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In recent years, writer and director Mike Flanagan has made a name for himself by making pitch-perfect movie or miniseries adaptations of literary stories. He has a Netflix deal under his belt, and series such as The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and The Midnight Club garnering critical acclaim. What's more, his adaptation of Fall of The House of Usher is on the way. It's safe to say Flanagan has found his niche.
The success of Flanagan's faithful adaptation of Stephen King's book Doctor Sleep, a sequel to King's 1980 novel The Shining, is what put his name out to a broader audience. The almost 3-hour-long film starred Ewan McGregor as a grown-up Dan Torrance from the original story trying to protect a young girl with powers similar to his own from a cult. With Flanagan doing such a fantastic job on this and his other literary adaptations, and the history of King's work getting poor adaptations, what are some other Stephen King stories Flanagan should tackle?
Needful Things
Already adapted into a motion picture in 1993, Needful Things is exactly the kind of story that works with Flanagan's style. In the story, Leland Gaunt moves to Castle Rock, Maine, and opens up a store called Needful Things. Inside his store, the residents of the town can find anything they could desire for incredibly low prices. The catch? If Leland sells someone something, he expects his customer to enact a little "prank" on someone else in town.
Sheriff Alan Pangborn smells a rat when Gaunt moves in. He is soon proven right when the townsfolk of Castle Rock begin escalating their feuds against one another resulting in assaults, injury, and death. At the core of the story are the evils that men do and the greed that drives them to it, with a side of the supernatural thrown in. This is exactly the kind of story that Flanagan thrives in crafting, as evidenced by his Netflix shows.
Cell
Another story that has been previously adapted, Cell could use a different take on the source material after the lackluster 2016 adaptation starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. On the surface, it's a zombie-style apocalypse story following Clay Riddell (Cusack) as a strange cellphone signal is broadcast across at least the country, turning any that hear it into violent, animalistic monsters.
The book is a fraught, character-driven, and often genuinely creepy story about human evolution and nature. However, the 2016 film is a dull zombie apocalypse story that's generic and devoid of emotion. Flanagan could make a fantastic adaptation of Cell, one that focuses on characters instead of the apocalypse backdrop.
If It Bleeds
The previously unreleased short story If It Bleeds was published in an anthology of four stories in the 2020 book of the same name. In the story, recurring King character Holly Gibney takes the lead. Gibney is a detective with the Finders Keepers agency, and after witnessing footage of a school bombing on television, she begins to suspect that the reporter on the scene may be something supernatural in origin.
The story ties into other King stories: Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch, and The Outsider. The television series Mr. Mercedes covers events from that book as well as Finders Keepers and End of Watch. Meanwhile, a miniseries has already been released covering The Outsider. The time is right for an adaptation of If It Bleeds, and Flanagan is the perfect person to create a miniseries based on it.
Insomnia
King's 1994 book Insomnia is one of the author's stories that is tied into the idea of greater forces guiding human existence. Retired Ralph Roberts finds himself caught up in an otherworldly battle between The Purpose, The Random, and The Crimson King. His once mild-mannered friend Ed Deepneau suddenly becomes aggressive and violent, while Ralph develops insomnia as well as the ability to see auras and small white-coated beings from another plane of existence.
The reason this adaptation is timely is that there is a large subplot running throughout the story about women's rights, bodily autonomy, and abortion. The story also ties into The Dark Tower universe and could be a way to introduce the concepts from that story differently, and possibly finally lead to a good adaptation of The Dark Tower series.
Crouch End
In the short story "Crouch End," American couple Lonnie and Doris become lost in a London neighborhood, where they encounter increasingly bizarre, terrifying people and creatures. Heavily influenced by the world of H.P Lovecraft, the landscape shifts into something alien, and Lonnie and Doris descend into madness.
The story is told from the perspective of two policemen recounting the tale of when Doris appeared at the station, raving about monsters and her missing husband. While one discounts her story, the other reflects on the strange disappearances he has encountered whilst policing Crouch End. Allusions to cosmic horror would be a new and interesting venture for Flanagan, while the human descent into madness and despair is familiar ground for the director.
There are many more stories from King that Flanagan could tackle. King's stories are often heavily character driven, and Flanagan has shown he is more than proficient in crafting the inner workings of a character's mind on screen. With his deal with Netflix and previous King adaptations, fans of his can hope that he will be able to tackle some of King's more obscure works for the screen.