I Want These Stephen King Stories Adapted After The Monkey

After the debut of The Monkey in theaters last month, there are five Stephen King stories that should be prime candidates to be adapted either into movies of TV series. Based upon Stephen King’s 1980 short story of the same name, The Monkey focuses upon a mysterious toy monkey that seems to be the cause of a series of increasingly horrific deaths. Directed by Osgood Perkins, The Monkey has become the latest Stephen King-adapted movie to resonate with audiences, continuing the modern big-screen Stephen King renaissance that first kicked off with 2017’s IT.

Stephen King, of course, is renowned as the literary master of horror, and many of his novels and short stories have been adapted into movies and TV miniseries. However, the modern Stephen King movie winning streak suggests that King’s bibliography should be fertile ground for further adaptations, and five candidates in particular really stand out. Here are the five Stephen King stories that should be adapted after The Monkey.

Duma Key

A comparatively recent Stephen King novel, 2008’s Duma Key tells the tale of contractor Edgar Freemantle, who relocates to Florida’s Duma Key after a work-related accident. Upon settling on Duma Key, Edgar resumes his work as an artist, and before long comes to the shocking discovery that his paintings not only grant him unexplained visions to past events, but also act as portals to the mysterious supernatural being known as Perse. Edgar also soon comes to realize that Perse has some connection to an elderly resident on the island named Elizabeth Eastlake.

Stephen King’s talent for supernatural horror is undeniable, and a staple of his bibliography is the presence of writers and novelists as frequent protagonists, often appearing in King stories with such frequency as to run a close second to stories set in the state of Maine. Duma Key takes a different angle of using a painter as its protagonist and his chosen medium as the source of its supernatural phenomena. A movie or miniseries adaptation of Duma Key could be something different in the King stable, and even bring in some powerful visual flair with the role of Edgar’s paintings as otherworldly conduits.

“The Sun Dog”

One of four novellas published in King’s 1990 book Four Past Midnight, “The Sun Dog” tells the story of young Kevin Delevan, who is gifted a Sun 660 Polaroid on his 15th birthday. However, the only pictures to emerge from the camera are of a vicious-looking black dog that appears to be inching closer and closer with each new picture snapped. “The Sun Dog” is another Stephen King story to have never been adapted at all either in movies or on television, and that distinction alone makes it a candidate to follow in the footsteps of The Monkey, but far from the only one.

“The Sun Dog” is a generally underappreciated work within King’s bibliography, with its premise elevating the suspense and terror of the story in each chapter in true King fashion. Even better is the ending passage of “The Sun Dog,” which alludes to even greater terror as King is known to do. While the technology elements of the camera-based story might call either for some updates or the story to be adapted as a period piece, it nonetheless is a splendid Stephen King story that deserves the chance to join its brethren on cinema screens.

[RELATED: 7 Stephen King Movies That King Himself Hated]

“Insomnia”

Stephen King’s 1994 novel Insomnia zeroes in on retired widower Ralph Roberts, a man dealing with chronic insomnia. His condition proves to have far more serious consequences than merely difficulty sleeping, with Ralph taking late night walks and seeing bizarre visions throughout his neighborhood in the town of Derry, Maine. Soon, Ralph comes to realize these are more than a mere side effect of sleep-deprivation, but visions that pull him into the cosmic forces of Purpose and Random.

The town of Derry, Maine is a familiar one to both King die-hards and general audiences as the setting of Stephen King’s IT, with multiple other King novels set in the fictional town where evil supernatural forces often prey upon unsuspecting humans. Additionally, the forces of Purpose and Random are connected to King’s “Dark Tower” novel series, which serves as the foundation bedrock for King’s entire literary multiverse. Insomnia has plenty of King supernatural horror on its own terms, and the added benefit of an adaptation on either the big or small screen could be a further expansion of King’s vast cosmic web being brought to life from the pages of the book that inspired it.

Blaze

At once one of Stephen King’s oldest stories and one of his comparatively recent ones, Blaze centers on Clayton Blaisdell Jr. aka “Blaze,” who kidnaps the infant son of a wealthy family, at the mental behest of his deceased partner-in-crime George Rackley. The story of Blaze is less that of a kidnapping and more about the tragedy of Blaze’s life and descent into criminal activity. Published by King under his occasional authorial pseudonym Richard Bachman, Blaze has an interesting history leading up to its publication, with King having originally written it before his break-out 1974 novel Carrie, and King’s original manuscript for Blaze falling through the cracks for decades.

Eventually, King rediscovered Blaze in his attic, and after a subsequent re-write, King eventually published it in 2007. The history of Blaze alone makes it one of the more fascinating Stephen King/Richard Bachman novels. In addition to its own gripping story having plenty of cinematic potential, what could be a more fitting and triumphant capstone to the long road of Blaze finally being published than for it to finally be adapted as a movie or mini-series like so many other King stories? That would make Blaze quite a follow-up indeed to the success of The Monkey.

The Long Walk

Another King novel published under his Richard Bachman pseudonym, The Long Walk is set in a post-apocalyptic future with the United States ruled with an iron fist by “The Major.” The novel’s title refers to an annual walk that 100 teenage boys are selected to participate in, with any one who falls behind the group’s pace facing execution, and the winner set up with whatever their heart’s desire for the remainder of their life.

Narrated by one of the long walk’s participants, Ray Garraty, The Long Walk has a somewhat similar history to Blaze of being a King story to precede Carrie in writing but not publication, though The Long Walk made it to the page much faster than Blaze with the former’s 1979 publication. And unlike the other entries on this list, there is actually movement on an adaptation of The Long Walk (albeit after years of previous attempts and false starts), with The Long Walk movie beginning filming in 2024, though a release date is not set yet.

King has as much talent for post-apocalyptic and dystopian future storytelling as he does for straightforward and supernatural horror, as The Stand is an eternal testimony to. The Long Walk is a layered story of survival, totalitarian rule, and a classic “What would you do in this situation?” kind of tale. In the post-Hunger Games world, The Long Walk movie could be a great follow-up to The Monkey, bringing King’s talent for dystopian futures to a wider audience beyond those who have already seen both the 1994 and 2020 adaptations of The Stand.

What King stories do you think should be adapted next? Let us know in the comments!