There are plenty of Stephen King adaptations for which the beloved author himself has expressed an intense dislike. The Shining stands as the most notable example, primarily because so many people disagree with him. But what about the movies with which he had absolutely no involvement?
Those are the ones that follow. Are they all horror? No, but there are a couple creepy flicks strewn throughout. It’s not as if the Master of Horror just watches horror. After all, he doesn’t even just write horror. From Michael Bay robot movies to grotesque splatterfests, these are the movies Stephen King didn’t care for.
9 Blood Feast (1963)
One of the prototypical slashers, Blood Feast follows a Miami waiter who murders and dismembers women. Why? To resurrect the goddess Ishtar which, ironically, is the name of another widely-bashed movie.
King Was Never A Blood ‘n Guts Guy
It’s a movie that has never had a positive reputation. And King’s opinion of it doesn’t differ. On his X page, he quoted the question “What is the worst horror movie you ever saw?” and responded with “For me, Blood Feast.”
8 The Last House on the Left (1972)
Wes Craven’s directorial debut, The Last House on the Left, is considered detestable trash by some and a forgotten masterpiece by others. King falls firmly on the former side. To be fair to King, even its fans would have to admit it’s aged poorly and that Sandra Peabody’s treatment behind the scenes wasn’t acceptable.
He Had Kind Things to Say About the Remake, Though
When King provided Entertainment Weekly with his 10 favorite 2009 movies, the Last House on the Left remake came in at number two. He called it “brilliant…and not just because the 1972 original was such a crapfest.” He also said the remake’s “acting is superior…the story makes sense, and, most importantly, [the remake’s] moral compass points to true north.”
7 Night of the Lepus (1972)
Night of the Lepus is about as goofy as a movie can get. And that’s amplified when one considers the audience was supposed to take it seriously. And, yet, it’s a movie about mutated, killer bunnies.
Runny From the Bunny
Worse yet, instead of creating animatronic bunnies with gnashing teeth, the movie tries to score scares by putting the camera up close to actual rabbits. So, unless someone has an incredibly rare and severe fear of Peter Cottontail, they’re not going to be anything but baffled by this “horror” film. On his X account, King said “Giant bunny rabbits? Get outta here.”
6 Mommie Dearest (1981)
Mommie Dearest was always intended to be a straightforward drama detailing Hollywood legend Joan Crawford’s horrible treatment of her daughter, Christina. But, as soon as it came out, the movie started gaining a reputation, and not a good one. In fact, the reputation was so poor that Paramount Pictures started marketing it as an unintentional comedy, showing just how far the abuse-focused drama had missed the mark.
Oh, Dear(est)
It’s now regarded as one of the worst movies of all time. And, while Faye Dunaway has turned in some excellent performances, her work in Mommie Dearest is so amplified it’s genuinely impossible to take seriously. It was also one of two movies that, according to Far Out Magazine, King called a “benchmark of awfulness.” And, in the case of Mommie Dearest, at least, he’s right.
5 The Godfather: Part III (1990)
When King wrote an extended piece for Entertainment Weekly, he kicked it off by comparing two films by Francis Ford Coppola. The first was Coppola’s directorial debut, Dementia 13, which King called “a movie that matters.” Then he moved onto The Godfather Part III, the trilogy-capper that received a far more mixed response than the two masterpieces that preceded it.
At Least Coda Fixed Some of Its Problems
But King’s feelings about The Godfather Part III (the theatrical cut, not the superior The Godfather Coda) were not mixed. He called the film “opulent, incoherent, and boring.” And, unlike Dementia 13, he felt it was a “movie that doesn’t matter.”
4 Mars Attacks! (1996)
Tim Burton has made better movies than Mars Attacks! But more star-studded and front-to-back entertaining? The goofy throwback is towards the top of the pile. It’s a great time with a nice mixture of horror and comedy that, while not a box office hit or Oscar darling, has its fans. King was not and still isn’t one of them.
Ack Ack
When discussing Kill Bill with Entertainment Weekly, King referred to two movies as “benchmark[s] of awfulness.” As mentioned, Mommie Dearest was one of them, and his ire is warranted. The other is Mars Attacks!, and one wonders just why he felt it was so atrocious.
3 Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)
Plenty of people love the Kill Bill duology. King was absolutely not one of them. In fact, he disliked it so much he wrote a review of Kill Bill Vol. 1 for Entertainment Weekly four years after it came out. The beloved author called it “tepid,” “a film that doesn’t matter,” and went even further.
Far From His Favorite from Tarantino
In King’s words:
“You probably saw some good reviews of it, possibly even in this magazine. Steve says don’t you believe it. Steve says you should remember that movie critics see movies free. Also, they don’t have to pay the babysitter or spring ten bucks for the parking. They’re thus apt to rhapsodize over narcissistic stuff like
Kill Bill
, which announces itself as Quentin Tarantino’s Fourth Film, ain’t we la-di-da.” In short, he found that, instead of being entertained, audiences would be “warming [their] hands at the bonfire of Quentin Tarantino’s vanities.”
2 Transformers (2007)
King once kicked off an X thread by asking people what movies they’ve walked out on. He even provided his one and only walkout: Michael Bay’s Transformers. Of course, he’s not alone in thinking it’s a fairly soulless and loud blockbuster.
He Walked Out of It
His words? “I have walked out of only one movie as an adult: Transformers.” It seems safe to assume he spared himself the nightmarish experience of sitting through Revenge of the Fallen, Age of Extinction, and The Last Knight.
1 The Twilight Saga (2008 – 2012)
The Twilight Saga may have made a ton of money, but it was never a critical darling. Yet, it still put Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson on the map. And, while their feelings are mixed on the Saga, it’s certainly allowed them the opportunity to move onto better, and sometimes just as big or bigger, things.
Wasn’t Too Fond of Fifty Shades, Either
Back when Doctor Sleep was about to hit shelves, King sat down with The Guardian and gave not-so-positive shout-outs to three popular IPs: Twilight, The Hunger Games, and Fifty Shades of Grey. Of the three, his most pointed jabs were at Twilight, which he called “tweenager porn.” In his words: “They’re really not about vampires and werewolves. They’re about how the love of a girl can turn a bad boy good.”
