Seeing as this is the third to last review I will do fulltime for FRONTROWREVIEWS, I have a sense of mixed feelings. I will be now only covering the rare bits and bobs that are exceptional until the new year, but know I will likely miss hidden gems. I have however other, significant commitments and need to focus on them.

STEPHEN KING ON SCREEN seems like a nice connection to a review I did mere days ago. That being Frank Darabonts masterpiece THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, based on a King story RITA HEYWORTH and said redemption. This film was alot of the reason as to what got me into cinema criticism. Kings stories have created cinematic legends. He is undoubted an icon of horror on the page, begin both a best selling author and a skilled writer comparable to Dickens. With his career spanning decades, many of his works have found their way to the silver screen. One even directed by him. In this documentary on these translated films, we meet directors like Frank Darabont, Mike Flanagan, Tom Holland and many other creatives who brought unforgettable stories to the big screen.

The issue I have found in my life with documentary is scale. Even if you focus on a single film of a great auteur, you have to keep your audience and find a focus point. When you try to cover the works of a man who arguably, is the most famous writer living, well it near impossible not to have a work that feels a little under done and fleeting. Now imagine if you will, that you have a selection of great film makers and you have a chance to really ask them questions about their work and Kings work. You might feel you are on to something right? Surely you are. We get insights and personal takes of CARRIE, IT, MISERY, STAND BY ME, CUJO. We get Darabont talking briefly about his work with Kings and how its about humanity (which it always is and explains why King has lived so long in the conscious of literary flighty groups.)

But then imagine that David Lynch wanted to stamp an introduction, with the documentary opening as it does with a bizarre homage to King that feels leaden and self indulgent, with a heap of references for the fans. This jars and feels as it we are entering a pastiche of King. I suspect he would chuckle at this. He might not at how they handle THE SHINING, which is a masterpiece but not his masterpiece. The two K, Kubrick and King, loathed each other. Hey it would irk anyone being woken at stupid o’clock to be asked ‘Is there a god?’ Now that’s a question that will never find an easy answer, no matter how short or long the response. So in summation, STEPHEN KING ON SCREEN is a missed opportunity to delve into the work of a master.

Signature Entertainment presents Stephen King on Screen on Blu-ray 25th September