Summary
- King fans have much to celebrate with Perkins’s The Monkey in theaters and Flanagan’s Dark Tower movie.
- Notable thrilling King adaptations include The Monkey and the overlooked gem 1922 on Netflix.
- King appreciated the cast and suspense of the 1922 movie adaptation, likening it to There Will Be Blood.
With Osgood Perkins’s The Monkey currently in theaters and Mike Flanagan working on a Dark Tower movie, Stephen King fans have many reasons to celebrate. While The Monkey has a fun 1990s setting and features many over-the-top kill scenes, it captures the spirit of the King short story and, at its core, is about a family tragedy.
Some of the best adaptations of King’s short stories, novellas, and books have been horror movies, and although some are forgettable, Pet Sematary and Misery will always stand out as impressive and truly chilling stories. Thanks to streaming services, fans have gotten the chance to settle in with many King adaptations, from the strange setting of In The Tall Grass to the innocent but powerful child at the heart of the Firestarter reboot. There is one King horror movie on Netflix that doesn’t get that much attention but is one of the better adaptations of his clever work.
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Stephen King’s 1922 Is A Great, Underrated Netflix Horror Movie
The Netflix horror movie 1922 is adapted from Stephen King’s novella from 2010 and is about farmer Wilfred “Wilf” Leland James (Thomas Jane). Wilf commits murder at the beginning of the movie and makes his son Henry (Dylan Schmid) part of the crime. It’s hard not to be drawn in after that. Since many of King’s stories are set in the 1980s since that is the decade when he wrote some of his most famous books, from Misery to Cujo, it’s interesting to see 1922, which is set in that year.
Every King premise is compelling from the start, and fans are always immersed in his books as soon as they start reading the first page. Take the short story “Gramma,” for instance, which was turned into a Twilight Zone episode and tells a creepy story of a kid and their strange grandmother. While the premise of 1922 stands out, the movie also has some unforgettable imagery. Wilf goes through a period of seeing rats, which is an effective device that proves that guilt over the murder is getting to him.
1922 is an incredibly dark story and might be one of the bleakest King movies. It feels similar in tone to the well-crafted 2011 thriller Take Shelter about Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon), a man who has scary visions of a dangerous weather event. In 1922 and Take Shelter, the main characters are unsure of what is real and what is a dream/nightmare/hallucination, which is a powerful storytelling device. Both movies also have sparse, eerie, and quiet tones.
Like the Netflix adaptation of the King story Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, 1922 also tells a sad story about a teenage character who is lonely and scared. Many of King’s novels have centered around kids or teens who are struggling to fit in and who come from rough family backgrounds. That includes the members of the Losers Club in IT, which was also adapted into two impressive movies. While King excels at crafting terrifying monsters like Pennywise the Dancing Clown, he’s also a master of creating relatable, smart, and endearing young characters.
Jane’s performance is another reason to check out 1922. The actor also played the main character David Drayton in the 2007 adaptation of The Mist, which has a tragic ending. Jane portrays a father who becomes caught up in committing an evil act, and he gives a mesmerizing and scary performance that is tough to look away from.
What Did Stephen King Say About The Netflix Horror Movie 1922?
Stephen King is famous for being honest about the adaptations of his work. For example, King didn’t like The Shining and The Landmower Man movies. When the beloved author is a fan of an upcoming adaptation, fans always want to hear about it.
King praised The Monkey’s shocking death scenes, and as it turns out, King was a fan of the adaptation of 1922. In an interview with Vulture in 2017, King said that he approved the 1922 cast members as he thought they worked well. King also said:
“With 1922, was I a little surprised that somebody wanted to make it? I was, and I was also pleased by the challenge of it and anxious to see what would come out.”
King added:
“And you know, what 1922 reminded me of was a film called There Will Be Blood. It has the same kind of flat, dead-eyed, affect to it, so it made for a really good suspense picture, and it’s a movie that won’t leave my mind.”
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