Some of the best Stephen King stories are best viewed without being terrified the entire time. That’s when stories like The Life of Chuck come in.
King’s work is often associated with his more famous horror titles. But the famed author has a series of short stories and novels that are not within the horror genre. This year, we have two such novels getting big screen adaptations. Director and writer Mike Flanagan is bringing us The Life of Chuck, based on the short story of the same name in If It Bleeds. Then we have Edgar Wright’s adaptation of The Running Man.
Spotlighting the non-horror stories is exciting to me as a King fan and what makes The Life of Chuck even more special is that Flanagan has a unique way of looking at King’s work. I loved his adaptation of Doctor Sleep and have been longing for more of King’s stories through Flanagan’s vision. So it isn’t surprising that the teaser trailer for The Life of Chuck made me emotional.
The story focuses on Charles Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) at three distinct parts of his life. Which is honestly what made me emotional, seeing Chuck as an adult, a teenager, and then a young child. But the taste of the film was enough to have me very excited for what Flanagan has for us.
The official synopsis for the film is as follows: “A life-affirming, genre-bending story based on Stephen King’s novella about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.”
The rest of the cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Matthew Lillard, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Flanagan’s wife Kate Siegel, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, Mark Hamill, and Heather Langenkamp.
Stephen King’s work is bigger than just his horror stories
What I loved about the trailer is that it shared King’s work that are not horror stories. It says from the author of things like Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile. Those are honestly the three adaptations that people don’t often associate with King and his body of work. The fact that we have both The Life of Chuck and The Running Man coming out in the same year is exciting for those of us who King’s work more intimately.
King rightfully has a name for himself in the horror genre. His macabre stories are ones that have haunted us for decades. But his work like The Life of Chuck and The Running Man are fun departures from what he is “known” for. Every year, we have a few King adaptations to enjoy and I love that the three this year are The Monkey, The Life of Chuck, and The Running Man.
All three of those are lesser known works of King’s and I do love that that these are what we’re adapting this year. Look, I love Pet Sematary as well as Salem’s Lot but I like that we’re not repeating the same stories again. And this teaser trailer has me so incredibly excited for the year of Stephen King.
Published: Mar 13, 2025 07:23 pm