Summary
With Osgood Perkins’sThe Monkeycurrently in theaters andMike Flanagan working on aDark Towermovie,Stephen Kingfans have many reasons to celebrate. WhileThe Monkeyhas a fun 1990s settingand 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 beenhorrormovies, and although some are forgettable,Pet SemataryandMiserywill 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 ofIn The Tall Grassto the innocent but powerful child at the heart of theFirestarterreboot. There isone King horror movie on Netflix that doesn’t get that much attentionbut is one of the better adaptations of his clever work.
Stephen King’s 1922 Is A Great, Underrated Netflix Horror Movie
TheNetflix horror movie1922is adapted from Stephen King’s novella from 2010and is about farmer Wilfred “Wilf” Leland James (Thomas Jane).Wilf commits murderat 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, fromMiserytoCujo, it’s interesting to see1922, 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 aTwilight Zoneepisodeand tells a creepy story of a kid and their strange grandmother. While the premise of1922stands 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.
1922is an incredibly dark story and might be one of the bleakest King movies. It feelssimilar in tone to the well-crafted 2011 thrillerTake Shelterabout Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon), a man who has scary visions of a dangerous weather event. In1922andTake 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 theNetflix adaptation of the King storyMr. Harrigan’s Phone,1922also tells a sad story about a teenage character who is lonely and scared. Many of King’s novels have centered aroundkids or teens who are struggling to fit inand who come from rough family backgrounds. That includes the members of the Losers Club inIT, 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 out1922. The actor alsoplayed the main character David Drayton in the 2007 adaptation ofThe 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 likeThe ShiningandThe Landmower Manmovies. When the beloved author is a fan of an upcoming adaptation, fans always want to hear about it.
King praisedThe Monkey’s shocking death scenes, and as it turns out,King was a fan of the adaptation of1922.In an interview withVulturein 2017, King said that heapproved the1922cast membersas he thought they worked well. King also said:
“With1922, 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, what1922reminded me of was a film calledThere 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.”
