Acclaimed author his works adapted for the big screen dozens of times - hundreds counting short films and TV specials based on his various novels, novellas, and short stories. These adaptations had varying degrees of success. Some of them were total flops, and others are considered some of the best films ever made.
1980's The Shining is a top-tier King adaptation, often considered the best of them all. While The Shining is certainly worthy of being crowned the best of all Stephen King-inspired films, it's hardly the only film that can legitimately make that claim.
The Shining Is The Best: It Builds Upon The Book
Generally speaking, the film version of The Shining is considered superior to King's novel - a rarity with any page to screen adaptation. There are lots of key differences between the book and the film. Most importantly, the novel makes the Overlook Hotel the sole villain of the film, as Jack Torrance himself is written as a good man and a loving father until the hotel drives him mad.
In the film version, Jack is already a profoundly troubled man, perhaps even already insane, and the ghosts of the hotel can be argued to exist only in his and Danny's minds. Because Jack is already an evil, abusive person, the ghosts drive him to commit horrific acts of violence. This makes the film version more a psychological horror than a traditional ghost story.
Alternative: Carrie
Of course, another strong contender for Best King adaptation is Brian De Palma's Carrie, released in 1976. The film captures not only the horror of the novel, but the sadness that makes the horror so emotionally effective. Carrie is a high school girl with superpowers, but she's a tormented soul, bullied both at home and in school. When the cruelest of pranks is played on her, she puts her supernatural gifts to use and exacts her revenge. Carrie manages to be both deeply upsetting and satisfying at the same time - a difficult balance to strike, but executed to perfection in this classic horror film that's certainly one of the best of all time.
The Shining Is The Best: Stanley Kubrick
Another thing The Shining has going for it is that it's directed by Stanley Kubrick, one of the all-time greats. A known stickler for detail, Kubrick makes every piece of every frame of the film count. In of visual style, Kubrick's most famous addition to the story is the elevator of blood, which was not featured in the book.
Besides that, Kubrick employs many of his established directorial trademarks, such as symmetry of composition and use of natural light, to create a visual and tonal experience that only he could.
Alternative: Stand By Me
Stephen King is most known for his horror stories, but he has dabbled in other genres as well throughout his career. One example of a great non-horror King adaptation is 1986's directed by Rob Reiner. The film is an adventure drama about four children who set out into the woods to find the dead body of a boy who recently had disappeared from their town. Along the way, their resolves are tested in all sorts of ways, making Stand By Me an effective coming of age story as well as a testament to the power of friendship.
The Shining Is The Best: Jack Nicholson
Kubrick's vision of the story was different from King's in that he saw Jack as a psychologically tormented man before anything ghostly started happening to him. In order to make this choice work, he needed an actor who could pull it off. Jack Nicholson was the perfect casting choice, and his performance is what makes the film work.
Nicholson's temperamental outbursts are the most memorable parts of the film, but equally terrifying is his descent into madness, captured often in the film's quieter moments. It's nearly impossible to imagine anyone else in this role.
Alternative: The Mist
2007's The Mist is a great film in its own right. A father and son are trapped in a supermarket after an inter-dimensional portal is opened, through which comes a mysterious mist along with terrifying man-eating monsters. The Mist is at once a fantastically executed creature feature, a political allegory about the effects of fear on a group of people, and a metaphor for the devastating consequences of despair and hopelessness. The ending is one of the most shocking of any film ever made, and the journey there is full of surprises as well.
The Shining Is The Best: Dark Dramatic Elements
Stephen King is known for humanizing his characters so that by the time the horror elements arise, the stakes are made as high as can be. This is especially true of The Shining. Kubrick Themes of child abuse, spousal abuse, and alcoholism are all present in The Shining, before any ghosts show up. One particularly disturbing ghostly vision hints that Jack is sexually abusive to Danny as well, making the story all the more upsetting. The best horror films are those in which the horror and non-horror elements are equally scary. The Shining meets that standard - it may even exceed it.
Alternative: Misery
Like The Shining, a chamber piece of sorts about an author rescued from a car wreck and cared for by Annie Wilkes, one of his biggest fans. Annie isn't as benevolent as she seems, however. When he makes her aware of a certain writing choice she doesn't approve of, she feels it necessary to make some "suggestions," and she doesn't take no for an answer.
Kathy Bates won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the worst "number one fan" ever, and the film remains beloved to this day by Stephen King enthusiasts and horror fans more broadly.
The Shining Is The Best: Fan Theories
The Shining has spawned so many fan theories that a full-length documentary was made about them called Room 237. Is Danny's "Apollo 11" sweater Kubrick's subtle hint that he filmed the faked moon landing? Does the inconsistent geography of the Overlook suggest that the hotel is in fact Hell? Does all of the Native American imagery imply that the hotel is haunted due to it having been built on a Native burial ground? Does the use of mirrors, most notably of course, the backwards spelling of "murder" as "redrum" suggest that the ghosts are merely "reflections" of Jack himself, and that the ghosts are all in his head?
These questions, and many more, have been raised by fans of The Shining whose imaginations are inspired in different ways upon each repeat viewing.
Alternative: The Shawshank Redemption
One of the most beloved films of all time is 1994's The Shawshank Redemption. Based on a Stephen King short story, it's the story of a friendship that blooms between two men serving time in prison, one for contraband smuggling, and one for a double murder he didn't commit. Their journey, both inside and outside the prison walls, is powerful enough to move even the most cynical of audiences. The film is a true crowd-pleaser, as it currently holds the #1 spot on IMDb's Top 250 films.
