- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Titan Books Ltd (23 Nov 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1840233095
- ISBN-13: 978-1840233094
- Product Dimensions: 27.2 x 21 x 1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 638,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The work of Stephen King has always enjoyed a rather rocky relationship with Hollywood and Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide chonicles all the big and small screen adaptations of his novels and short stories. No stone is left unturned in Stephen Jones exhaustive documentary of the great, the okay and the just plain awful movies, some so bad and so far removed from King's original concept, such as Lawnmower Man, that the author has fought to have his name removed from the credits. It's clear from this that producers and directors see King's work as a way of making a quick buck, but for every Graveyard Shift (based on a short story) there is a Shawshank Redemption (another short story originally called "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption"). Jones provides critical commentary and plenty of trivia on every entry but the real meat comes from King's own thoughts on the movie adaptations. He's heavily critical of some, delighted by others and it is made quite plain that in Hollywood, no one really gives a damn about listening to the author after they've signed over the movie rights. This is an interesting and thorough examination of one of the biggest brand names in horror movies and although a tad pricey and probably only for King completists, makes for a great insight into the inner workings of Hollywood and trials of bringing a book to the screen. --Jonathan Weir
Product Description
From award-winning author Stephen Jones comes this definitive illustrated guide to all 50-plus film and television productions taken from the work of master storyteller Stephen King. The book will include in-depth coverage of classic films like Stand By Me, The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption, Carrie, The Shining, Dolores Claiborne and Misery, through fan favourites such as Salem's Lot,The Dead Zone, and Christine, to a comprehensive round-up of enjoyable direct-to-video movies like Sometime They Come Back...Again, TV work (The Stand and Storm of the Century), and even the inside story of Maximum Overdrive, the film King directed himself. Featuring exclusive commentary from Stephen King (drawn from Jones' extensive interviews with him).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hereeeeeee's Stephen!,
By
This review is from: Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide (Illustrated Movie Guide) (Paperback)
It is a well documented fact that Stephen King Adaptations tend to Suck! If by the forces of nature, we are forced to watch the less-creepier end of the Terror Genre. With productions that become plagued with a variety of disaster's, leading men and women come and go like cartoon fads, and more often than usual the authors original screenplay is scrapped at the first hurdle. Numerous sequels have reproduced from the already unsteady vessels from which they have spun-off from, King has become one of the world's greatest known authors, if not the leading voice in Horror writing, but yet is Hollywood's biggest critical and commercial flop originator. Opening up with an Introduction from Director and Friend, Mick Garris, the book jumps straight into the timeline. From the early DePalma Classic 'Carrie', to unfinished projects and ideas for future films stuck in the midst of development hell. Falling back on the King novel 'Danse Macabre' for notes on the authors past, it becomes seemingly apparent that English author Stephen Jones has never met King and appears to be harboring over the fact; but, as the final page is read, you are confronted with a picture of the two arm-in-arm. Shucks! For those unfamiliar with Kings work this is most probably the best introduction available on the market. For the rest of us who have seen a majority of the movies, if not all of them, this is nothing new. Full of interesting facts placed in small boxes on each page and magazine references on the other this is still an interesting buy if only to brush up your knowledge on all those cameos and in-jokes. Nice stills with cast and crew to each movie (excluding Gaffer and Best Boy) this is a handy guide for both the films and the horrifying novels. Came close to four, but sadly just the three stars.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great tie-in with King's movies.,
By
This review is from: Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide (Illustrated Movie Guide) (Paperback)
I am a big fan of movie tie-in books (although I've yet to get THE EVIL DEAD COMPANION). Also being a big fan of Stephen King, both of his novels and films, it was essential that I buy this book. I was not disappointed with what I got.Containing indepth analysis of all King's films up to the date of publication, including comments by the man himself. It's actually quite interesting to see what he's got to say about the good films and the bad, and he even comments on his own film MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, a film us King fans would love to forget! Informative, illustrative and attractively presented, this is one for all King fans.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews) 5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Tidbits, But Gets Tiresome Fast,
By Daniel V. Reilly - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide (Paperback)
Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide got off on the wrong foot quick by crediting (On the lower back cover) the Berni Wrightson cover illustration to the woman who DESIGNED the cover layout. Very sloppy, especially considering Wrightson's rendition of "The Creep" is world-famous.....The book covers all of the films that have sprung, however tenuous the connection may be (Children of the Corn 666), from Mr. King's stories. Stephen Jones does an interesting job of digging up little-known bits of trivia; I'm a King fanatic, and there were quite a few things here that were new to me. The irritating thing is the division of space in the book: A gem like The Green Mile gets the same amount of space as Children of the Corn. Jones devotes too much space to films that have nothing to do with King at all, such as the awful "House", covered because the main character is a King wannabe. The book is an American reprint of a British book, published in the UK by Titan Books, and the fact that Watson-Guptill couldn't even be bothered to Americanise the Brit spellings gets annoying after 100+ pages of "Favourite" and "Colour". Jones also seems to love the word "Eponymous"- He uses it on almost every page, and one would hope that someone has since bought him a Thesaurous. There's a brief King interview at the end, and the book is heavily illustrated with stills and poster reproductions. King fans will probably enjoy Creepshows a lot, but it could have been better.... 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Decent and up to date, but flawed...,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide (Paperback)
This large (in size rather than actual volume of text, as most of the book is occupied by photographs - the vast majority of them in black and white) guide to films, TV productions, fan videos and other filmed works based on or inspired by Stephen King's prose (and one poem...) is not particularly detailed, but certainly contains enough basic information, facts and trivia about almost every minor, major, cancelled or planned King production as of late 2002 to satisfy a King reader interested in the visual media.Unfortunately, it leaves much to be desired. The layout is clunky at times, and there are a few truly pointless parts thrown in at the end most likely just to increase the volume (what in heaven's - or hell's - name would otherwise be the point in including such entries as Sean Cunningham's "House" [apparently listed because its protagonist is a "Stephen King-like writer"], "The Simpsons" episode "Maximum Homerdrive" [whose only relation to King is the title, as the book even admits], or some German porn flick which features a mad naked janitor [allegedly a ripoff of "The Shining's" Jack Torrance]?), and the book does not actually list *all* adaptations of King's writing (where is the best of the King shorts, "Strawberry Spring" from 2001?). The most annoying thing about the guide, however, is the fact that it discusses the films in a chronological order rather than the proper, alphabetical one. This awkward (to put it mildly...) decision makes the book extremely inconvenient for quick checking, looking up particular titles, or comparing movies. Fortunately, there is an index, but still, flipping 87 pages to reach that index after reading an entry for one film, then flipping back 61 pages to find its sequel is infuriating. 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty thorough,
By Little Miss Zombie - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide (Paperback)
Stephen King movies have a pretty bad reputation (just watch Maximum Overdrive or the dozen Children of the Corn movies and see what everyone is complaining about). But I like Stephen King movies, for the most part. Some of my personal favourites are: Storm of the Century (a mini-series written by King), Sometimes They Come Back (a film based on his short story of the same name) and Creepshow (anthology film with a screenplay written by King based on his own short stories). And of course there are the classics like Carrie, The Shining and The Shawshank Redemption.
I don't really understand when people complain that King movie adaptions "ruin" the book because movies are never as good as the book anyway. Here's what King has to say about that: "They may not be good movies but they haven't ruined the books. Look here they are, lined up on the bookshelf." Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide is a thorough handbook for all films based on King's work. Some of the films I haven't even heard of before. And it's fairly recent; the last movie featured is Rose Red, which came out in 2002. The book also includes short films, forthcoming projects (so far only two of them have been produced), unproduced projects, associational titles, King cameos, television episodes, other media (i.e. plays), recurring talent in his films and an interview with King. The write-up about each film includes the tagline, a listing of the cast, a description of the film, how they made the film, a brief background on the book/short story it's based on and various quotes from reviews, King, and people who worked on each film. Each write-up is incredibly thorough and it's interesting to see what King thinks of the movies based on his work. But the films are listed in chronological order rather than alphabetical, making it annoying to find a particular movie without looking it up in the index, unless you know the year it was released. Creepshows also features a lot of nice illustrations, such as movie stills, film posters and book covers. This is an interesting book and I would recommend it if you're a fan of Stephen King or just a fan of horror movies. |
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