Stephen King Named One Movie Adaptation Of His Books A Trainwreck

Stephen King is wildly prolific. That may be an understatement but it's still worth pointing out. Not only does the man have an impressive level of output, but King's stuff is consistently very popular. As such, for virtually as long as he's been a writer, his works have been adapted for the screen, both big and small. Sometimes that goes well, with King being particularly fond of "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me," as a couple of examples. Naturally, Hollywood being Hollywood, those adaptations aren't going to work sometimes. For his part, King was willing to call at least one of them an outright trainwreck.

In a 2007 interview with Time, King was asked about quality control as it relates to adaptations of his work. For starters, the author made it clear that he doesn't generally maintain a lot of control in that department. At the very least, he certainly embraces the notion that he only has so much control.

"I'd go crazy. I don't try to maintain quality control. Except I try to get good people involved. The thing is, when you put together a script, a director, and all the other variables, you never really know what's going to come out. And so you start with the idea that it's like a baseball game — you put the best team you can on the field, and you know that, more times than not, you're gonna win."

That dovetailed into King talking a bit more specifically about some adaptations of his work. He was tough on the "Children of the Corn" movies, which is nothing new, as well as "A Return to Salem's Lot." But it was 2003's "Dreamcatcher" that King name-checked in the most negative way imaginable. 

"In my case, more of the movies than not — if we except things like 'Return to Salem's Lot,' 'Children of the Corn 4,' 'The Children of the Corn Meet the Leprechaun' or whatever it is — if you do that, then most times you're going to have something that's interesting anyway. That doesn't mean you're going to have the occasional thing that's just a trainwreck like 'Dreamcatcher,' because that happens, right?"

The story centers on four friends who gather in the woods for their annual hunting trip. As young boys, they were bound together by another friend whose influence had given them special powers. When a delirious stranger wanders into their camp things get messy, to put it delicately. They ultimately find themselves pitted against an alien invasion and must call upon their old friend to help them save the world. Yes, it's exceptionally weird.

So, what went wrong? Well, in many cases, directors can take good source material and screw it up in the process. In this case, director Lawrence Kasdan only had so much to work with. King has made it clear more than once that he's not a fan of "Dreamcatcher." And, in fairness to the filmmakers, the author has been relatively hard on his own work in this case. In short, he's not exactly a fan of the book either, in hindsight.

In a 2014 interview, King explained that the aftermath of his 1999 near-death car accident is what resulted in "Dreamcatcher." In short, King's drug use and rough condition during that time didn't exactly pave the way for a good environment to produce his best work.

"I was using a lot of Oxycontin for pain. And I couldn't work on a computer back then because it hurt too much to sit in that position. So I wrote the whole thing longhand. And I was pretty stoned when I wrote it, because of the Oxy, and that's another book that shows the drugs at work."

For those who are morbidly curious, "Dreamcatcher" is available on VOD. Or, for those who feel compelled to do so, it's available on DVD and Blu-ray via Amazon.