It’s a great time to be a Stephen King fan. After all, in addition to anticipating the upcoming new Stephen King adaptations that are in the works, it was just last week that the beloved author released You Like It Darker – his latest collection of novellas and short stories. Constant Readers everywhere (myself included) have had their noses deep in the book the last few days, and it’s been a great thing, as the tome is one of King’s best-ever omnibuses, right alongside Night Shift, Different Seasons and Nightmares & Dreamscapes.
Given the new-ness of You Like It Darker, I have opted to make this week’s edition of The King Beat a bit special. Foregoing the typical roundup structure of this column, I’ve instead opted for a deep dive into the new book – specifically by looking at the adaptation potential of the 12 new stories. Let’s dig in!
Ranking Stephen King’s You Like It Darker Stories By Adaptation Desire
Whether it takes a few months or a few years, it’s hard to imagine it will be too long before Stephen King fans get to see an adaptation of at least one of the stories in You Like It Darker. After all, there is a near-half-century long legacy of filmmakers loving to make Stephen King movies and shows, and the new book provides a delicious buffet of possibilities. It feels like it’s only going to be a matter of time before news comes down the pike that a new project is in the works based on one of the titles… but of the dozen in the collection, which ones seem best suited for the Hollywood treatment?
Having spent the last week devouring the new book, I have a take on that particular question, and I have put together a ranking of the stories based on their adaptability – taking into consideration narrative strengths and weaknesses as well as cinematic qualities. And if you haven’t finished You Like It Darker yet, don’t fret, as I will be as spoiler-free as possible!
12. The Fifth Step
One of the shorter entries in the new omnibus, “The Fifth Step” is an effective quick-bite horror story about a dark and escalating conversation between two strangers – one trying hard to quell his demons as he works his way through a recovery program. It’s a freaky tale that comes with a sharp twist at the end, but an adaptation would require seriously stretching the material, and the punchy narrative is already exactly as long as it should be.
11. Willie The Weirdo
The adaptability of “Willie The Weirdo” is heavily impacted by the fact that’s it’s a story that doesn’t really have a narrative; it’s more of a character study about an ominous young boy with macabre sensibilities. A movie version could expand on the relationship between Willie and his decrepit grandfather, who very much encourages the eponymous kid’s dark tastes, but brevity works for this disturbing coming-of-age tale.
10. Laurie
“Laurie” is a heartwarming story about a man rediscovering a passion for life thanks to his relationship with a new canine companion. It could make for an emotional and dramatic movie, but it’s also not a story that is particularly cinematic – especially compared to other tales in You Like It Darker.
9. On Slide Inn Road
A story about a family vacation that goes horribly, horribly wrong, “On Slide Inn Road” is an entry in You Like It Darker that would be great to see adapted as part of a horror anthology series like Creepshow on Shudder; a feature-length expansion would be unnecessary. The simplicity of a grandfather’s redemption in the eyes of his family as they encounter a pair of killers on a backroad is what makes this entry effective, and it could be easily overcooked.
8. Red Screen
“Red Screen” is a story that owes a lot to Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and stories of that ilk (and King directly acknowledges this in the work), but it also has its own original spin on the idea of people being replaced by sinister clones. Being one of the shorter works in You Like It Darker, the material would have to be expanded to become a feature, but a filmmaker could have a lot of fun with the paranoia in the premise and a detective protagonist who begins to question if his wife is really his wife.
7. The Turbulence Expert
There is a part of me that thinks “The Turbulence Expert” is a story that could potentially inspire a TV series – examining a certain kind of magic/power that allows planes to stay in the air even as they go through horrific bouts of clear air turbulence. At the same time, one could see how that might end up being overkill that takes away from the mystery in the short story.
6. Finn
Adapting “Finn” would require a deft approach to tone. On the one hand, it can be humorous to see a character suffer from what seems like never ending bad luck, but there are also high stakes to play with as the titular character is kidnapped and tortured for information that he doesn’t have.
5. Rattlesnakes
Written as a sequel to Cujo, “Rattlesnakes” has more pop culture cache than any other story in You Like It Darker, and it unfurls a scary and original ghost story that inspects the extreme grief that comes with losing a child. It’s cinematic and horrifying… but there is a notable roadblock to its potential big screen future: one would expect that a big screen version of the novella would function as a sequel to director Lewis Teague’s Cujo adaptation from 1983, but that film notably changed the super dark ending from King’s book, and that super dark ending is a crucial element of “Rattlesnakes.”
4. The Answer Man
Of all the stories in You Like It Darker, “The Answer Man” would probably be the simplest to adapt if not simply because it’s a story that is written with a very clear three act structure – following a protagonist through over 40 years of his life and his encounters with a mysterious man who, for a price, promises to provide answers about the future. It has exciting highs and powerful, emotional lows.
3. Two Talented Bastids
How could it be that two men nearing middle age could suddenly understand their innate talents and respectively become titans in the worlds of literature and art? And what is the nature of talent? Those are two major questions at the heart of “Two Talented Bastids,” which could make for fascinating source material for a film. Not only does this story pack an unexpected punch with its main mystery, it also delivers a spectacular wallop at the end as the son of one of the titular Bastids uncovers a devastating truth about himself after living his entire life in his father’s shadow.
2. Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream
If Alfred Hitchcock were alive today, I could imagine him loving the idea of adapting “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream” – which finds a high school custodian at the center of a homicide investigation after a psychic vision leads him to discover the body of a murdered teenager. The drama is taut and compelling as the titular protagonist tries to convince the police of his innocence, but the main reason why I want to see this story adapted is to see an actor take on the role of Detective Jalbert, the antagonistic and obsessive investigator who is ultimately unraveled by the case.
1. The Dreamers
There is plenty of scary material to be found in the pages of You Like It Darker, but none hold a candle to “The Dreamers,” which would make a terrifying cinematic experience. It’s a high-concept plot – a skilled transcriptionist begins working with a mad scientist who is trying to discover what exists beneath dreams – but what unfolds is a horror show with images that I will not soon be able to wipe from my imagination (including a man’s eyeballs swelling with darkness before expelling long, black, floating tendrils). Reminiscent of one of my favorite King novels, Revival, “The Dreamers” is one of the scariest stories that Stephen King has written in the 21st century, and I very much want to see it adapted.
Recommendation Of The Week: “The Dreamers”
I can’t say with any certainty if we will ever actually get to see a movie based on “The Dreamers,” but I’m going to do my part to keep hope alive for the possibility, and that starts with suggesting that anybody and everybody who loves the work of Stephen King read and enjoy the novella. If you’re reading You Like It Darker cover-to-cover, you won’t get to it until late in the experience, as it is the second to last story, but if you’re a Constant Reader just looking to dive into the best of the best of the book, it’s a great place to start (I would just recommend against reading it right before you go to bed).
That wraps up this week’s edition of The King Beat, but be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Thursday and every Thursday for my latest column. Meanwhile, you can explore the full history of Stephen King stories in film and television by checking out my feature series Adapting Stephen King.