Topic: Stephen Kink

I'm starting this topic for those of us that are fans of Stephen King, but as Stephen Kink. I freely admit I'm a disciple, he has had a huge influnece on me as a writer.

I call him that because while he's the master or horror, his best talent is to put the reader in places we never want to be but can't bring ourselves to escape from. Also comparable to Quentin Tarantino movies. Call him a kinky, dirty man, if you will, no one understands the dark side of human nature like him.

My three favorites are The Stand, IT, and Christine.

The Stand is the Gold standard of a journey made by characters in a post-apocalyptic setting.

Other than Flagg, it shows you how to make villains real people with motives we can understand, villains you wind up begging not to make that dark choice, but they do. No, Harold, don't make that choice. We feel your pain. Franny should have been yours, but you're becoming a respected person in this new community. You'll find the right girl. Loyd, I could have forgiven you past, I liked you--but you chose wrong.

It is just an incredible book that shows how magic does exist in a child's mind. Anything is possible if you can imagine it. though it does have one scene where I'll dare to criticize King because he made a huge mistake. He made it clear only kids can imagine and use magic, yet when they had to wish they way out of the sewers, they took turns having sex with the only girl on the team. To me that was a huge fowl. Coming to age, trying to become an adult is when you lose that ability.

Christine, well its the perfect horror show of obsession for teenagers. I like how he uses the engines of cars to show how our minds wake up in those teenage years.

I met a guy named Michael Jackson on here, and we really hit it off--might be long lost soul brothers. We're shared our like/dread of Mr. Kink and I told him my ultimate fantasy as a writer would be to be invited by Stephen King to share a beer, then wonder why mine had this gray matter on it as Mr. King assured me not to worry, it was nothing.

Turns out he he wrote a poem: Christmas with Stephen King that captured that fantasy almost perfectly.

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2 Reply by mikejackson1127 (edited by mikejackson1127 2017-05-28 12:17:27)

Re: Stephen Kink

Hey, Ryan. Did you see the teleplay of The Stand? I think it was 'round 91...anyway, the actor who portrayed Randall Flag, flagged, imho. Randall Flagg needed to be portrayed by a serious badass!! Kink thought Robert Duvall or Bruce Dern could pull it off. I'd go with Henry Silva, a very underrated actor who, to the best of my knowledge, never played the "good guy." Christopher Lee, too. Then again, he might not've had Silva's capacity for wry humor, and I'd say that's one of the requirements to fully portray RF. Sadly, Lee and Silva are no longer with us...don't know who else, around today, could do Flagg...

I wonder if The Stand will EVER be tackled by a talented producer and screenwriter...

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Re: Stephen Kink

I've often wondered why Hollywood hasn't done a Christine remake. Imagine her re-cast as a Dodge Avenger in hot pink coming out to Justin Bieber.

But on a more serious note, there's a lot you could do with that story in the hands of the write director (which, sadly, very few Stephen King movies ever seem to see)

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Re: Stephen Kink

mikejackson1127 wrote:

Hey, Ryan. Did you see the teleplay of The Stand? I think it was 'round 91...anyway, the actor who portrayed Randall Flag, flagged, imho. Randall Flagg needed to be portrayed by a serious badass!! Kink thought Robert Duvall or Bruce Dern could pull it off. I'd go with Henry Silva, a very underrated actor who, to the best of my knowledge, never played the "good guy." Christopher Lee, too. Then again, he might not've had Silva's capacity for wry humor, and I'd say that's one of the requirements to fully portray RF. Sadly, Lee and Silva are no longer with us...don't know who else, around today, could do Flagg...

I wonder if The Stand will EVER be tackled by a talented producer and screenwriter...

The Stand is just too much material for even a miniseries to do it justice. Maybe Netflix could make it a 2 or 3 yr TV series. There is just too much material to cover, to much character building that has to be done.

Christopher Walken or Dustin Hoffmann could bring enough chops for Flagg, though Bruce Dern's not a bad choice.
It's funny, I actually liked Molly Ringwald as Fanny though. That miniseries wasn't a bad attempt though.

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Re: Stephen Kink

Kdot wrote:

I've often wondered why Hollywood hasn't done a Christine remake. Imagine her re-cast as a Dodge Avenger in hot pink coming out to Justin Bieber.

But on a more serious note, there's a lot you could do with that story in the hands of the write director (which, sadly, very few Stephen King movies ever seem to see)

It's funny in a really sad way that all the horror attempts have been so bad, but they nailed The Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption so perfectly.
It looks like this next attempt at IT might finally work. (Keeping my fingers crossed on that one.)

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Re: Stephen Kink

Now that the caffeine has finally kicked in, Christoph Waltz would make the perfect Flagg.

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Re: Stephen Kink

I thought Misery was pretty good.

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Re: Stephen Kink

SolN wrote:

I thought Misery was pretty good.

I stand corrected. Misery was excellent and Firestarter was good as well. Needful Things just Okay.

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Re: Stephen Kink

Good point, Ryan, reg the Stand. I need industrial strength caffeine! I agree that Walken and Hoffman could handle the job as Flagg. I'd forgotten about their bad guy roles. Again, some lattes are necessary at this point. That or I could do some lines of Maxwell House.

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10 Reply by mikejackson1127 (edited by mikejackson1127 2017-05-28 17:21:14)

Re: Stephen Kink

I agree, Sol. Misery was a classic! I read it so long ago. I think it was '88...

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Re: Stephen Kink

Lol, Kdot! Maybe bend the plot so that Justin can "tame" Christine and drive her through people's homes, art galleries, bookstores, what-have-you. A Christine remake would be cool. Maybe let the producers and writers of American Horror Story have a go...pump some steroidal fuel into her tank...

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12 Reply by mikejackson1127 (edited by mikejackson1127 2017-05-28 17:35:41)

Re: Stephen Kink

Oh, and how could I forget Carrie!?? The book and the movie were outstanding, imho. Just for the heck of it, maybe we could do a poll of which of Sk's books were "the best"...

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Re: Stephen Kink

mikejackson1127 wrote:

Good point, Ryan, reg the Stand. I need industrial strength caffeine! I agree that Walken and Hoffman could handle the job as Flagg. I'd forgotten about their bad guy roles. Again, some lattes are necessary at this point. That or I could do some lines of Maxwell House.

Chug an 8ounce can of Red Bull if you need to go from barely able to open your eyes to be chomping at the bit to charge Banzai beach...LOL Close as I can come to mainlining caffeine.

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14 Reply by Ryan Maddux (edited by Ryan Maddux 2017-05-29 04:10:54)

Re: Stephen Kink

Now with a full day to think about it...

The Stand and It (tv miniseries) were compromised by being such lengthy novels a movie couldn't give enough time to and TV had to make them PG. Both depended on intricate character development because Mr. Kink isn't just about the supernatural but the dark side of humanity. I'm anxious to see what they do with IT this time  round, but even it's a 3hr movie, that's not long enough to show how the loser club bonded.

Misery was great because Kathy Bates gave the performance of a lifetime, I swear she's the female Jack Nicholson.

Carrie and Cujo, eh, not his best novels and hampered by just average actors.

The First Shining became a Jack Nicholson vehicle  and did not represent the book. The second attempt was just bad.

Christine was ruined by a bad actor playing Dennis and not showing more how badly Arnie (and he was cast great) was henpicked by his parents and a nerd to boot. The heart of the book is he felt he was ugly and couldn't do anything about that but found a car like him he could fix. They didn't capture that so he, Arnie ends up looking like a psycho teenager. He wasn't.

Salem's lot was bad, just cheezy bad. So was Pet Cemetery.

I hated The Mist because of they way they ended it. Committing suicide vs driving on in hope, even though the narrator left his wife, never knowing what happened to her.

Maximum Overdrive is a fun, popcorn movie and the only reason to give it a thumbs down if you're a true Stephen Kink fan is because it's completely devoid of the human side of the tragedy.

I think that's why so many of his books have failed as movies. It's not all about the horror but about the character's you can so easily endear yourself to in his stuff. They're real--he writes them so well, you can understand almost all of them, feel their pain. He's not writing Friday the 13th movies where you're rooting for the characters to die by Jason's hand.

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Re: Stephen Kink

Funny. I just watched It for the first time last night.

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Re: Stephen Kink

Janet Taylor-Perry wrote:

Funny. I just watched It for the first time last night.

The best part is that Tim Curry of the Rocky Horror Picture Show played Pennywise.

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17 Reply by mikejackson1127 (edited by mikejackson1127 2017-05-31 20:16:19)

Re: Stephen Kink

It's so often very difficult to do great books justice, movie-wise. I don't think The Stand or It will ever be done(in the near or not-too-distant future)in a way that truly matches the hearts of those classics. And part of the problem is that different readers so often take away different things from stories...

Yes, Kathy Bates is Hell on wheels. In Misery and in Dolores Claiborne. Love the way she dealt with Mr. Plummer's self-righteous cop character!

The Shining, imho, was not one of his best. I actually like the sequel, Dr. Sleep, much better. Too, Mr. Mercedes, the first in that three-part series, was vintage Stevie, I'd say. Overall, Cell wasn't bad, but I sensed that he was too much in a hurry to finish it, lol. I think he could've made that into a top-shelfer...

11/22/63...reason I think that's a great one is because he created some great characters and he captured the era of the late 50s and early 60s so dang well. I think he also showed us just how screwed-up Oswald really was! But again, I was much more into the other characters and the era than anything or anyone else, in truth.

The other two books in the Mr. Mercedes series flagged(no pun intended). They had good points, of course, but didn't come anywhere near the overall impressiveness of MM.

Wonder what Stevie's workin' on now? Trump being kidnapped by drugged out and deranged ultra-liberals, who brainwash him? A macabre comedy-musical about the Titanic and how so many people effed up and made it impossible for that ship to not sink?

Zombified versions of the The Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols, and other so-called punk rock groups going apeshit on the White House?

Combining Gone With the Wind with Frankenstein? Have David Byrne, lead singer of The Talking Deads portraying Gable's character combined with Frankenstein? Imagine Byrne with his hands out in front of him, saying, "F-rankly...myyy deeeeear...Iiii don't give a dammmmmn! And howwww do Iiii work thissss!?"

A sequel to It. In this version, the creature is Hermaphroditic: a combo of Trump and Hellary. And It projects as the Michelin Man. Or maybe as Beavis and/or Butthead.

Or what about having the Titanic and everyone on board rescued by the crew of Star Trek. But then a gigantic spider from another galaxy attacks and begins devouring everyone, everything? Maybe Spock(and/or Kirk)somehow saves the day by learning an ultra-complicated alien chant, one that's got to be learned quickly!

Or how about a group of psychopathic Disco enthusiasts killing off bands playing all other kinds of music? Have the chief investigator rely on psychics and crystals and LSD...

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18 Reply by njc

Re: Stephen Kink

Isn't LSD a liquid at any reasonable temperature and pressure?

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19 Reply by mikejackson1127 (edited by mikejackson1127 2017-06-01 17:57:57)

Re: Stephen Kink

Well, that could be, NJC, but the kind I'm talking about is an hallucinatory drug.

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Re: Stephen Kink

MJ,

You have lots of good idea there for Mr. Kink to work on.

I'll revise two a little for you. Transport Trump into Kennedy's place during the Cuban missile crisis and have Hillary, Pennwise, and Flagg as his key advisers.

Have both TNG and Original Star Trek Enterprises  go back in time to the Titanic and have them argue the merits of interfering with history to save it.

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21 Reply by mikejackson1127 (edited by mikejackson1127 2017-06-01 17:56:14)

Re: Stephen Kink

LOL, Ryan! Good and funny points:-)

Another would be to have aliens seize the Titanic and the crew. Have the aliens "program" them to practice Nihilism. Then they could convert the ship into a robotic snake with the alien's answer to nuclear power. Send crew and ship forward in time to 2017 and turn 'em loose on the world! Then out of nowhere, gigantic versions of Ghandi, Jack Kennedy, and Wolfman Jack show up to oppose the nihilists. The war comes to a standstill.

The aliens show up and try to take control of the big 3, but they get devoured. WJ vomits all over the ship and its crew, offing them. So they drown, after all. Every one of them. But Ghandi and Kennedy are plagued by their consciences, so they bring back to life the aliens and the crew. The ship is restored.

Peace is made, but the Wolfman is PO'd. He stalks off, finds millions of psychopaths, and returns. Round 2...The robotic snake, formerly the Titanic, crawls up WJ's backside, destroying all of the giant's insides. Ghandi and Kennedy think the Wolfman's death should be undone, that it was "Unspeakably violent." After using telekinesis to get the crazies to off themselves, the nihilists tell Ghandi and Kennedy where to get off... The aliens, fed up with it all, go back to their planet. Ghandi and Kennedy try to undo WJ's death as the nihilists bombard them with self-destructive thoughts.

After much time, they manage to shield their minds from the nihilists. WJ's back. Again, he vomits on and drowns the nihilists before immediately going after Ghandi and Kennedy. He pursues them all over the planet.

The three of them fall into a gargantuan sinkhole. End of story.

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Re: Stephen Kink

mikejackson1127 wrote:

LOL, Ryan! Good and funny points:-)

Another would be to have aliens seize the Titanic and the crew. Have the aliens "program" them to practice Nihilism. Then they could convert the ship into a robotic snake with the alien's answer to nuclear power. Send crew and ship forward in time to 2017 and turn 'em loose on the world! Then out of nowhere, gigantic versions of Ghandi, Jack Kennedy, and Wolfman Jack show up to oppose the nihilists. The war comes to a standstill.

The aliens show up and try to take control of the big 3, but they get devoured. WJ vomits all over the ship and its crew, offing them. So they drown, after all. Every one of them. But Ghandi and Kennedy are plagued by their consciences, so they bring back to life the aliens and the crew. The ship is restored.

Peace is made, but the Wolfman is PO'd. He stalks off, finds millions of psychopaths, and returns. Round 2...The robotic snake, formerly the Titanic, crawls up WJ's backside, destroying all of the giant's insides. Ghandi and Kennedy think the Wolfman's death should be undone, that it was "Unspeakably violent." After using telekinesis to get the crazies to off themselves, the nihilists tell Ghandi and Kennedy where to get off... The aliens, fed up with it all, go back to their planet. Ghandi and Kennedy try to undo WJ's death as the nihilists bombard them with self-destructive thoughts.

After much time, they manage to shield their minds from the nihilists. WJ's back. Again, he vomits on and drowns the nihilists before immediately going after Ghandi and Kennedy. He pursues them all over the planet.

The three of them fall into a gargantuan sinkhole. End of story.

Some good ideas there...

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Re: Stephen Kink

Thanks, Ryan.

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