The Kingcast

Author Mike Noonan loses his wife and his ability to face a blank page in one sad moment. Through his grief, he's able to find himself again by helping a single mother in a difficult custody battle with her very rich, and kinda evil, in-laws. This late '90s King tale has a strong following even if it's not considered one of his classics.

1408 is a Stephen King short story that proves you don't need a whole hotel to be haunted to be scary, just one "evil fucking room." This is a banger of a short story and a really good movie that is often overlooked (ahem) in favor of his other haunted hotel story.

Stephen King's alter ego, Richard Bachman, wrote a bunch of dark, cynical, and strangely prescient short novels before it was revealed that King was behind the pen name. At that point, King released them all in a collection called The Bachman Books, which featured the stories Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, and The Running Man. They're all fascinating looks into the darker corners of King's psyche and one of them was even allowed to fall out of circulation.

Popular podcast Screen Drafts invited the Kingcast boys onto their show to rank the top 13 Stephen King Adaptations, so it only seemed right that they journey over to The Kingcast and bring their ranking expertise for a wild curveball episode. 

Dolan's Cadillac is about a man seeking revenge against a mobster after said mobster bumped her off. It's not a straight line to his revenge, though, and the man ultimately concocts an elaborate scheme to bury the mobster in his own Caddy with the help of a deserted stretch of highway and some borrowed construction equipment. This is King tackling Poe and... well, it works on the page. The movie... not so much.

Carrie is Stephen King's debut novel expertly adapted by the great Brian De Palma in an era when studio filmmaking could experiment in ways most modern studios will not allow. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie turn in Oscar-worthy (and nominated) performances in this film that still has the power to capture the attention of even iPad-addicted Gen Zers. 

Cujo has become synonymous with big, scary dog, thanks to King's iconic novel and its popular 1983 film adaptation starring Dee Wallace. A mother and son get stuck in a crappy Ford Pinto and are tormented by a rabid St. Bernard. Will they escape or become a quick meal for the crazed animal?

Misery follows a popular writer who is rescued by a fan after a terrible car accident only to find himself in an even worse position: captured by an unbalanced lady who has a lot of notes about his recent work. Rob Reiner directed his second perfect Stephen King adaptation with 1990's Misery and lead star Kathy Bates to an Oscar win, the first and only Oscar won for any King adaptation.

The Stand, if you don't know, is Stephen King's epic story of the a deadly viral outbreak and the battle for humanity's future that happens after 99.9% of the world's population is wiped out. Good versus evil, light versus dark, this is a top to bottom banger from the master of horror.

The Life of Chuck is a novella that was published in the recent story collection If It Bleeds. It's a story told in reverse that begins with the end of every single life in the universe and only gets sadder from there. More heady drama than supernatural spook-a-blast, this material opens the door for some surprisingly deep responses from those who have read it.