The 13 Most Disturbing Moments in Stephen King Adaptations

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Sharon Knolle and SyFy Wire present: The 13 Most Disturbing Moments in Stephen King Adaptations.  You know how this game is played:  Using just Knolle’s list, here are my top three (beware for spoilers follow) …

3.  Salem’s Lot (1979): “Let me in!”
If you’ve seen the 79 adaptation of Salem’s Lot, then you know the scene.  Our young hero, Mark, is in bed on a foggy night mourning the death of his friend Danny.  Slowly out of the fog Danny floats up to Mark’s bedroom window and repeatedly scratches on the glass with an evil smile.  Oh, and did I mention that the bedroom is on the second floor?

2. Carrie (1976): “Do it!”
I’m changing the game just a bit.  Knolle picks the classic horror film Carrie and the pig killing scene.  I agree with the choice of the movie, but I’ll take a different scene, if you don’t mind.  See, I saw Carrie at a midnight movie during it’s first release.  I had just turned 18 and was there with my girlfriend.  I’ve always been one who jumped a lot during scary movies, but being a young man with a girl to impress, I had to stay cool… macho.  I’m proud to say I made it through Carrie without embarrassing myself.  We were at the last scene, Carrie’s friend was laying flowers on her grave and soon credits would roll.

Then Carrie’s hand suddenly shot out of the fresh grave and grabbed her friend’s wrist.  I let out a scream (a manly scream I assure you) and nearly jumped out of my seat and into the row behind me.  That disturbs me to this day.

1.  The Mist (2007): That ending
The ending of The Mist stayed with me for a long while.  Although it was a bold choice, I didn’t like it on my first viewing as much as I’ve grown to.  Now, I believe that the decision to go with the ending selected is one of the reasons the movie is so powerful.

David, his young son, and three others have faced monsters and murderous people and survived.  Their hope was to drive out of the mist and to safety.  Sadly their car runs out of gas and they’re still in the mist surrounded by monsters.  To leave the car will bring the monsters and certain death.  To stay in the vehicle means a slow death by starvation.  David has a gun with 4 bullets.  The adults agree a fast death by bullet is the best alternative.  David kills all four including his sleeping son, but has no bullet left for himself.  He leaves the car expecting a painful death from a monster when he hears… and then sees army vehicles breaking through the fog with other survivors.  If they’d just held on for a few more minutes…