The Worst Stephen King Horror Movie According To Rotten Tomatoes
Perhaps no one is as critical as Stephen King is when it comes to the film adaptations of his horror novels. With over 60 books to his name, the author's works have been turned into various movies, TV shows, and comic books over the years — and he isn't afraid to share what he thinks about them.
One of his most notorious opinions is his dislike of Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of "The Shining," which he compared to "a beautiful car that had no engine in it" (via TCM). While the screen adaptations of King's novels are often hit-or-miss for both the author and viewers alike, they've provided the horror genre with endless scary stories, as well as iconic villains like Pennywise, Randall Flagg, and Jack Torrance. That said, not all of King's works translate well to the screen. In fact, one audience member on Rotten Tomatoes even described a King film as a "weak version of one of King's worst books."
The film in question also happens to be the lowest-rated Stephen King horror movie on the review aggregation site, and fans of the author likely won't be surprised to learn which adaptation it is.
An adaptation that's not quite as sweet as pie
With a 15% score on the Tomatometer and a 30% audience score, the latter of which is based on more than 10,000 user ratings, "Stephen King's Thinner" is the worst-rated film adaptation of one of the author's horror novels on Rotten Tomatoes. Directed by Tom Holland ("Fright Night," "Child's Play"), the 1996 body horror film is based on the novel of the same name, which King wrote under the pseudonym, Richard Bachman.
The film follows Billy Halleck (Robert John Burke), a wealthy, overweight lawyer who runs over an elderly woman (Irma St. Paule) while driving. He is subsequently cursed by her family after his social status gets him acquitted with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. As the curse causes him to lose weight at a rapid pace, he is given a chance to take accountability and die graciously by eating a strawberry pie infused with his own blood.
Instead, he winds up killing three others with the deadly dessert. The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews, with critic Owen Gleiberman writing, "Like too many Stephen King movies, 'Thinner' is all (emaciated) concept and no follow-through" (via EW).