Summary
It’s hard to imagine a legend likeStephen Kingever being worried about his writing abilities, but even the King himself hasn’t always been so confident about the work he produces, as his first screenwriting debut for a 1982 American horror comedy anthology film had him concerned that reviews would be terrible.
Rightly so,Stephen Kingis one of the most beloved and most well-known authors in the world. His skills at being able to terrify while also captivating his readers are one of the many reasons why, for the last 50 years, he has amassed a huge following. Starting with his first professional short story sale in 1967 and culminating in his first novel,Carrie, published in 1974, King has gone on to pen a host of books over his many years in the business. FromThe Shining, IT,andThe Green Mile, King has firmly cemented himself as one of the greatest horror writers, with many ofhis novels getting the adaptation treatment. Nowadays, it’s almost a challenge to keep track of how many of his books are hitting the big (and small) screen, but it only goes to show what a massive impact King has on pop culture, and it looks like it won’t be slowing down anytime soon. However, there was a time when he wasn’t always so hopeful about the stories he had written.
Stephen King Didn’t Think Creepshow Would Do Well With Audiences of a Certain Age
As highlighted inFar Out Magazine, Stephen King revealed back in 1983 that his first writing debut for the 1982 American horror comedy anthology film,Creepshow, had him worried that it would get bad press due to the ghoulish tone of the comics it was paying tribute to. King grew up loving the 1950s EC ComicsTales From the Crypt,The Vault of Horror, andThe Haunt of Horror,while other children his age were reading the adventures of Superman and Batman.
Creepshow, which is an anthology of five short stories with bookends that features a skeletal figure known as ‘The Creep’, was directed byNight of the Living Dead’sGeorge Romeroand starred Hal Holbrook, Leslie Nielsen, and Adrienne Barbeau, as well as starring King himself. However, King said that he wasn’t sure that many critics would understand its tone because many likely wouldn’t have grown up with the comics it was based on, so its concept would be lost on them.
“I think the critical drubbing it got might have driven some adults away. I expected bad reviews, of course, becauseCreepshowis based on the horror-comic-book traditions of the ’50s – not a send-up at all but a recreation. And if the mainstream critics had understood and appreciated that, I’d have known right off that we’d failed miserably in what we were trying to do.”
Thankfully for King and also the late great Romero,Creepshowwent on to become a big hit for Warner Bros. In its opening weekend, the comedy/horror grossed $5,870,889, shooting the film to the number one spot at the U.S. box office. In total,Creepshowgrossed $21,028,755 in the United States and Canada, making it the highest-grossing horror film for Warner Bros. in 1982. OnRotten Tomatoes, however, the anthology film received mixed reviews, only scoring a 65% approval rating, with some critics calling it “uneven” but many loving its “colorful” and “frequently funny” tone.
For fans who trust King’s frequent mini-reviews of the movies and TV shows he watches, he recently gavea popular 2025 horror film the ‘King’ seal of approval, but he wishes that he saw it in the theater rather than watching it at home. As for King’s long list of upcoming adaptations,Netflix has made a deal to adapt King’s 1981 bookCujointo a feature film.
