KING ON SCREEN (2022) Movie Review

King on Screen (2022) d. Daphne Baiwir (France/Belgium) (105 min)

Stephen King’s debut novel, Carrie, first landed on book stands in 1974 and was a relatively modest success. By the time Brian De Palma’s film version hit screens in 1976, King’s follow-up, ’Salem’s Lot had already been published, with The Shining just around the corner. Over the following 45 years, King continued to churn out tome after tome, oftentimes two (or more) in a single year. As of this writing, he has signed his name to 65 novels, over 200 short stories, and five non-fiction books, making him one of the most (if not THE most) successful living authors. It is therefore no surprise that the man’s work has been adapted time and again; over 80 feature films and TV projects (movies, miniseries, series) have their roots in King’s brainwaves, with many of them deemed modern classics.

Belgian actress-turned-director Daphne Baiwir (The Rebellious Olivia de Havilland) has accepted the challenging task of trying to throw a rope around all this with her zippy documentary, King on Screen, barreling through title after title (oftentimes out of chronological order) via talking-head interviews with directors of various King projects interspersed with clips and behind-the-scenes footage.

The good news is that our cast of characters are an articulate and intelligent bunch, with Mick Garris (The Shining, The Stand), Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist), Tom Holland (Thinner), Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep), Mark L. Lester (Firestarter), Lewis Teague (Cujo), Greg Nicotero (Creepshow TV show), and Taylor Hackford (Dolores Claiborne) our headliners, with able support from Craig R. Baxley, Mikael Hafstrom, Vincenzo Natali, Tom McLoughlin, and Daniel Attias, among others. There are anecdotes and insights aplenty, told by an adoring group of fans who happen to also be creatives, and the conversation is lively and breezy.

The not-as-good news is, as one might guess, that Baiwir has taken on an impossible task, especially given her abbreviated running time. While Darabont, certainly the most critically successful of King’s ambassadors, deserves his place, it’s still puzzling to explain the 15 minutes devoted to The Green Mile while ’Salem’s Lot (often cited as the most terrifying TV miniseries ever created) is given only the briefest of mentions.

Baiwir’s decision to view her subject almost exclusively through the lens of living (male) directors is also frustratingly limiting, because somebody somewhere possessing some street cred would surely have been willing to weigh in on The Dead Zone if David Cronenberg was not available, and I doubt anyone would argue that we’d rather hear that person discuss one of the great King adaptations as opposed to listening to Holland wax poetic about the bungled Thinner.

The end result is a predictably if understandably mixed bag, one that does its best to cover the enormous impact that King has had on popular culture, with nary a dull moment throughout and yet ultimately inadequate for the task at hand. This is a miniseries waiting to happen, and when that magic opportunity arises, I hope Baiwir is given first crack at it.

KING ON SCREEN will arrive in Theaters Friday, August 11th and available September 8th On Demand and on Blu-ray.


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