The Stand (1994)

Something goes terribly wrong at a government research facility in East Texas and a security guard and his family escape, driving east, where eventually their car is seen swerving towards a gas station and crashing. Stu Redman (Gary Sinise, above) races out to comfort the driver, who shows no sign of injury, apart from his infection. Soon enough, the infection spreads, and Stu finds himself among the few who are immune.

I remember reading Stephen King's 800-page The Stand (1978) and finding those first 200 pages intoxicating, focused less on plot than on episodic character introductions. Only when the book went biblical did I lose interest. Judging from the 1994 TV adaptation, on which King served as an Executive Producer, I didn't miss much. The same can't be said of Kubrick's 1980 film adaptation of King's The Shining (1977), which King loathed (to the point of remaking it for TV) and I loved.

Is there such a thing as a "faithful adaptation"? In mood and tone, yes, in plot and story, why bother.