounds horrible.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
All right, Let's go Number seven.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
Silver Bullet released October eleventh, nineteen eighty five, directed by
Dan Attias, screenplay by none other than Stephen King, based
on the novella cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King.
Oh Here We Go. Stars Gary Busey, Everett McGill, Corey Ham,

(28:06):
and Terry O'Quinn. Had a budget of seven million dollars
and it brought in ten point eight million at the
box office. All right, so you've got my attention. Here's
because of Gary Busey and Corey Ham. When a series
of unexplained murders occurs in the normally quiet town of
Tarker's Mill. The residents decide to hunt down the killer. However,

(28:31):
many of these vigilantes end up dead, and those who
don't are no closer to finding an assailant. But when
a young wheelchair using boy named Marty played by Corey Ham,
encounters a werewolf one night, the pieces begin to come together.
Along with his sister and uncle Red played by Gary Busey,

(28:53):
Marty begins a mission to capture the werewolf once and
for all. Okay, so I now remember we've talked about
this in our Cory's episode.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yes we did. The reception forty three percent on the
major meter, fifty six percent on the popcorn meter. Roger
Ebert said, Stephen king Silver Bullet is either the worst
movie ever made from a Stephen King story or the funniest.
It is either simply bad or, as it is, an

(29:24):
inspired parody of his whole formula in which quiet American
towns are invaded by unspeakable horrors. It's a close call,
but I think the movie is intentionally funny, and because
I laughed longer and louder during this film than any
other comedy I've seen since Broadway. Danny Rose I am
going way out on a shaky limb and actually give

(29:44):
the movie a three star rating, which means I even
think you might enjoy it too.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Oh wow. Okay.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
In a retrospective review, Felix Vasquez Junior, a film threat
and Cinema Craze, wrote Silver Bullet features one of the
best climaxes in a horror film, thanks to director Daniel
Attias and Garners, a very entertaining and creepy story that
develops beyond a typical werewolf movie. When I think of
great horror films, when I think of great werewolf films,

(30:17):
and when I think of a great King film, I
think of this. So I want to know what are
your thoughts on this?

Speaker 1 (30:24):
Okay, Well, I have a question, and I asked the
question first, Yes, have you seen this movie?

Speaker 2 (30:29):
I have?

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Do you think that Stephen King meant for it to
be funny?

Speaker 2 (30:35):
I don't know. I don't think Stephen King meant for
it to be funny, but Stephen King didn't direct it.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Okay, Okay, so it's so it sounds ridiculous. First of all,
I like the name Tarker's Mill for the towns. I
like that love Gary Busey love Corey Haim. I don't
understand why does Marty need to be in a wheelchair.
That's just random to me. And then we've got these

(31:03):
murders going on. There's obviously a serial killer. Then Marty
comes in and then he's in a wheelchair. Okay, so
he's wheeling himself around trying to get away from the
serial killer. And then a werewolf shows up. Like again,
this it feels a little absurd, but I would watch it.
The werewolf is the serial killer. Oh well, spoiler alert,

(31:28):
spoiler alert.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
No, I mean it's pretty obvious, like a werewolf movie,
the werewolf is the killer, right, not necessarily, Okay, they
can't control themselves, kind of like our Gary Busey out
in the yard can't control themselves when seeing a mole
or a bird. But I'm gonna say this, I love

(31:50):
this movie. This might be my favorite movie on the
whole list.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
Really.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
Yes, uh, this is the movie that made me start
liking Gary Busey, And this is the movie I think
that introduced me to Corey Haynes. Okay, so I think
you might think it's ridiculous and enjoy it all at
the same time.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
I you know what I think that's a great assessment.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
All right, Let's move on to number six.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Kujo released August twelfth, nineteen eighty three, directed by Lewis Tige,
screenplay by Don Carlos Dunaway, based on the novel Kujo
by Stephen King, stars Dee Wallace, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Danny Pintaro.
Is that from Who's the Boss?

Speaker 2 (32:42):
Is it? I think it is? That name sounds familiar.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
Oh, that's embarrassing. Ed is it? Louder? Huh? And Christopher
Stone Little Jonathan In Kujo, Yes, that's crazy okay. Had
a budget of six million dollars. It made any one
point two million in the box office.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
I'm actually surprised by that. It's pretty good, okay. In
this tale of a killer canine, man's best friend turns
into his worst enemy when sweet Saint Bernard Cujo is
bitten by a bat, he starts behaving oddly and becomes
very aggressive. As Kujo morse into a dangerous beast, he
goes on a rampage in a small town. Stay at
home mom Donna played by Dee Wallace, gets caught in

(33:26):
Kujo's crossed hairs on a fateful errand with her son
Tad played by Danny Pintaro. Stuck in their tiny car,
Donna and Tad have a frightening showdown with the crazed animal.
This got sixty percent on the Mader meter and forty
six percent on the Popcorn Meter, so the critics liked
it better than the audience. Roger Ebert called it dreadful.

(33:50):
I couldn't find how many stars he gave it. Jene
Siskel gave it one star out of four, calling it
one of the dumbest, flimsiest excuses for a movie I
have ever seen.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
Really.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
The critic consensus on Rotten Tomato says Kujo is artless work,
punctuated with moments of high canine gore and one wild
D Wallace performance. I would have rather seen one wild
D Snyder performance. In March twenty twenty five, Netflix announced
they were developing a remake of the film, with Roy

(34:23):
Lee serving as producer. Oh I bet it will probably
be better than the nineteen eighty three version.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
You know it has my attention.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Yeah, because this could really happen, right, A dog a
dog going rabbit.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
But here's the thing. Anytime you say Kujo, I think
of is it Kojak who's the was he like a
the bald guy with the lollies? So a rabbit kojak?

Speaker 2 (34:49):
Now that's funny.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Oh, so you know, I think I might give this
one a try. I don't know who d Wallace is. You.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
I think you would reckon nicer if you saw her.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
But I feel like Shelley Devall could have probably really
done this character some justice.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
Oh gosh, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Because she loves to she used to love to scream
in her movies.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
D Wallace was the momin et.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
Oh okay, So I always think of d Wallace as.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
D from What's Happening.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
We've been married too long.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
So I've seen this movie. I didn't enjoy it. I
loved the book. The book was fantastic. Wow, it's probably
top fifteen or top twenty. Yeah, I really loved the book.
But the movie just there are just some books that
just can't be made into movie.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
How do you fill a book or fill a movie
with a rabid dog trapping two people in a car?

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Well, what kind of happens near the end the rabbit dog?

Speaker 1 (36:00):
What happens for the rest of it? That's the premise
of the story. The whe else is going?

Speaker 2 (36:04):
The rabbit dog gets some people before it traps them.
Oh yeah, that's scary. Oh yeah for sure. All right,
so you might be in on Kouja.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
I'd give it a shot, all right. Number five Creep
Show released November twelfth, nineteen eighty two, directed by George Romero,
screenplay by Stephen King, based on his short series Weeds
and the Crate Stories Short Stories What Did I Say?

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Series?

Speaker 1 (36:37):
Based on his short stories Weeds and the Crate.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
Look at all These Stars?

Speaker 1 (36:44):
Wow? Okay? Starring Hal Holbrook, Love Me Somehow, Adrian Barbo,
Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Carrie Nye, e G. Marshall, viv
Lin for Lyn First Lynn Force and Ted Dancing.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
And Ted Dancing Wow. Right after it Cheers premiered.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
Wow. Okay. So I had a budget of eight million.
It may twenty one million in the box.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
Pretty decent. Okay.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
I've never heard of this, So I.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Own this, So we should watch it for Halloween. A
compendium of five short but terrifying tales contained within a
single full length feature. So think like twilight Zone. Remember
this film conjure scares from traditional boogeyman and portents of doom.
In one story, a monster escapes from its holding cell.

(37:44):
Another focuses on a husband played by Leslie Nielsen with
a creative way of getting back at his cheating wife.
Other stories concern a rural man played by Stephen King
and a visitor from outer space, and a homeowner with
huge bug problems and a boozing corpse. The reception was sixty.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
I thought you said in oozing corns boozing a drunk
dead person.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
Yes. The reception sixty six percent on the Mader meter,
sixty nine percent on the popcorn meter. Roger Ebert gave
it three out of four stars, saying creep show plays
like an anthology of human phobias. The horrors and creep
show were universal enough, and so is the approach. These
stories have been inspired right down to the very camera angles,

(38:30):
by the classic ec comics of the early nineteen fifties.
Titles like Tales from the Crypt. Romero and King have
approached this movie with humor and affection, as well as
with an appreciation of the macabre. They create visual links
to comic books by beginning each segment with several panels
of a comics artists version of the story. The critic

(38:52):
consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says it's uneven, as anthologies often are,
but creep Show is colorful, frequently funny, and treats its
inspirations with infectious reverence. So Bravo awarded this movie the
ninety ninth spot on their one hundred Scariest Movie Moments.

(39:13):
Really Tales from the Dark Side was the television spinoff
of this movie, but due to Warner Brothers holding certain rights,
including the name creep Show, the title had to be changed.
Another creep Show television series was announced in July twenty eighteen,
which was produced by Greg Nicotaro and streamed on shutter Now.

(39:33):
I have to ask you, do you recognize that name
Greg Nicotaro? No, you have been to his restaurant before.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
Oh, the Don't tell Me walking Dead? Yeah, and we
did the Walking Dead tour. Yes, we went to it
was like what Nick Normans? Nick Normans, Yes, Nicked Night.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
On August three, twenty nineteen, Universal Destinations Experience announced that
creep Show would be coming the Halloween Horror Nights exclusively
at its Universal Studios Hollywood Theme Park. It's a shame
that it didn't make it to Orlando. That would be cool.
I say, so, what are your thoughts.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
I would never watch this because it sounds like it
would really scare me.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
No, it's not really scary at all.

Speaker 1 (40:21):
I can't picture Leslie Nielsen being serious.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
Right, Leslie Nielsen was actually a serious actor before he
start an airplane, and.

Speaker 1 (40:30):
I didn't know that. To me, he's that quirky yeah,
trying to be funny guy.

Speaker 2 (40:36):
Right.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
So with Stephen King, he played a role in the
movie that's interesting. I don't know. I mean, I trust
that you know me, but that that feels this feels
a little creepy.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
So I saw this came out in nineteen eighty two.
I didn't see it in eighty two. I probably saw
it in eighty three, so I probably wasn't even ten
years old yet. And this movie did not scare me.
So I can tell you that this movie isn't scary.
It's more on the comic book kind of creepy side.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Okay, okay, okay. I see certain.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
Episodes of The Walking Dead is scarier than this movie. Yeah, okay,
and you've watched those, so.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Yeah, I didn't. Yeah, I didn't think that was scary.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
So I think you might enjoy creep show. Okay, I
love it. So this is my favorite movie.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
On the list now, Tales from the Crypt. Are we
talking about.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
The Yes, the HBO show, Yes, the.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
Skeleton with this little wispy hair.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Yes, oh okay, yeah yeah, so that that was a
spinoff of the movie Creep Show And did those scare you?
The Tales from the Crypt now, yeah, so that's kind
of what this is like. So I think you'd like it.
And again it is my favorite movie on this list.
All right, we have made it all the way down
to number four.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Number four Christine released December ninth, nineteen eighty three, directed
by John Carpenter, screenplay by Bill Phillips, based on Stephen
King's novel with the same name. Christine starring Keith Gordon,
John Stockwell, Alexandria, Paul, Robert Prosky, and Harry Dean Stantons.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Was Harry Dean Stanton in Everything in the eighties? Yes,
I feel like he was.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
He didn't make his money when he could. He had
a budget of ten million and it brought in twenty
one million in the box office.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Okay, so here's the plot. Unpopular nerd Arnie Cunningham played
by Keith Gordon buys a nineteen fifty eight Plymouth Fury
which he names Christine. Arnie develops an unhealthy obsession with
the car, to the alarm of his jock friend Dennis
Gilder played by John Stockwell, and after bully Buddy Reperton

(42:48):
defaces Christine, the auto restores itself to perfect condition and
begins killing off Buddy and his friends.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
How running him over.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
Yes. Determined to stop the deaths, Dennis and Arnie's girlfriend
decide to destroy Christine.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Okay, so I have a question. Yes, So Christine is
a car. Yes, it's a fifty eight Plymouth Fury. Yes,
and it comes alive to some extent. It starts killing people. Yes,
Why don't they just go upstairs?

Speaker 2 (43:29):
It gets them while they're out. It doesn't like go
to their homes.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
So they can't put like a news broadcast on, and
it's like everyone go upstairs. Nobody knows, and then a
sniper could shoot it out the window.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
Nobody knows that Christine is doing this except for Arnie
and his best friend and his girlfriend.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
Oh wow, Okay, I don't get it all right.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
So it got seventy four on the major meter.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
If you asked me on a date and took me
out to see this movie, I'd be pissed.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
Well, yeah, I don't blame you, okay, So seventy four
percent on the major meter, sixty five percent of the
popcorn meter. So gets some high ratings. Robert Robert Roger Ebert,
not his brother Robert Robert Eger. Roger Ebert gave it

(44:24):
three out of four stars, saying I've seen a lot
of movies where the teenage guy parks in a car
with the girl he loves. This is the first one
where he parks with a girl in the car he loves.
I knew guys like this in high school.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
We all did.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
They spent their lives customizing their cars. Their girlfriends were
accessories who ranked higher, say than foam rubber dice, but
lower than dual carbs.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
That's funny, he does. He really give it three out
of four.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
He really does. I think I'm gonna go have some
dual carbs for dinner after this.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
Oh raj. I feel like I fe I feel like
if I hate it, he loves it. If he loves it,
I hate it.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
Yes, the critics consensus, I'm rotten. Tomato says the cracks
are starting to show in John Carpenter's directorial instincts, but
Christine is nonetheless moody macob fun So. While he was
promoting the film Dream Catcher in two thousand and three,
Stephen King mentioned Christine as one of the two film

(45:25):
adaptations of his work that had bored him. Really, yes,
but here's what's kind of cool. Songs on the soundtrack
of the movie include bad to the Bone by George Thorogood,
Not Fade Away by Buddy Holly, which was also covered
by the Stones later on Rock and Roll is Here
to Stay by Danny and the Juniors, and Beast a
Burden by the Rolling Stones, amongst others. Yeah, amongst others.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
I mean, I feel like I've kind of already given
you my Thah, you kind of have.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
Why don't they run upstairs? And if I took you
to see this movie on a date, you'd be pissed.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
I'd be pissed. But seriously, just go upstairs and then
if you need to go on up to the attic.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
So I really didn't enjoy this movie that much. It
was okay, But the book might be top five for me. Really, Yes,
I loved the book.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
Christ I don't understand it was fantastic, Like how that
would make a good.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
Book I'm just telling it. You just got to read
the book like it's just.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
A bunch of grown, grown people scared of a car.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
They aren't grown people. They're teenagers.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
A bunch of teenage people scared of They're nobody's scared
of it until it starts chasing them down and running
them over. Okay, am I irritating you?

Speaker 2 (46:40):
No? Okay, No, you're entertaining me.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
Number three, Pet Cemetery, released April twenty first, nineteen eighty nine,
directed by Finally we got a woman, Mary Lambert. We
never have a female director.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
What do you want me to do about it? I
didn't make the rules. This is just what happened.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Screenplay by Stephen King, based on King's novel with the
same name, Pet Cemetery, starring Dale Midkiff, Fred Dwin, Denise Crosby,
Brad Greenquist, and Michael Lombard.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
I gotta ask you, do you recognize fred Gwynn?

Speaker 1 (47:24):
No? I don't.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
He was the judge in my cousin Vinny. Oh yeah,
and he's also Herman Muns.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Yes, of course, what a memorable face.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Yes, for sure.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
So had a budget of eleven and a half million.
It brought in fifty seven and a half million at
the box office.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Yes, so here's the plot. Doctor Lewis Creed moves his
family to Maine, where he meets a friendly local named
jud Crandall, who was played by Fred Gwinn. After the
Creed's cat is accidentally killed, Okay, okay, okay, I did
not agree to such a violence. Cat's name was Church,
by the way. After the Creed's cat is accidentally killed,

(48:08):
Crandell advises Lewis to bury it in the ground near
the old pet cemetery. The cat returns to life, its
personality changed for the worst. When Lewis's son, Gauge, dies tragically,
Lewis decides to bury the boy's body in the same ground.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
Oh now, that's just ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
Despite the warnings of Crandall and Lewis's visions of a
deceased patient, that is ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
The city would not allow you to do that the city.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
They are living in the city, sweetheart, they're living in
rural Maine.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
There are rules and laws and regulations. You can't just
bury a body in a pet cemetery.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
He did, okay, and guess what didn't work well? Didn't
work well? Okay, so the reception was fifty eight percent
on the Mayer Meter and sixty percent on the Popcorn Meter.
This one kind of surprised me that it was so low,
because I thought this movie is pretty popular. As you
can see, it had fifty seven and a half million
in the box office. So both Ciskel and Ebert gave
it zero stars.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
The critical consensus on Rotten Tomato says, pet Cemetery is
a bruising horror flick that wears its quirks on its
sleeves to the detriment of its scare factor.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
Why did they spell cemetery because it because it was.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
It was like a kid wrote on a pet cemetery, right, Oh,
kids spell phonetically. A sequel, Pet Cemetery IWO was released
in nineteen ninety two to poor reviews and a disappointing
box office. Although it references the events of the first film,
sequel focuses on all new characters. Pet Cemetery was ranked

(49:52):
number sixteen on IFC's list of the best Stephen King
film and television adaptations, and also placed it at six
on Rolling Stones Top thirty King Adaptations. In twenty nineteen,
the movie was rebooted and John Lithgiw played the same
role as Fred Gwynn.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
Oh, I can see that, right.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
So what are your thoughts based on this?

Speaker 1 (50:16):
Do animals other than Church the cat go demonic? No?

Speaker 2 (50:23):
I mean in the past they may have, but you
don't see it on screen. So just the cat, just
the cat and the boy and the boy.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
Huh. I would give it a shot, really, yeah, I would.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
Whoa, I'm shocked at that.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
It sounds like a really good Halloween movie.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Okay, fantastic. We may have to watch it.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
Is it scary?

Speaker 2 (50:44):
No, there's one kind of creepy part, but.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
Okay, I'll give it a go. All right, Okay, I
don't want to see the cat get killed.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
I don't know if you see the cat get killed.
I mean it's been since nineteen nineties. Actually, okay with that,
all right? Nonumber two.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
The Dead Zone released October twenty first in nineteen eighty three,
directed by David Cronenberg, screenplay by Jeffrey Bohen, based on
King's novel by the same name, The Dead Zone starring
Christopher Walkin, Brook Adams, Tom Scarrett, Herbert Lorne, and Martin Sheen.

(51:24):
Martin Sheen coming back for some more King, Yes.

Speaker 2 (51:27):
So I need to know why you left at Christopher Walkin.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
Christopher Walkin in and of himself is a Stephen Keen character.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Yes, totally, totally.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
So I got on one question for you, Christopher, not
you Christopher Walkin, Well you are Christopher, but I'm talking
to Christopher Walkin. What happened to Natalie Wood? All right?

Speaker 2 (51:55):
Finish your box office there.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
I had a budget of seven point fifteen million and
it made it twenty point eight million in the box office.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
Sure. So here's the plot. When Johnny Smith played by
Christopher Waltkins awakens from a coma caused by a car accident,
he finds that years have passed and he now has
psychic abilities, heartbreaking the heartbroken that his girlfriend has moved
on with her life. Johnny also must contend with his

(52:25):
unsettling powers, which allows him to see a person's future
with a mere touch. After shaking the hand of aspiring
politician Greg Stilson played by Martin Sheen, Johnny sees the
danger presented by the candidate's rise and resolves to kill him. Now,
I don't think I've seen parts of this movie. I

(52:48):
maybe I've seen all of it. I don't remember, but
I can tell you, I'm pretty sure he doesn't kill
Martin Sheen. Martin Sheen just changes his name to Jed
Bartlett and continues his career in politics.

Speaker 1 (52:59):
Keeps climb in the ladder.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
Yes, so get this eighty nine percent on the Mader Meter,
in seventy seven percent on the Popcorn Meter. Roger Ebert
gave it three and a half out of four stars
and says the movie does what only a good supernatural
movie thriller can do. It makes us forget it supernatural.
He also said that this was King's best adaptation to date. Now,

(53:24):
this was nineteen eighty three, so it there's been a
lot since then, But the critic consensus on Rotten Tomato
says the Dead Zone combines taught direction from David Cronenberg
and a rich performance from Christopher Walken to create one
of the strongest Stephen King adaptations. Did you know that
there was a six season TV show on USA in

(53:45):
the early two thousands called The Dead Zone starring Anthony
Michael All.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
No, yes, no, I did not know that. I have
nothing to say because this sounds like a fantastic story.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
Okay, so this is something that you'd want to see.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
I love mar and Sheen.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
You love Tom Skarett.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
You know what was he on?

Speaker 2 (54:07):
He was on Northern was it Northern Ticket Fences?

Speaker 1 (54:10):
Ticket Fences? Oh yeah, he was that classic nineteen nineties
actor also top done. That's right. How could I forget that?

Speaker 2 (54:17):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
I would give this a go.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
Yeah. I didn't really care for the book too much,
and I didn't really care for the movie too much.
Oh really, But to me it was you know, it's
super natural, but it's not horror. So you know, as
as a youngster, I was looking for the horror and
I didn't get it. But okay, all right, are you ready?

(54:41):
We finally have gotten down to our number one?

Speaker 1 (54:46):
I was born and the Winner is The Shining direct
by Stanley Kubrick, screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson.
Finally another female based on King's novel. The Shining stars

(55:10):
Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Caruthers, Danny Lloyd and Danny
Lloyd at a budget of nineteen million dollars, and it
made forty eight million in the box office.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Here's the plot. Jack Torrance played by Jack Nicholson, becomes
winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook hotel in Colorado. Hoping
to cure his writer's block, he settles in along with
his wife Wendy played by Shelley Duvall, and his son
Danny played by Danny Lloyd. Doesn't look like they went
real far out on the character names and the actor

(55:47):
names Danny, who is played by psychic premonitions. As Jack's
writing goes nowhere and Danny's visions become more disturbing, Jack
discovers the hotel's dark secrets and be against to unravel
into a homicidal maniac hell bent on terrorizing his family.
This got eighty four percent on the Mader Meter in

(56:10):
ninety three percent on the Popcorn Meter. Roger Ebert gave
it four out of four stars and pray Stanley Kubrick
and the actors. The critical consensus on Rotten Tomato says,
though it deviates from Stephen King's novel, Stanley Kubrick's The
Shining is a chilling, often baroque journey into madness, exemplified

(56:31):
by an unforgettable turn from Jack Nicholson. So I got
some interesting facts for you. Do you want to tell
me about the movie before I give you the interesting facts?
This is the actual only movie that you've seen.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
Yes, I have seen it. It was so distracting the
amount of screaming that Shelley Devaul does in this movie.
Like if she would have just shot up, I felt
like I might could handle the movie better, but her
constant and unrelenting screaming just got to me. I also

(57:11):
don't understand how she didn't realize there was something a
little off about him before they got up there to
that resort. You will never uh, you will never convince
me he was perfectly sane till they got there.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
Well, he was a he was a an alcoholic, right,
he was recovering alcoholic before they went up.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
Well, I mean that doesn't mean he's crazy. Did he
not have alcohol? Is that? Is that what he was needing?

Speaker 2 (57:37):
Maybe?

Speaker 1 (57:38):
Like I just like, you're gonna tell me he was
perfectly okay, and then a switch flipped and he wasn't
And then she screamed the rest of the movie.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
Kevin Fever. So, Kevin Fever in a Haunted Hotel will make.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
You lose your mind, I mean apparently.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
And also all work and no play makes Jack a
dull boy.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
So I will say, and spoiler alert if you're like
the five people out there that have never seen this movie.
I was thrilled that he died and that she and
the child survived because I feel like we always kill
off the women. The women never survive the evil, crazed

(58:25):
man that's after them. So I love to see the
tables turn. And she didn't have to get her hands dirty.
She didn't kill him, right, didn't he freeze to death?

Speaker 2 (58:33):
Yes? So so I have to say Halloween, all the
Friday the thirteenth Nightmare on Elm Street, all the survivors
were women.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
So I think the difference for me is I actually
consider the shining to be like a serious movie, like
not a joke, right, those that you just named, I
take it as a joke.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
Well, the original Halloween won a joke. But yeah, I
get what you're saying. Okay. So Jack Nicholson was Stanley
Kubrick's first choice for the role of Jack Torrence, but
other actors considered included Robert de Niro, who, by the way,
said that this film gave him nightmares for months. Really, yeah,
or for eight month.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
I could see him doing this show.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
Yeah, Daniro could do it. Robin Williams and Harrison Ford No,
all of whom met with King's disapproval. Chris Christopherson was
Stanley Kubrick's backup choice if Nicholson declined.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Wow, you know I love Chris Kristopherson.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
Yes. Stephen King, for his part, disavowed Nicholson because he
thought that because of his part in One Flew Over
the Cuckoo's Nest, the viewer would tend to consider him
an unstable individual from the beginning.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
I mean, I think he probably is in real life.
I mean if you hear a whole lot about him.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
For this reason, King preferred John Voight.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
Ooh, he would have been good.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
Michael Moriarty or Martin Sheen for the role.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
No, no, nope, nope, no no.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
He thought they would more faithfully represent the profile of
the ordinary individual who was gradually driven to madness. So,
to answer your question, no, apparently there wasn't any crazy
in Jack Nicholson and Jack Torrance before he arrived at
the hotel. In any case, from the beginning, the writer
was told that the actor for the lead role was

(01:00:40):
not negotiable. Wow. In two thousand and one, the film
was ranked twenty ninth on AFI's one hundred Years One
hundred Thrills list, and Jack Torrance was named the twenty
fifth greatest villain on AFI's one hundred Years one hundred
Villain Heroes and Villains list in two thousand and three,
and in two five the quote Here's Johnny was ranked

(01:01:03):
sixty eight on AFI's one hundred Years one hundred Movie
Quotes list. Stephen King has been quoted as saying that
although Kubrick made a film with memorable imagery, it was
poor as an adaptation, and that is the only adaptation
of his novels that he could remember hating. Really yes,
Shelley Duvall was nominated for a Razzie Award as Worst

(01:01:26):
Actress and Stanley Kubrick was nominated as Worst Director, which
is surprising to me. I don't know how he got
Worst Director. So the room number two seventeen has been
changed to two thirty seven. Timberline Lodge, located on Mountain
Hood in Oregon, was used for the aerial exterior shots

(01:01:46):
of the fictional Overlook Hotel. The lodge requested that Kubrick
not depict Room two seventeen, which was featured in the
book In the Shining, because future guests that the lodge
might be afraid to stay there in a non existent room.
To two thirty seven was substituted in the film, but contrary
to the hotel's expectations, Room two seventeen is requested more

(01:02:07):
often than any other room at Timberline. You've already given
your thoughts. You were much nicer to it now than
you were after we watched it. Really, after we watched it,
you just ripped this movie to shred.

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
What did I say?

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
You thought it was horrible.

Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
It was.

Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
No, it wasn't it was horrible. You just talked good
about it. Other than Shelley Duval's screaming.

Speaker 1 (01:02:33):
I don't know. I didn't like the movie. Maybe I
would have gone crazy too if I had had to
be with Shelley Devall and she screamed the whole time.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
That's what drove you nuts about this movie, was Shelley
Duval screaming. Yes, So if Shelley Duvall's not screaming the
whole time, you like this movie.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
No, I still don't like it, but that would have
helped me to think clearly.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
So I can tell you this movie scared the tar
out of me as a kid. Oh really came out
when I was six I'm sure I didn't see it
when I was six.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
What was it the whole light?

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
It was that it was him going crazy, It was
Scatman Crothers taking an ax to the to the abdomen. Yeah,
oh no, what it was was Danny right in the
big wheel and seeing the two twins, Yes, the two
ghost twins.

Speaker 1 (01:03:28):
Because you could picture that that was you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
Yes, And that scared the crap out of me, like
they would just appear there. Oh so so freaky, so scary.
I still love this movie to this day. All right,
So that wraps up our look at the top ten
Stephen King adapted films during the nineteen eighties. I want
to know from you and the audience, which movie would

(01:03:53):
you most like to see him? Which movie would you
least like to see?

Speaker 1 (01:03:57):
So I least want to see Maximum Over because that's
just stupid, and I think, I mean, what's the one.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
With Corey Haim Silver Bullet.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
Let's give it a shot?

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
So that over? Did Dead Zone? Huh?

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
I think? So?

Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
Oh wow? Okay, cool, Well we got some movies to
watch that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
Okay, well, I guess let's let's get to it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:18):
Yeah, listeners, let us know what some of your favorites were,
and if you didn't like any, what was your favorite?
Let us know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:25):
I want to hear from people who agree with me
and they don't like the shining.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
I want to hear from them too, because I don't
believe that we will.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
You don't think they exist.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
I do not think they exist. You and Stephen King.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
At least, I'm at least I'm you know, in good company,
so we'd love to hear from you. You can reach
out and find us on all the socials. We are
on Facebook, Instagram, and x What is our.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
Handle Children of Underscore Eighties.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
Or you can email us if you're into that sort.

Speaker 2 (01:04:57):
Of thing, Children of the nineteen Eighties at g mail
dot com. Make sure you give us a five star
rating and review, and more importantly, tell someone own a friend.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
Until next time. I'm Jim and I'm Lindsay and we
are Children of the eighties. See your next friend.