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1408
Jul 24, 2020 18:50:05 GMT -5
Endo likes this
Post by Bibliophile3 (ADMINISTRATOR) on Jul 24, 2020 18:50:05 GMT -5
Based on a short story by author Stephen King.
Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is a successful author who enjoys worldwide acclaim debunking supernatural phenomena -- before he checks into the Dolphin Hotel, that is. Ignoring the warnings of the hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson), he learns the meaning of real terror when he spends the night in a reputedly haunted room.
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Endo
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Post by Endo on Aug 5, 2020 0:01:38 GMT -5
This is another of King's novellas that I like the movie version of better...almost. I really like the movie for the most part, just certain things here and there bother me. Overall a great adaptation of a great story.
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1408
Aug 5, 2020 20:21:52 GMT -5
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Post by Occupant on Aug 5, 2020 20:21:52 GMT -5
I'm curious to hear your critique Endo. I never read the novella, did the movie deviate much from it?
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Endo
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Post by Endo on Aug 5, 2020 21:41:37 GMT -5
Well first, in the story Mike Enslin has no family, so none of the scenes with Enslin seeing his dead father or daughter or even his ex-wife, happened in the story. That didn't bother me so much, I thought they added to the movie and I didn't expect it to be an exact copy of the story, they never are.
In the story, Enslin is pretty much immediately affected by the room and I felt the descriptions were scarier in the book, but they did add more details in the movie. Also in the story, Enslin is burned and severely scarred mentally from the room and is unable to write anymore, which is a pretty dreary ending. The collectors edition of the movie has two alternate endings, one where Mike dies in the room and one where he escapes and writes a story about what happened in the room. Obviously, they went with what I thought was the best ending, where he gets out and plays the recorder and his wife hears their daughter talking to him, basically proving everything he said happened to him in the room.
I just felt the story was more succinct and to the point and even excluding the family Enslin has in the movie, his character is more gritty and developed to me. Olin, on the other hand, is way better in the movie IMO.
Overall, I love the movie, just love the story a little more. Maybe because I had read it before I saw the film and it just resonated with me. Maybe because it's one of the stories King has written where he doesn't get his self described "diarrhea of the mouth." It's much more cut and dry to me.
If you liked the movie, you should definitely read the story. It's in Everything's Eventual and On Writing, I think. Good read.
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1408
Aug 5, 2020 22:26:30 GMT -5
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Post by Occupant on Aug 5, 2020 22:26:30 GMT -5
Thanks for the critique. Now I want to read the book.
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