Signature Entertainment, out now (digital)

A look at some of the movie and television adaptations of Stephen King’s work.

It’s inevitable that a 105-minute documentary about King’s adaptations will only scratch the surface, as there’s just so many of them. Writer/director Daphné Baiwir wisely chooses the big hitters for her film, but for the die-hard fan there’s not an awful lot that’s new here.

The film starts with a seven-minute dramatised intro with a young woman entering a King-like town and encountering Easter egg reference after reference. It’s a bit like that scene in Cat’s Eye where the feline star is chased by a Cujo-like St Bernard, while dodging a car with a bumper sticker that says ‘My other car is Christine.’ Ho ho ho. It’s a strange conceit, because it goes on far too long and then the film switches to a regular talking heads documentary.

The interviews are with directors of King adaptations, including Mick Garris, Greg Nicotero, Mark Lester, David Carson, Mike Flanagan, Frank Darabont, Lewis Teague, Vincenzo Natali, Josh Boone and Tom Holland. We discover how King’s work informed their careers, the common themes that they latched onto and what should or shouldn’t be included in an adaptation.

Along the way, King makes a journey from being an author who uses pop culture references to becoming a pop culture icon himself, and there’s mention of the near-fatal collision with a Dodge Caravan. There’s behind-the-scenes footage of some of the movie shoots, well-chosen clips from the movies, and it all hangs together coherently.

Verdict: As a primer on King adaptations, this is a solid intro to the genre, but fans will struggle to find much new. 6/10

Nick Joy