Stephen King Adaptations with Erica Shultz: An Introduction to Carrie, Stand by Me, It, and more!!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Film Foundations, the collaborative
show between weirding Way Media and Someone's Favorite Productions. I
am one of your co hosts, Ryan Verrel from Someone's
Favorite Productions.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
And I am your other co host, Christashie from the
Culture Cast and other places on the Internet where I
put my hat out for change and beg for it.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
On this show, we ask and answer four questions about
a given topic that is surrounding an actor, director, micro
genre or tonight, a weird take on a franchise or
maybe micro genre one of the two. We are covering
the adapted works of one Stephen King. But the reason
we are doing this is because we are joined by

(00:48):
an esteemed guest and colleague of mine, Miss Erica Schultz,
one of the two hosts of the Unsung Horse podcast,
but perhaps most importantly for our discussion tonight, the author
of one of the best books ever to be conceived,
The Sweetest Taboo, an unapologetic guide to child kills in Film. Erica,
Welcome to our grandstand.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
I first of all, will wholeheartedly give my regrets to
everybody listening to this in the future, because you will
likely not be able to purchase this book at the
moment because it is sold out as of some period
of time between recording this and when this is going up. Erica,
your book was wildly successful, and I want to say
thank you for making it because it is gorgeous.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
Thank you, Thank haunt Love. He's the one who made
it pretty, So he did.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
I can't really argue with that, but you are the
one that gave it substance. And of course everybody listening
to this is going to go, what the hell a
book about kids dying in the movies? Why did you
write it?

Speaker 4 (01:49):
I mean, there's a few different reasons. The easy answer
is I got bullied into doing it, But the bigger
picture answer is just wanting to have some sort of
reaction to a part of film culture that's been particularly
frustrating for me, and that's that people are overly sensitive

(02:15):
for about everything, and you know, there's some things I
understand that you know, trigger warnings should happen, but it
just got to a point where I felt like everything
was like, well, you can't watch this because of that,
and other people shaming people for liking certain films that
have certain elements in them, and so for me, it
was like, okay, well this is a reaction to that.

(02:37):
You know, the pendulum has swung so far to the right,
it's like, can we just get it back to the
center where people just watch what they like, like what
they like, hate what they hate, and everyone can just
move along their merry way. I know my book's not
for everyone. I know that some people probably think it's
horrific that I wrote a book about that, and that

(02:58):
I think it's funny, but it's the books not for them,
and the book is for those people who have an
open mind, and maybe we'll start thinking about like, yeah,
there is a different way to look at a subject matter.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Like this.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
With the whole pendulum swinging idea. Of course, you faced
some adversities just getting the book printed. Can you share
some of what happened there?

Speaker 4 (03:27):
It was mostly like I had to be I had
to self publish. I reached out to a number of
publishers and either got crickets or outright knows.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Even when I got to the printing.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
Phase, I had printers back out on me, so I
ended up having to change at the last minute. I
didn't really get any nasty messages. I only got one,
which I'm still disappointed. I really wanted to get more.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Nasty messages from people about the book, but so far.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Now, maybe if you had written a book about dogs dying.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
I would never I was getting a nasty message to
someone who wrote that book.

Speaker 5 (04:06):
What the fuck?

Speaker 2 (04:07):
That's what I was wondering, Like, how did you not
get that much pushback given that, Like I thought that
this was like the second worst thing to do in
movies short of killing animals.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
Yeah, I think that it because it probably just stayed
in the circle of like genre film people who can
appreciate something like this, like the people who don't.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Fucking care in fact, yeah, not a kid dies in
a movie.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Or they celebrate it like me, yes.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well yeah, it's way I mean yeah, but I mean
like broadly, I mean, like nobody's getting on their soapbox
and screaming about it the way I I'm sure you assumed,
as I would assume many other people do for whatever
fucking reason. It's be it because they want to or
I feel like they have to or whatever.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
Right, yeah, or they or they just simply have no
separation from movies and reality, which is another frustrating point.
Like people they're they're fucking movies like this is not real.
It's okay to watch this, to enjoy this. That's it,
That's all there is to it. Like movies are supposed
to be an escape, like let them be.

Speaker 5 (05:07):
That you use logic though serious, right, I'm sorry, I'm
sorry angry, and we need to be done with this
podcast right now because this is an anti logic space.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
I just want to be angry. I just want to
get upset. And if I'm not upset, am I really living?
Am I really living? If I'm not just upset in
a permanent state of agitation, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
The funny thing is about all of this is that
the cover is clearly stated so that you couldn't mix
that up. And then even better, as all the kills
that you wrote about in the book, most of them
are so obviously fake. It's not anything that you would
get out and arranged about.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Obviously fake. I would hope they're not killing real children
in the press, but even the found children were actually
killed here, I hope.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Not obviously, Chris. But the vast majority of them are
so just not like realistically filmed. It's not something that
you could even get in an outrage about. There's you know,
there's a hand over the last ten or fifteen years
that have been pretty outrageous, Like you know, the we
talked about the large Vad Truer film when you were

(06:12):
when I was talking about that on my show a
little bit, but that one a little bit, you know,
it was kind of fucked up because he poses the
kids after he kills him. But there's there's a lot
of things in this book that are mostly like dummy
deaths or something that is a real quick switch out
or something like that. Either way, the book's amazing and
I love it. I would love to see, you know,

(06:34):
some of these messages pour in so that you could
use use them on the back cover of a second
printing or something.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
I have to ask, though, did when you were writing
the book? Did you write it before after Halloween Ends
came out?

Speaker 4 (06:48):
I was pretty much done with it at that point,
and then someone messaged me and told me about it,
and I was like, fuck right, because I didn't want
to see it. I don't like those fucking movies like
so I like with you.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
But it has a funny first ten minutes. Oh it does.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
I'll give it back.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
It's like the funniest ten minutes of a horror movie
that I've ever seen, like that dummy falling at the end,
was I laughed. I don't give a shit. I laugh
every time I watch it. What does that say about me?

Speaker 3 (07:13):
That says you're a good person in my eyes?

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Thank you?

Speaker 1 (07:18):
A child?

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Dummy face planting into the ground, and like scorpioning is
definitely not something for the faint of heart, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Well, on this show, we always try to encourage others
to broaden their horizons on film and go down roads
that they might not have before. And of course many
people have probably seen at least one or two Stephen
King film adaptations along the way. But why are we
covering this in relation to your book?

Speaker 4 (07:42):
Well, Stephen King has a pretty big section in the
back of the book, Like, so the book is organized
by chapter by method of death. So there's you know,
vehic hills, there's animal attacks, there's supernatural, there's bombs and explosions.

(08:03):
But there were there ended up being so many Stephen
King ones that I was like, I'm just going to
give him its own section in the back of the
book and then put all of them in there, including
my entire like Children of the Corn section of like,
here's all the ones that have one, here's the ones
that don't have one. In case that's your motivation for watching,

(08:26):
that's mine. So yeah, I was when you asked for
a topic, that was part of it.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
But also, you know.

Speaker 4 (08:37):
The title of your podcast is film Foundations, and Stephen
King Horror specifically was foundational for me as a horror
movie fan. So I figured the two the two worlds collide.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
So how how did you get there? What was the
first one that you watched when you were younger.

Speaker 4 (08:56):
I'm pretty sure the first one that I watched is
it's probably stand by Me, honestly, Like, I don't even
think it was like actual, an actual horror film. I
don't consider stand By Me to be a horror film.
It's got horror elements, of course. But after that probably
was either Christine or Carrie I watched the I watched

(09:18):
a lot of the Stephen King adaptations pretty early on.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
You know, I I.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
Was reading Stephen King books from a very young age.
My mom had a lot of them on her bookshelf
at home. And when I started being able to make
my own decisions at the video store, and then I would.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
See, oh, there's a Kujo movie.

Speaker 4 (09:43):
I my child brain, my weird you know, immature child brain,
thought that they were made just for me because I
didn't know anything about how movies were made.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
At that point. I was still very young, and so
you know, I didn't even really start.

Speaker 4 (10:00):
Paying attention to like who was behind the scenes, who
was making these like what you know credits meant and
all that. I mean, I knew what credits meant, but
really thinking about the names behind those, and so yeah,
I think if I had to guess, it's probably have
a shit memory. You guys are going to probably learn
that well, Ryan, Ryan already knows that, But that's been

(10:21):
my best guess. But I'm pretty sure like Carrie or Christine,
possibly Kujo one of the Seas.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
Are are there any of these classic Stephen King films
that are really highly regarded that you hate. I know
that you have a lot of these these takes that
are antithetical to like the film bibles across the world.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
I have sacred texts, as we call them, Ryan, Yeah,
sacred texts.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
I guess I don't really care. I mean I remember
watching it the.

Speaker 4 (10:54):
The original adaptation, and not really being the biggest fan
of it, and then I saw the first new one
that came out, and I was like, yeah, I don't
care about I'm just.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
You know, I I knew I liked you.

Speaker 4 (11:14):
Yeah, I just I adaptations for me have just never
really worked. Was it the Dark Tower that had Egypt's Elda?

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, poor guy can't. Poor guy can't be in a
franchise movie that suck. For the most part, I know, I.

Speaker 6 (11:30):
Did say highly regarded, though, well, I mean the story
I regarded, right, Remember Ryan, you think every movie is
someone's favorite movie.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
So got his ass. I mean fair.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
Highly regarded.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
I don't know what else is highly regarded by. Give
me some names and I'll tell you if I like
it or not. Let's do a light being round.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Pretty much everything has been. There's a few that.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
I do like Shawshank, Green Mile, Fine.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
You know.

Speaker 4 (12:04):
I think it's Morgan Morgan Freeman's voice in Shawshank. It's
just so soothing, you know. It's one of those things
where it's like, I can't hate this movie. Morgan Freeman's
narrating the whole thing to me.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Tim Robbins is great in that, but I still think
that it is simply a Morgan Freeman film. Sure. Overall, yeah,
I agree. I wish some of these would get better adaptations.
I got to be honest, Like last last summer I
worked on Thinner, and that movie could have been so
much better if it was done. I don't know three
years later.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
I don't know that time would have made that one
any better. I do.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
It's one of those ones that's like almost like the
trashy exploitation Stephen King one, and I kind of love
it for that. I know it's like so politically incorrect now,
like but you just.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
The term gypsy being used trigger warning for any gypsies
in the audience.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
But yeah, there's yeah, I can't think of any others
that I just outright I don't think there's any that
I outright hate. But I also was like looking at
a letterbox list of adaptations, and I've I haven't seen
a huge chunk of them. I didn't even realize how
many there were until I actually sat down and looked
at a list and I was like, Jesus, I think Chris,

(13:21):
you were looking it up beforehand. It was like fifty
one adaptations or something like that.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
That's crazy.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Fifty one soon to be what fifty two with Osgod
Perkins The Monkey next year, I mean, and what another
Salem's Lot movie coming out before the end of this year, Like,
oh goodness, yeah, okay, we haven't seen that story adapted before.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, bio horror maestro. On that note, you mentioned the novels.
Obviously you've clearly read quite a few of them. Are
there any that have stood the test of time? For you?
Is like being your your absolute favorite.

Speaker 4 (14:01):
I read so many of them when I was young,
and it just it was kind of like I read
like so many of those and like just trashy, like
Dean Coon's novels. I just wanted to read them all,
and so I do remember it took me, and I
think it was more just my sense of accomplishment because
the book it was the longest book I had read

(14:22):
at the time, and I was really proud of myself
for finishing it. But it was the shining and then
later I read it and I was like, I'm so
proud of myself I finished it. And but actually, I
think a lot more of his short stories I enjoy.
There's one called The Long Walk that I really like,

(14:44):
and I don't think that one's been adapted yet, but.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yet twenty twenty five or twenty twenty six coming soon?

Speaker 3 (14:50):
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 2 (14:51):
I am beyond dead fucking seriously being adapted by Francis Lawrence.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
Yep, I don't know who that is.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
He directed Han Stantine and I am Legend and the
critically acclaimed Water for Elephants.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
Okay, well.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
That's the perfect response, thank you.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
I mean, I'm indifferent to all of that.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
So oh, I was hoping you were a huge Water
for Elephants fan.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
No, but yeah, that's I mean, it's it's fine. Like
the thing is is, like I actually can't be mad
about that because I complain all the time about things
getting remade too much, and like there's so much source
material out there from short stories and novels besides Stephen King.
But we're talking about King, so I mean, at least

(15:38):
it's something new. I'll give it that. That's that's my
positive spin on it.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
I'd love to hear it. That's so rare.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
I know it doesn't happen often, and it's recorded.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Fuck.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
I love your energy, by the way, somehow, even I'm like, whoah.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
The big question behind Stephen King adaptations and really all adaptations,
what do you personally value in these adaptations. Does it
need to be faithful to the book to be a
good adaptation or you find with them taking their own
spin on the story as long as it's a good film.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
The latter for me, because.

Speaker 4 (16:15):
You know, Stephen king is he's a good writer, but
he's not a great writer. So I think it's fine
if you take some elements and change it. You know,
I'm not a fan of changing certain things, like needful things.
The kid dies in that one, but it doesn't die

(16:36):
in the movie, Like, why.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Would you do that? Cowards?

Speaker 4 (16:41):
Right, No, I don't necessarily feel like they need to
be completely faithful. I think a lot of stuff is
just you know, source material, and a lot of stuff
just doesn't adapt well, you know. So I think a
smart screenwriter can take what it's important from it, you know,

(17:01):
the right characterization from it, because I know a lot of.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
People will.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
If they watch a movie first and read the book afterwards,
they're picturing those people their faces in as those characters,
and so if you stray too far from it, it
can be frustrating if you're doing it in that the
movie first, book later version, Whereas I don't think it's
that big of a deal if you read the book

(17:29):
first and then watch it and are like, Okay, well
they change this and that.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
But that makes sense.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
But I know, you know, King has thoughts about some
of his you know, the adaptations of some of his works.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
So but that this question was a specific thing Ryan like,
is this like the Shining question? That's what this seals like, like no, no, no,
But it kind of is because like, no, no, no, Stephen
King hates the adaptation of the Shining right that isloriously, So.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
That's the thing that he's public about. But this is
a question about all adapt It works when it comes
to things like this that become cult favorites or something
that people hold dear from childhood. Like a lot of
us were raised reading Stephen King books. And then if
you read you know, I mean Needful Things. If you
read Needful Things when you were eleven years old and

(18:17):
then you finally see the adaptation when you're like nineteen,
do you automatically go, oh, this is bad because it
doesn't stick to the book, or you just say, I mean,
this is decent as a film, but I wish it
was a better adaptation of the story. Or are they
two separate things and you can respect them both, like
people genuinely have hot takes on that.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
Yeah, I don't feel like I have a hot take
on that.

Speaker 4 (18:38):
I feel like it's like, just make a good movie,
which seems to be very hard for people lately.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
But you know, I kind of, I mean, I kind
of agree, Like I don't look at the books and
TV shows and movies are three separate mediums, and the
amount of time and effort needed to tell a story
and those three mediums is not the same, and so
then spending time, I'm getting frustrated that a movie is
not like a book. Is kind of like you, no shit,

(19:05):
It's like two hour long movie is not the same
as thirteen fourteen hours worth of listening to a book
or reading a book or watching an eight to ten
hour you know, run of a TV show. Like I guess,
I guess. My answer is I don't think there's a
good way to adapt books into movies. I think it
should be TV because it's a much longer narrative. I

(19:27):
think gets depending on the thing. But like, I don't know,
can't they both be good? Can you like both of them?

Speaker 1 (19:35):
We hear it.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Someone's Favorite Productions believes that every movie is someone's favorite.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
I love that all three of us have been sort
of infiltrated by the SFP moniker and worked with SFP,
So thank you all. It's true.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
I mean, hey, you know, I don't want to. I
don't want to bad mouth The Dark Tower too much
because it could be somebody's favorite movie.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
It was. I guarantee it. Yoursela's kid loved it for
twelve minutes.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
He loved all the nice things his dad was able
to buy for him afterwards. That's true.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
That's true. Last establishing question before we go to our
main discussion. Since you don't love most modern cinema, what's
what's your take on everybody's love for Mike Flanagan being
the modern director being able to adapt his films literally
better than anyone.

Speaker 4 (20:27):
I'm gonna be Did he do personally? Okay, so I
saw that one because dead kids, but.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah, lots of dead kids in that movie.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
Yeah, but uh I honestly I don't have an opinion
about that. Like I Yes, true, I don't like most
modern film, but I'm gonna narrow that down. I don't
like most modern horror because there's plenty of like non
horror films especially international films that I do like. It's

(21:01):
just I don't have a taste for modern horror. I
will say this about Mike Flanagan that everyone, not everyone,
A lot of people seem to really enjoy the work
that he's doing, and he seems to, from what I've
read and from what I've seen, have a genuine love
for the source material. So I think that's important. But

(21:23):
it's just one of those things that like, you know,
modern horror and how people how stories are being told now,
and how the films it's hard to even call them
films anymore because some people don't even shoot on film,
but how they look to me now, it's just everything
is so sleek, and everyone's so pretty, and everyone says

(21:44):
the perfect thing, and everyone has the perfect comeback and
is super quippy without and Doctor Sleep's not an example.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
This is like off tangent, but.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
You know, people, you know, they'll have these sort of
like gen z speak, but the film is taking place
in the future, where it's like, why you're you're using
modern language for this or even in like you know,
especially when they go backwards in time, and you know,
we're using slang from the modest So I have plenty

(22:15):
of problems just with like a lot of elements of
modern films. So I just prefer to stay in the
past when I'm choosing what to watch. But I do
think again, getting back to flan again, a lot of
people seem to like what he's done, so good for them.
I just haven't seen enough to really have an opinion

(22:36):
about him, so I'll just you know that I would
leave it at that too.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
I love your I love your energy. By the way,
thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
I do.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
I mean, I got to do because at the same time,
like I kind of feel the same way about Mike Flanagan,
like it, well, it's cool. New movies are nice.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
I feel like Chris is on the edge of saying
if I had kids, you could kill him here.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
You want to see them dead at this point.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
I mean, I only like to see the kids dye
in movies. So not real, not real ones.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
That's sad. We can film it. How's that? No, Oh,
then it's a snuff film.

Speaker 4 (23:14):
Now it's now you're now it's getting weird, all right, question.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Christie Anthony, thank you for that. Let's go to question
number one.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
She was innocent?

Speaker 1 (23:24):
Brouh Our first question that we always start off with
and I feel like for this topic, this is a
difficult one because there could be literally like forty correct
answers for this. So for you, Erico, what do you
think is the foundational title for Stephen King adapted films?

Speaker 4 (23:42):
So this is this is tough because you also have
to think about when, like or how old someone is,
do you know, as like an entry point for them,
Like you know, you're just starting into these films, how.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
Old are you? What's your sort of background?

Speaker 4 (23:59):
At least I think about that when I'm making recommendations,
so I I you know, it's hard, Like I when
thinking about an entry point for Stephen King, I don't
think of adults though, because I do feel like many
people grew up on him, like you said, so it
would probably be a child like myself who would need

(24:19):
some sort of entry point. So I think I would
probably assume that if it was an adult and they
are just now getting into Stephen King, that maybe they're
a bit squeamish. So I think if I was going
to work across the board for maybe that type of
adult and a child, that it could be what mine
I think was, and that stand by me. I think

(24:41):
that's a good entry point for Stephen King. If I
were to stay on brand, I would say the mist.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
So why why is stand by Me the foundational title?

Speaker 4 (24:54):
I think because it's just one of those coming of
age films and it's not. It doesn't it doesn't have
a supernatural element like so many of Stephen King books to,
and so it doesn't take you too far out of reality.
And honestly, it's just one of those films where you know,
you can see yourself even if you're you know, no

(25:16):
matter how you identify, you can see yourself in one
of each of those characters, or at least part of it,
part of your own youth especially, And so I think
it's just one of those like sweet films about childhood
friends going to find a dead body. And you don't

(25:37):
get films like that anymore. You know, everyone's really, you know,
getting revenge for dead bodies. No one's going to go
look for the dead bodies.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
There's a step between the revenge and the dead body.
There's got to be somebody finding the dead body we need.
We're finding body movies. Yeah, I'm gonna be honest. I
thought I was gonna be clever and have this as
my answer for the first one, because I didn't think
either of you would. But to be fair like, I
truly think this is the foundational title, and not only

(26:08):
because of you know, people potentially being squeamish if they're
entering into it. But this is a great literally like
one of the best adaptations of my opinion, of his novels.
It's fairly close to the source material. It's kind of
indicative of his writing style overall, because it's a group
of kids and you get that dynamic, you get the

(26:29):
the bullying dynamic, which is a part of many of
his stories. You get the macabre and the dead body,
and you know the interactions with the parents at the
beginning and kids being forced into more adult situations than
they normally would be. And based on that, yeah, I
think this is a really great first century into this
entire list, and honestly, I think it's a little more

(26:53):
mature than most people even think it is. And when
you hear about the synopsis or if you haven't seen
it in twenty years, it's pretty fuck great and pretty
pretty damn adult. What about you, Chris, what is your
choice for foundational title for this?

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Given that I've never seen stand by me, So there
you go. First off, I can't wax rhapsodically about it
the way y'all can, so just putting that out there,
that's why I'm not picking it. I didn't know what
to pick here, because it's not that I don't have
a dog in the fight. But Erica, you put it
pretty succinctly. For the most part, Stephen King's novels aren't great.

(27:32):
I'm much more a fan of his short stories, and
then his short story adaptations are most of the adaptations
that people know for Stephen King are his novels, not
his short stories. And so just to get out in
front of that ahead of time by just acknowledging that,
I think my answer here maybe speaking of kind of

(27:54):
the obvious answers, because I mean, again, stand by me,
not an obvious answer to me, but I've never seen it.
But judging by his and you guys will like this,
judging by his rotten Tomatoes meter, there's clearly one answer here.
It's only higher by one percent by the movie that
Erica picked, which sounds like it may be the one
that Ryan was contemplating. I think you would both agree,

(28:16):
though it touches on similar topics and ideas to stand
by me, at least from what I've gleaned from what
y'all are talking about. Nineteen seventy six is Carrie, I
think is pretty good. There are dead kids, I mean teenagers.
I guess children not count. Yeah, okay, so dead John Travolta, yeah,
heo dead teenagers. Maybe not dead kids. But it's you know,

(28:39):
it's directed by Brian de Palma. It's pretty faithful adaptation
of the book. It's well directed, well acted, Sissy SpaceX great,
it has a jump ending, has Piper Laurie, and I
think it's fine. I think it's a good movie. Is
it my favorite Stephen King movie? No, But I think
it's one that touches on similar ideas to stand me,

(29:01):
gets to the core of I think what Stephen King
is kind of always talking about with a certain kind
of story that he writes. And it's well directed, well written,
well acted. Can you really ask for more than that?

Speaker 1 (29:11):
Well? And it's it's an intro to that supernatural side that.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
Erica right, and it's a little bit right. It's it's
like the shining levels of supernatural, which is to say,
like we're not going to really explain it, but it's there,
like okay.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
I also like how it's a supernatural side that needs
no effects. You literally just stare really dramatically.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
Same episode of the fucking Twilight Zone does okay? Scary?
I think it's I think it's good. I would not
say the same about the remake, which is unfortunate because
while Ryan, I know you like to say every movie
is someone's favorite movie, I don't know if that is.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
Uh, why are we harping on that, steven A.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
I don't know. I don't know because sometimes I have
a hard time believing it when we're talking about of
a remake of Carry with Chloe Glake, Grace Moretz and Julianne.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
Moore but incredible actresses, And I disagree with you on that,
but I think the original is.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
I think the original is definitely worth checking out. And
I didn't say the Shining because I think the Shining
is will we'll probably talk about it. So that's where
I am leaving it. Ryan, what about you?

Speaker 1 (30:21):
Well, I mean, I'm going to lean into stand by me,
but I really want to hear Erica's thoughts on Carrie too,
because Eric and I have not talked about most of
these films before. So I'm just dying to hear your
her thoughts on everything.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
I love carry And honestly, that would have been my
runner up pick for an entry point because again, it
doesn't have too much of a supernatural element. You know,
it's the telekinesis, which is like, I've never actually seen
it happen, but you know that seems more likely than
a fucking ghosts or whatever. But no, it's one of

(30:54):
my favorite adaptations of his, if not my favorite adaptations
of his, and I just think it's, like Chris said,
it's close to the source material. But I mean I
named my dog Piper after Piper Laurie, like I love
her in that movie so much, So yeah, I would,

(31:16):
I would stand by that. Like again, that was my
backup pick.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
So my mom is probably going to watch this, and
she has told me that she does not remember this,
but when I was six or seven years old, my
mom put on Carrie with me in the living room,
knowing that I was gonna be there to watch it,
and man did that mess me up for a couple months.
Love this movie always have. I think Paul is a master,

(31:40):
and to be fair, I think we kind of crafted
the perfect like dual foundation here, because if somebody's not
a fan of supernatural stuff, you go stand by me
if you are like interested in the supernatural stuff. Carrie
is kind of the perfect gateway. And not only that,
it's the first adaptation, it's the first book that he
got out there. It's like the literal foundation of what

(32:01):
was to come from him. And because of that, for
a lot of people, and I'm sure as Eric has
put her first book out there, you might be able
to attest to this, that first book has the most
like put into it, the most lead up time. Usually
it's the one that they've been struggling and perfecting for
years to get into everybody's hands. And based on that,

(32:22):
if this was one of his lesser books, we probably
would not be talking about him if that was the
first one that he put out there. Carrie being able
to stand the test of time is the only reason
we have more than fifty adaptations to discuss tonight.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
All right. One of our questions that people look at
as potentially the most difficult to discuss, Erica, could you
recommend a lesser known title in this list of adaptations,
which again might not be like a great first time
watch but is still a really great film.

Speaker 4 (32:56):
Yeah, so I've got two here, I've got one classy
one try so. The first one is something I saw
at Fantastic Fest a few years ago called Timekeepers of Eternity.
This is an experimental film from a director from Grease.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
I believe he took the TV movie.

Speaker 4 (33:17):
Or miniseriies, whatever you want to call it, the Langele ears.
He cut it down to sixty four minutes and added
black and white collage animation to it. This was one
of my favorite films that I saw a Fantastic Fests
that year. It's completely changes how the story is told,
but somehow keeps the central idea from the original in

(33:39):
one third of the time, but in an abstract way.
You know, folks out here making two and a half
fucking two and a half hour, fucking terrifier movies they
could learn a few things from something like.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
This shots Fire Your Day. That goddamn trailer comes out
for the third one and everything.

Speaker 4 (33:57):
Oh yeah, it was on top of mind. I saw
that and I was like, God, damn it, how long
is this one?

Speaker 2 (34:02):
Three hours? Three and a half hours of art. The
clown backstory and mythology that everybody won.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
Yeah, we need the backstory, of course, but yeah, And
what's amazing to me is this is the director's first
and I wouldn't even call it like a feature length film.
It's just over sixty minutes. But all he's got is
other short films. So he's got one other animated film.
It's about like it's only six minutes about it's about

(34:28):
the theoretical porn collection of Kafka. So that's fun. So
that's my classy one, my trashy one. And I don't
know if this is necessarily like the deepest cut, but
it is certainly underseen. And I beat the drum for
this movie whenever I get the chance, and it was Honestly,

(34:49):
it's the whole reason I picked this topic so I
could talk about this.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
Movie as Children of the Corn.

Speaker 4 (34:55):
Three people who've listened to me have heard me talk
about this fucking movie now, I Children of the Corn
three Urban Harvest.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
I've seen all of the films in.

Speaker 4 (35:08):
This series, including the latest one that came out a
couple of years ago, and the problem and I guess
this sort of gets back to your other question earlier Ryan,
about like what are some ones that are like beloved
and you don't like, Well, the original Children of the
Corn it's just so mediocre to me, Like it has
some memorable moments, but ultimately it's just fine. Part two

(35:30):
is fun, I'll give it that. My co host Lance
will argue with me that that's the best one in
the series. But I'm going to die on the hill
for Part three. Like I don't want to die for
a Children of the Corn movie, but if I have to,
I'm going to.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
Die on the Part three hill.

Speaker 4 (35:42):
So ranking them, I'd go three to the short film
Disciples of the Crow, the first one, and then collectively
all the rest. Just bubble them all up and spin
them out somewhere else. You know, You've got four or five,
six sixty six Runaway Revelations remakes all this, they're all
equally terrible.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
It is.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
There's something about the fact.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
That there are so many is just fucked beyond that
they were making them from nineteen eighty four until now,
but technically nineteen eighty four to twenty eighteen is a
little much.

Speaker 4 (36:16):
Yeah, it's it's a lot, but the there's I don't know,
there's just there's something about Part three in a series
where you know, it just does something right like a
lot of them go off the rails and have the
most memorable entry for them. Not Hell Raiser. They that
just went in a weird direction and wasn't great. But

(36:37):
they they just you know, you know, you have the
first one that makes money, the second one is in
immediate cash in, and then by the third they feel
like they can go a little bit wild, a little
bit punk. Sometimes they change the formula. You know, you
look at Halloween three, even nightmarre on Street Part three,
Friday the Thirteenth, Part three.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
Mister Rampils Part three.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
Uh, the three D one I don't love of Part
two is the one that doesn't for me in that series.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
But isn't three the one with the priest in the
hand that shoots out of the thing. Is that the
third one or the second one?

Speaker 3 (37:10):
That's the third one? That's the three D one?

Speaker 4 (37:11):
But like even like House, like I don't even like
the first and second one really, but House three aka
the horror Show, that one goes off the rails.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
It's great. So anyway, yeah chillin the corn Part three
Urban Harvests. Check it out.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
What a rousing rally, call for everybody to go check out.
Only a couple of the long running series. Fully agree,
the first one is just kind of boring compared to
the third one. Yeah, and I don't like most of
the other ones. But I'm still stuck. What was the
title of the classic film.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
Again, Timekeepers of Eternity?

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Is there anywhere to see that? That sounds fucking amazing? No.

Speaker 4 (37:55):
I actually looked on letterboxed. I think it was on
Netflix for like a short run a year or two ago.
It doesn't have a physical release yet. Yeah, I just
I saw it a Fantastic Fest and I was like,
holy shit, this is great.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Yeah, I hope that's something anyone has ever said about
the Langaliers. To be fair, no exactly.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
I'm like at first, I was like, it's a what
of the it's he did the Langaliars what? And I
was so confused. But then a bunch of people at
the festival saw it. And the good thing about Fantastic
Fest is like you have first half, second half, so
you can start, you know, first half. If someone you
know people are seeing certain movies and like people you
trust on letterbox, I only have a few, then they

(38:38):
are people were given this four stars and I was like,
holy shit, I'm gonna check this out and yeah, it
was amazing.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Wow, it sounds incredible. Its uh, definitely ere to see
this one. Chris, what about you? What is uh one
of these that you think fly under everybody's radar? That
would be a good second watch for somebody.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Well, first off, I'm very disappointed to learn that nobody
likes the movies that are set Nebraska. How dare you? Uh,
I'm just kidding. The first Children of the Korn movie
is beyond fucking boring. I don't even understand what there
is to like about it. It's just boring Malachai like that, Yeah,

(39:22):
shut the fuck up. Like I don't understand why the
adults just didn't punch the kids in the face like
they're just kids, Like just grab them, pick them up
and throw them Like I don't understand they don't weigh
very much. I So this is the thing. So we've
talked about this before, Like Stephen King is someone who
I have an immense amount of respect for, but he

(39:44):
doesn't know how to end a book at all, and
a lot of his movies suffer from the fact that
his books don't know how to end. And this and
we've already I think, Erica, you may have already mentioned
it and passing. This is for me the Stephen King
adaptation because not only does it take the story that

(40:05):
Stephen King had, but I think it makes it better.
And I wouldn't suggest anybody go check this out immediately
unless you've already seen it, or unless you want to
have a real bad evening, because it's probably gonna put
you in a real bad mood at the end. Some people.
It doesn't put me in a bad mood. I'm not
gonna say it makes me laugh, but like it's definitely
not uplifting as an ending, but two thousand and seven's
the miss. I think it might be my favorite thing

(40:27):
that's been adapted of Stephen King's period. And the ending
is pretty funny. It's pretty fucked up, but it's like,
I mean, like you've got to know when Frank Derebat
was sitting there and writing and he's like, oh, boy, yep,
this is gonna be good, because like that's the thing,
you know, like the audience seeing it is one thing,
but it had to come from somebody's mind and Darebant

(40:50):
sitting there writing that script, like you know, he was
just thinking to himself, like boy, I'm gonna make some
people real mad with this one, and that's fine because
the novella is okay. But the novella is a good
starting place for where Heat, where Frank Darrebon ends up
taking it. And I'll go as far as to say
I think it's the best Frank Drebon adaptation of a

(41:12):
Stephen King thing. I think it's better. I don't. I
wasn't a huge fan of shawsh Ank or Green Mile.
I would watch the mist over both of those all day.
I get it that they're very different kinds of movies,
and The Green Mile and Shawshank are much serious, more
serious movies that are, you know, nominated for Academy Awards.
It's not Tom Jane blowing his brains out at the

(41:35):
end of the movie. I get it. But that's more
what I'm here for with Stephen King, like I don't.
It's not that I don't think Stephen King can write
a heartwarming story, but I don't care about Hearts and Atlantis.
I don't care about The Green Mile, and I don't
care about The Shawshank Redemption. I just don't. They're just
not things that motivate me. And so when I think
of Stephen King and his adaptations. That are the ones

(41:55):
that I would prefer to watch but could not in
good conscience suggest someone watch out of Pocket. It would
be The Mist, followed closely probably by fourteen oh eight,
which is a movie I actually enjoy way more than
I think most people even remember that it existed, so
and it it. It came out the same year as
The Myst, but they didn't pull the trigger on the

(42:16):
like bad ending for that movie and said they had
to give it the happy Hollywood ending, which is horseshit.
So yeah, like in the mid Well, I remember seeing
The Missed in fourteen oh eight the same summer and
thinking to myself, like, oh, so this is how you
just don't give a shit and just do whatever you want,
versus like being required to make it so that John
Cusack survives in the end, like who cares?

Speaker 3 (42:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Thoughts on The Myst Erica, I love this movie.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
I do it.

Speaker 4 (42:43):
It's one of the few movies from this century that
I do really like, and not just for the ending.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
I know what people are thinking.

Speaker 4 (42:52):
I actually prefer the black and white version of it, like,
I think it makes it an even better movie than
it already is.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
I think it's just a great like boiler, you know,
just fucking boiler. Yeah, what's the word I phrase? I want?

Speaker 4 (43:11):
I'm brain fried anyway, sticking a bunch of people in
there and like just things.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
Oh a bottle a bottle episode.

Speaker 4 (43:19):
Yeah, but like, you know, the monsters are fun in it,
you know, it's just it's one.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
Of them not overly explained.

Speaker 4 (43:28):
Yeah, and that's that's That's my Another peeve I have
with so many movies is like we have to explain
things because people are dumb, and it's like.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
I can tell, but that's I'm with you one. Like
I think taking the ambiguity out of things is beyond unconscionable.
Like what's the point then, what's the point? Like, oh,
Darth Vader was just a kid at one point. Cool,
I don't care, Yeah, I don't care.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
Yeah, No, but I love it great pick.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
I am a first off, gotta say it sad and
that nobody said Missus Carmody because she is maybe the
best villain in any of these stories. And I love
her in the mist because she is so hateable. But
the other thing, like I am yearning for the day
that Frank darabaht after his whole Walking Dead shit show
fiasco where he got ousted for no reason, comes back

(44:16):
to filmmaking because I loved his stuff for so long.
I would love to see him come back and do
something amazing again, like The myst and just shock the
hell out of everybody. He was great.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
Yeah, it was a shame that he got kicked off
The Walking Dead, but that show sucks now, so yeah,
you know, I mean, yeah, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
There's like four spin offs. I don't even know if
the original is still going, but yeah, they've done like
three other shows. God, I I wanted to throw another
one in here. And this is gonna be the exact
opposite of Chris's because it completely falls apart at the end.
Chris is the redemptive film compared to the book at

(44:56):
the end, and I completely agree. But I had to
go and give some love to the one that I
mentioned at the beginning, Mike Flanagan. And for some reason,
in twenty seventeen and twenty nineteen, Netflix kind of came
out of nowhere and did a few Stephen King adaptations
which weren't awful. And I really want to talk about
twenty seventeen's Jerald's Game. Did you see Jerald's Game Erica.

Speaker 3 (45:19):
Yeah, I did.

Speaker 4 (45:20):
Actually, I think I was like house sitting and they
had Netflix, and I was like, I'll watch this.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
Do you remember it much? Sorry? Were you happy with it?

Speaker 4 (45:27):
I don't remember it much. I don't remember hating it.
So that's always a good thing.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
Positive. Yeah, So for those that don't know much about
Jerald's Game. For the longest time, this one was looked
at as the quote unadaptable Stephen King film, and this
is the first time that it was tackled. And essentially,
it's the story of a man and a woman that
go to a cabin in the middle of a forest
and they've been having marital problems and this is their

(45:52):
this is their attempt at, you know, bringing that spark
back to the relationship and they're getting intimate and he
literally dies on top of her in the middle of nowhere,
so she can't escape. She's handcuffed to the bed and
there is now this journey for survival, and of course
lots of crazy things happen. There's a really gnarly gore

(46:14):
scene in this movie that you don't expect if you've
not read the story. Unfortunately, the ending is kind of
bunk it's not real great the way that it was filmed.
I bet Netflix had something to say about ending this
one this way. I still think it's a great movie overall.
And the best thing is this movie has acted incredibly well.

(46:36):
And for a story like this, you're literally seeing one
person carry eighty five percent of this film. So if
they're not great, this is going to fall apart. And
I think this is This would probably be a really
grueling first time watch if you've not seen any of
the other Stephen King adaptations, and you'd probably be like, yeah,
I don't really want to see many others after this

(46:56):
if this is what they're all like. But if this
is a second or third step into it, you might
be fairly excited because it is a pretty good adaptation
of a very difficult story to tell on the screen.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
I think we got to give props to Mike Flanagan
for continuing to give Henry Thomas work.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
He absolutely does that in just about everything.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
I love Henry Thomas. He's great, But it's just like,
of all the people, Mike Flanagan just being like, you
just want to be part of my troop of people
for the next decade plus.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
Well, and the other ones, I mean Kate Siegels and
this his wife Carla Gugino.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Kate Siegeles guaranteed to be in Mike Flanagan's stuff.

Speaker 1 (47:35):
At this point. Now others, they were all in his
most recent mini series that he did for Netflix, So yeah,
they're all. It's basically just his group of friends going
out and making pretty great stories. Good way to go
about it. This next question, I feel like, for Stephen
King is kind of obvious, but I would love to

(47:56):
hear the way that all three of us are going
to explain this. So Erica, what is the biggest impact
that Stephen King adaptations have had on pop culture overall? Now, again,
does not have to be like a specific film. It
can be, but it doesn't have to be. It can
be something like inspiring other filmmakers. It can be invigorating
a genre. It can be killing a lot of kids
on screen, whatever you want it to be.

Speaker 4 (48:17):
I mean, yeah, obviously the answer for me is, you know,
can all those kids he killed? But I mean bigger
than that, Like, you know, our modern concept of celebrity
is so hyper focused on actors and actresses for the
most part, and like you know, pop singers and whoever

(48:38):
but Stephen King has managed to sort of carve himself
a little you know, his own celebrity niche over here,
and like that, you know, the adaptations of his films
could very well lead people to reading, you know, reading
more books because they're like, oh, I liked Carrie, I'm
going to go, you know, finally read the book. I

(49:01):
don't know, like I don't think kids really read anymore.
I don't think they fucking watch movies anymore. But I
do think that like him having you know, he's got
a huge, you know, fan base.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
You know, he's but he's also he's just like he's
just a fucking nerd, you know.

Speaker 4 (49:19):
And it's like, but he's still a celebrity, and like
he's got this sort of outlet for adaptations of his films,
and I'm sure he's making a lot of money and
he's using his celebrity and these you know to a
certain extent, Like the adaptations that are being made from
it are giving him more of that, you know, to

(49:39):
be like a good person. You know, he's an animal
advocate and like he trashes trashy people on social media.
You know, he's not a fucking ship bag transphobe, like
some authors are so uh.

Speaker 2 (49:55):
Oh, they're immensely successful adapted authors.

Speaker 4 (49:57):
You mean yeah, So, I just I just think, like,
even if his writing isn't great, I think he's a
good person. And the fact that like a nerd has
managed to like be that successful and in like a
celebrity sort of spotlight and have these adaptations, which could
in turn lead people to hopefully reading more I think

(50:20):
is good.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
But mostly dead kids.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
Not to mention a nerd that could do that much cocaine.

Speaker 3 (50:26):
Oh yeah, I mean, yeah, he's who.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
I love that it took fifty minutes to be able
to say the word cocaine for the first time on
this episode.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
Let me spend it fifty one minutes to now say
the next thing, kid Gangbang. Okay, now we've mentioned all
the Stephen King stuff, right.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
Okay, Can I just say the number of times that
people bring up like it is not a great adaptation
because they're never going to film the gang being it
is so weird that people on the internet are clamoring
for that. Do you not understand what that's saying about you? Publicly?

Speaker 2 (50:56):
These are the same people that go to pornhub.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Wow, I guess they don't live in Utah.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
Or in Missouri or Nebraska or Texas or any place
for that matter. I three of us out do do people?
Do people get disappointed by that not being in the adaptation?

Speaker 1 (51:16):
Yeah, it's kind of gross. You know what, Yes, it
is an awful, awful world. But to change the subject
away from that, Chris, what is your answer for what
is the biggest impact that Stephen king adaptations of Adam
pop culture?

Speaker 2 (51:34):
Uh? I mean, I think he's just made the world
of horror a lot more accessible to a lot more
people that never would have seen it otherwise. But I
think that's just the way adaptations work. I mean, like
you already alluded to Erica, like people don't read enough.
As it is, people aren't engaging with various kinds of

(51:56):
media anymore. They're engaging with one singular kind of media,
which is more more than likely short form media on
your phone. And you know, there was a time where
Stephen King's books were like the hottest thing to adapt
and I'm not saying that's not the case anymore. I
mean we've essentially gotten a adaptation of Stephen King's works

(52:17):
once a year for like the last thirty forty years.
I mean, it's only been like one or two years
have gone by without one, and most of the time
we get made make up for it, because you know,
while there weren't any adaptations in twenty sixteen and twenty eighteen,
there were four in twenty seventeen and three in twenty nineteen,
so it's like, holy shit, there's Look. The reality is

(52:39):
nobody modern author Wise has been adapted as many times
as he has, which means that's a positive thing, like
you said, Erica, for people going out there and actually
having an interest being shown to them in terms of
whether or not reading is a thing worth doing. However,
I just think in terms of Stephen King's adaptations of
world of pop culture, it's introduce the world of pop

(53:01):
culture to some of the characters who Now you go
to Spirit Halloween and they've got Penny Wise stuff hanging
off the rafters and shining stuff all over the place,
and it's like, look, where does that come from? That
comes from Stephen King's books being adapted, not people reading
the books. And like, I'm not gonna say that people

(53:22):
don't read books and then you know, manifest and create
things off of the books. But like those people are
real big nerds, like me that, like there's no physical
adaptation of something, but they love it anyways. Like, there
are plenty of book series that have never been adapted
into anything, and people still love them just as much
as books that have been adapted into things. So I

(53:43):
think it's just opening up the world of Stephen King's
stories to a broader audience, which, like you mentioned, Erica,
makes the man a hell of a lot more money
than if he didn't. But I don't know, I mean
in terms of, you know, a real effect on pop culture,
Like Stephen King is the most adapted modern Aw, what
else is there really to say? Like that's a pretty

(54:04):
big deal and it's not for you know, for as
much as I don't like the way his stories end,
it's not because he doesn't have a good fucking hook.
Because of anything, he knows how to write a hook.
He knows how to write a first hundred pages of
a book. I'll give him that. Beyond that, I don't know.
His short stories are what resonates with me. I love
the collection of short stories more than I think I

(54:25):
love any one of his singular, complete narratives. But I
don't think that there's any really one big thing. I
think it's just introducing the world broadly to the world
of Stephen King and what he does as an author,
which I'm not saying he does it any better than
anybody else. I think he's just more marketable because you

(54:45):
already mentioned Dean koons Erica, and I read Dean Koontz's Frankenstein.
I loved the shit out of that. But it was
some trashy garbage like but I liked it, like, I
enjoyed it immensely. But I'm not gonna sit here and
be like, well, people would like that more than they
would like the Dome, Like that was not the case.
So for what was the one with Jill? What's the
there's an adaptation eleven two sixty three is that the

(55:07):
James Franco won Like all, I mean, all of those
things are you know, like those are all things that
people were scrounging around looking for things to adapt to
Stephen King. That's what the reality of all this is.
Stephen King's best stuff has already been his best biggest
stuff has already been adapted, and at this point anybody's
just remaking it. I mean, look at what happened with it,
look at Children of the Corn and Firestarter and you know,

(55:30):
all the Asalem's lot for that matter. Like, I don't know,
Stephen King is just the most marketable horror writer on
the planet, and then his adaptations kind of fall into
the same suit like their big budget studio movies for
the most part, at least they have been recently, which
is not a bad thing. It's just not necessarily what
I'm personally interested in anymore as someone watching horror movies

(55:52):
in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 4 (55:54):
Yeah, you mentioned the uh like Halloween store decorations and
stuff like that, and you mentioned penny Wise, and I
was like, oh, you know what he what.

Speaker 3 (56:03):
Else he contributed?

Speaker 4 (56:04):
I think like he got a generation of kids scared
of clowns. So there's one cultural impact.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Yeah, I mean totally. Uh you know again, like there
was what it was like a five year span where
it was like unavoidable and penny Wise was like unavoidable
and daddy Wise and all the other things. Like I
mean just like the Internet took to penny Wise in
a way that like, of course they did. But yeah,
I guess that. I guess if you want to say,
like the biggest immediate impact would be yeah, making you know,

(56:34):
I used to hear all my friends be like the
original it's so scary. I'm like, really is it though?
Have you fucking seen it?

Speaker 4 (56:39):
Like it's not on a rewatch, but it was when
I was a kid, right, them curry that clown. I
was like, good fucking guy, I'm not scared of clowns now,
but like at the time, I was like, it's a clown,
but it's terrifying, right.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
I was trying to wreck my brain on this one
for a while, and funny enough, I ended up with
like a combination of both of your answers here, And
I think one thing that we should shout out and
give some extra props to him for. My answer for
this one is the dollar babies. The fact that for
a while he was offering licensing to his stories for
literally only a dollar. He would retain all of the rights,

(57:16):
but he would allow somebody to adapt them, and most
of these most people have never seen. However, this is
where we got Frank Derbaht. This is where Guy Madden
even was one of the filmmakers that made one of these,
and just the idea that somebody could hear that this
was happening and be inspired to become a filmmaker. There's

(57:37):
a lot of people that started down the path of
writing these before they tried to go through this program
that he was doing, and it made them blossom literally
into real filmmakers. And so just the idea of him
being a good person and a good steward with his
money and not being greedy like a lot of the
other fucks out there, he made other people step up

(57:59):
and say, I want to do my own thing and
be creative and use his story and my vision and
make something exciting out of it. And I guarantee you
a lot of the modern horror film makers that are
out there, and not just modern, but the last twenty
five thirty years, there's a lot of people that started
because this program was out there and they were just
on pins and needles being able to jump out there

(58:21):
and buy something for a dollar.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
And if not for the goddamn pandemic, Father Malone and
I had paid for the dollar. Baby, We sent him
the dollar, We had the contract and everything, and then
the pandemic happened and then he stopped doing it, and
it was like, oh good, oh good. So yeah, Father
Malone and I, who was a guest on this show,
may have been two of the last group of people

(58:44):
that were like still allowed to do it because we
did it fall of twenty nineteen, Spring of twenty twenty.
I still have all the emails and everything, like, it's
such a bummer. But the dollar Baby's like, yeah, I
mean none of them really, not none of them but
far in few but tween did any of them really
go anywhere? But the fact that there is an author

(59:05):
out there who is as prolific as he is just
being like, well, I've got these handful of stories I
don't really fucking care about. It's like, wait a second, what, like,
who's doing this?

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (59:16):
Stephen King is okay, got it makes sense. He has
such a extensive backlog of stuff. Why not right? Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
Unfortunately, yes, it disbanded as of December twenty twenty three,
and that whole program is gone. But yeah, it was
great while it lasted.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
Sure was.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
This is our last moment to shout out other titles
or anything that has not gotten any airtime, anything else
that you really want to highlight that are on your
list of you might have loved to talk about it there, Eric.

Speaker 4 (59:57):
You know, I remember really liking pet Cemetery as a
kid and I revisit it, and I was like, I
I do love Fred Gwyn and I saw the remake
and you know as much as I love John Lithgal.
Just no, but yeah, I know it's another one of

(01:00:17):
those like insensitive, like oh Indian burial ground type things
where it's like I'm just like, okay, whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
Native American burial ground just doesn't roll off the tongue.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
I guess Indigenous people doesn't have that ring to it, doesn't. Yeah,
the first people's burial grab.

Speaker 4 (01:00:36):
Yeah, yeah, I think And this will tie into like
the last question that y'all do. And I think The
Running Man is like one of my favorites because I
love I love Arnold. I love that that era of Arnold,
so like that's that's one of the words.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
Right out of my mouth. God damn it. H It's
like the best You and King adaptation. Really, I'm pretty
sure it's like the best one.

Speaker 3 (01:01:03):
Oh, you're gonna like my my recommendation that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
Oh I hope, I hope, so I hope. So if
you ask me the same question, Ryan, the Running Man
is the answer.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
I'm not going to ask you some of my answer
for yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
Well, fuck you man, Oh you don't want me to
say the other Man movie, the lawnmower Man.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
Let's have you talk about running Man and whatever else
you would like, go right ahead, Oh.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
I mean running Man's good the end. Eric already said it,
Like it's not a Stephen King thing at all, Like
it's not even a Stephen King book, Like it's a
Bachmann book, and Bachman books are y different, like they're not.
I mean, you mentioned The Long Walk already, Erica, that's
a Backman. Yeah, yeah, Bachman. I mean, like obviously it

(01:01:45):
is still Stephen King, but I don't know. Bachman's stuff
always strikes me as more of like two fisted tales,
while Stephen King is more tales from the cript, like
it's you know, Bachman stuff is a little not action,
but it's a little more socially like the original running
Man story has nothing to do with that movie, which
is fine, I mean, you know whatever, but like what

(01:02:06):
it's actually about has nothing to do with the movie.
But yeah, Bachmann. I like Bachmann stuff. It's just very
very very very different, which is why I couldn't in
good conscience mention the running Man up until this point,
because it's not a Stephen King thing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
Sinner is Bachman too. I think right, I.

Speaker 4 (01:02:22):
Think it was, but I think it's like if you
bought it new copy of it. I think it's Stephen
King now got it. I think I could be wrong.
Someone will someone will go in comments and be like, well, actually,
at me, that's fine.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Uh. The only other one that I was going to
say that you guys have not brought up yet. I
don't know if I'm the only big fan of it
in the room, but I adore Misery nearly a perfect movie.
I think that it's obviously a part of Rob Ryder's
like crazy streak that he went on that most other
filmmakers would die to be on. But I mean the
fact that we have these two masters a film literally

(01:03:01):
carrying the entire story is exciting and well done. And
you know, there's the ankle scene, which is awful. But
as somebody that's lived through multiple foot surgeries, Misery has
hit home for me very much of the last five years.
So I love this movie. And Kathy Bates is an
incredible villainness.

Speaker 6 (01:03:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
Our final question then, a cinematic bridge to Stephen King adaptations.
Anything that you would say if someone liked X, they
would like the Stephen King adaptations.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
Oh me first, Okay, yes, ma'am, I have a few here.

Speaker 4 (01:03:40):
So, because King's stuff is kind of all over the place,
I think at their core, they're always about the characters.
So another genre. And I know, well we kind of
talked about this before, like King movies aren't technically a genre,
but you could call the micro genre if you will.

(01:04:02):
There's so many of them you could. But I think
made for TV horror seems like almost a perfect fit
or perfect bridge, almost a primer before getting into Kings.
So you know, I know plenty of his adaptations were
TV movies or series, so it works. But you know,
something like Gargoyle's Midnight Hour, Dark Knight is Scarecrow. I
think would all be sort of good examples as a

(01:04:25):
bridge there.

Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
Chris, you mentioned Two Fisted Tales. That's another one.

Speaker 4 (01:04:29):
Like I think everyone is always focused on creep show, rightfully, so.

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
But you know there's the lesser known. I wouldn't call
it a film.

Speaker 4 (01:04:39):
They basically just took three segments of Two Fisted Tales
and turned it into a movie. And it's got William
Sadler in the wrap around for it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
So screaming in a wheelchair.

Speaker 4 (01:04:48):
Yeah, So yeah, I think that one's worth people checking
out if they're a fan of the creep show films.
And then getting back to The Running Man. I know,
you know it's technically Bachmann, but if you like The
Running Man, but if you want something a little bit

(01:05:10):
more and I hate this word, but I'm going to
use it elevated or cinematic. I guess there is a
French film that came out in nineteen eighty three, four
years before The Running Man, with an identical premise, and
it's called The Prize of Peril or La Prie do
Danger or danger. I can't say it in French, I'm sorry,

(01:05:30):
The Prize of Peril. It's really fucking good.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
That sounds fantastic. It is, all right, Chris, what do
you got for us? What's a cinematic bridge to Stephen
King adaptations?

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
Yeah? I think Erica kind of already touched on what
my answer is. Like, if I'm willing to con sit
here and concede that the best Stephen King things are
his short stories, I would go as far as to
say something like Tales from the Dark Side is a
pretty good bridge, because cuse that's like the best stuff
that he's done in a lot of ways, like it's
his short stories or short stories adjacent to his own

(01:06:09):
that are being adapted for the right medium, which is
a twenty minute medium, as opposed to taking a oh God,
what is it? Is it a Matheson the box? The
Richard Matheson story and then turning it into an entire
movie two or three times.

Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
Now, It's like, we don't need.

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
A thirty page short story or even less than that
to be a two hour long movie. And I think
for me, Stephen King's stuff, his adaptations work best when
they are the short stories being adapted in an anthology
setting or you know framework, And I think the Tales
from the Dark Side is a good example. And I

(01:06:47):
think that you know, anthology, like Erica said, anthology horror,
I think is a good entry space to Stephen King.
I mean again, look, I would find it hard to
believe in twenty twenty four that you have not seen
a Stephen King thing, or at least have not been
exposed to Stephen King in some form or fashion. Maybe
I'm wrong, but I would find that hard to believe.
So I would think in terms of like the best

(01:07:10):
bridge to Stephen King would be think of the most
mainstream horror thing you can think of. It might just
be a Stephen King thing as it is. Like, I mean,
the most mainstream horror movie in the last decade is
those fucking It movies and those are Stephen King movies. Like,
I don't know, Does Stephen King need a bridge to him?

(01:07:30):
Is maybe what I'm getting at. Maybe that's my point
here is does Stephen King need our help? No? Because
we talked about the movies, there's all the TV show
adaptations and everything else, Like there's so much of his
stuff that's been adapted. Yeah, it's like I would find
it hard if you hadn't seen a Stephen King thing period.
So I don't. Again, there are bridges to him, but
I think he's kind of so ubiquitous. It's almost like,

(01:07:51):
does this guy need our help?

Speaker 3 (01:07:53):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:07:53):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (01:07:54):
I don't think he needs our help. And I think
the way that I interpreted this question was that it's
Aridge from King from something else, and so I think,
like all the examples you gave make the most sense.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
I agree.

Speaker 4 (01:08:07):
I don't think anyone really needs a bridge to King.
He's in your face, he's everywhere.

Speaker 2 (01:08:13):
Yeah, I mean, I think the amount of stuff at
Spirit is his So much of the stuff at Spirit
is his stuff. It's like you can't escape it.

Speaker 4 (01:08:20):
Yeah, I think if anything's just overwhelming to try to understand,
like getting back to the first question, like where's the
entry point?

Speaker 3 (01:08:26):
Like where do I start? You know, that's that might
be the struggle for somebody. But even then it's like,
how have you not seen anything by him yet? Like
you surely have, so.

Speaker 2 (01:08:37):
I would find it hard to believe that someone could
have gone at least an eighteen or nineteen year old
would have gone this long without seeing something Stephen King,
given the ubiquitous nature of it at this point, But
what about you, Bryan.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
Obviously that is correct, he probably doesn't need one. However,
I was mostly gonna say essentially what you just said,
Chris was any not even just anthology horror, but almost
just any anthology film, because he's written in so many
different genres. It's not just horror. He's got straight dramas,
he's got coming of age stories, he's got a lot

(01:09:12):
of comedic elements and a lot of these, and so
literally anything from the old Amarchist anthologies to I hesitate
to ever recommend this, but Twilight Zone, the movie. It
feels like a very obvious similarity to some of his
short stories, but in the sad identifying, like the analysis

(01:09:33):
of the ending of his films. Anthology is kind of
where it's at because he does seem to have a
lot of the establishing characters written well, and then they
don't know how to put a conclusion at the end
of a great story, and so a lot of anthologies
are literally done to kind of take away some of
those problems. And it's a really great comparison to what

(01:09:56):
he's done, especially when you start looking at the novellas,
because it's all short already, Like that's that is the
perfect example for what he does. And some of his
most well known stuff are mini series adaptations or literal
anthologies like creep Show and It's It just tends to
work well with his style of writing and the adaptation

(01:10:16):
of that writing.

Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
We didn't even mentioned creep Show really, like, which is
kind of shocking that it's been an hour and ten
minutes and we haven't mentioned Creep Show. But I think
Creep Show is probably up there, because again it's just
you know, it's Romero and Stephen King together, Like do
you need more than that? Like right, there are no
two people working right now that if you had them

(01:10:39):
working together the way Romero and Stephen King, where you'd
be like, this is gonna be worth something to see,
Like maybe there is, but not with the level of
like mainstream notoriety. I would actually say this might be
kind of a pedantic example. But Stephen King a bridge
to Stephen King's stuff is like Spielberg stuff, and it's

(01:11:01):
like darkest because again, like it's just the most mainstream,
easy to digest, Like Stephen King's stuff is not hard
to digest at all, Like even the child gang bang
of it all. Like I mean, like, but that was
cocaine fueled, right, Like we all can sit here in
like one hundred percent acknowledge that that was Stephen King,
not at a good time in his life, just writing

(01:11:21):
to write because apparently Pennywise was chasing after him in
his in his brain about writing or something. I don't
know why you would write fifteen hundred words about a clown,
but okay, but I mean again, it's like the main
points of that story feel like a Steven Spielberg story,
Like it's about family and growing up and coming of age.

(01:11:43):
You guys mentioned stand by me. We talked about Carrie
like Spielberg's in that same wheelhouse of like, ultimately, at
the end of the day, it's about family. It's about
like the ties that bind us a lot of Stephen King's.
I mean, think of something even as like kind of
awful as sell Like the story of cell is ultimately
about a father trying to save his son from turning

(01:12:04):
into a cell phone zombie, which is just stupidest fucking
thing possible. But I mean my point is, like I
think Steen Stephen King's stuff is so easy to digest
that I just think of the most next best easiest
to digest are your fur children going ape shit over here?

Speaker 4 (01:12:20):
Yeah, sorry, that's just bloody in the corner.

Speaker 2 (01:12:26):
I just think that Spielberg's stuff is as easy to
digest as Stephen King's in terms of like who it's
being made for. And I think that they both know that.
Does Steven Spielberg have as much hand in his stuff
the way Stephen King does?

Speaker 1 (01:12:39):
Know?

Speaker 2 (01:12:39):
But Steven Spielberg does. It's just he's not necessarily getting
credit the way Stephen King is. But I think Steven
spielberg stuff is a good example. And I don't know
if Stephen King would agree, but I didn't write about
child gangbangs, So what is my opinion about you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:54):
I don't know that Steven Spielberg could do a maximum overdrive.

Speaker 2 (01:13:00):
No, No, I mean he did with Duel.

Speaker 1 (01:13:03):
But I guess I was gonna say, I guess that
might be Duel. Yeah, it's a good call. I think
they both write in a very similar fashion. Make it
so everybody can ingest it, and it's a it's easy
to understand.

Speaker 2 (01:13:16):
And that's why it makes so much money. Like that's why,
because it's not even like with I mean again like
the you know again, not to keep bringing it up.
Like the reason that that scene is not in it
is so that it is for a more mainstream audience.
There's no mainstream audience that would go into it if
they knew that there was that hole. This is the
thing that nobody wanted. There's no universe where anybody would

(01:13:38):
go and show up and drove the way that they did.
And so it's yeah, they need to even take the
more unsavory elements of King stuff and boil them out anyways,
just to make sure that like this is the most
approachable mainstream horror possible and for the longest time Stephen
King's stuff was and it will continue to be. Look
at where these movies are being made, Warner Brothers, Sonys, Lionsgate, Paramount.

(01:14:01):
They're not being made by Dick Head down the Street.
I mean they're not. These are big budget Hollywood movies.
So I mean even the one that comes out next
year that's Osgoode, Perkins and Neon. Right, Like, you know,
there's the level of which these movies are being adapted
should speak volumes to which the ubiquitousness of the person

(01:14:21):
riding them.

Speaker 1 (01:14:22):
Let's put it that way, all right. All that being said,
Stephen King is great. Watch some of the movies if
you haven't, but you probably already have, so Erica. Now
that we've said all that, where can people find you
if they want to hear you talk about dead kids
and other fine fun things on the internet.

Speaker 4 (01:14:40):
I mean, I only get to talk about dead kids
if the movie we're covering on Unsung Hores has one,
but Unsung Whores is on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And
then I'm at hex Massacre on letterboxed Instagram, and.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
I don't know about Twitter.

Speaker 4 (01:15:01):
I think once I sell out the book, I'm going
to get off finally, because.

Speaker 3 (01:15:04):
I hate it there, I really do. Yeah, that's where
you can find me.

Speaker 4 (01:15:10):
Like Ryan said at the beginning, and I think by
the time this comes out, the books will be gone.

Speaker 3 (01:15:17):
I will be at again.

Speaker 4 (01:15:19):
I don't know when this is coming out, but I
will be at Fantastic Fest this year for the Fantastic Feud.
So if you are going to that fest, if you
can make a note to go to the feud and
watch me humiliate myself because I am terrible at trivia
type situations and I might have some copies of the

(01:15:40):
book with me there.

Speaker 3 (01:15:42):
Wink wink.

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
Amazing, Chris, what about you?

Speaker 2 (01:15:49):
Wardingwaymedia dot com is where you can find all the
stuff that I work on. There you go all the
podcast I mean, that's it. All the podcast stuff that
I work on can be found there nowhere else other
than if if you're liking, rating and reviewing it on iTunes,
but Weirdingwaymedia dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
What about you, Ryan, Well, this is probably a good
time to talk about work done with someone's favorite productions
that want to highlight a couple of titles that Erica
has been on. Specifically, by the time that this comes out,
you will be able to find some of her wares
on some terr Vision titles. Love the release of Mayhem

(01:16:26):
that is going to be out eventually, I promise, Love
that we were able to get you on Dreamstalker and
the work that we are going to be doing on
something that because I don't know when this is coming,
I can't say much about. But Erica, I know that
I've said it before, but just publicly, you are one
of my favorite people and I'm so glad to be

(01:16:47):
able to work with you on a lot of things
that people won't even see yet by the time that
this is out. So You're amazing and I hope that
you continue to do this great stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:16:59):
Thanks. You appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
This show is, of course, as Chris said, available everywhere
that you get your podcast needs. Please go out there
and give it a rating review on iTunes specifically and
only if you're gonna give it five

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