The film is directed by tod williams, produced by john cusack, with a screenplay by king and adam alleca. For the 2016 film based on this book, see cell film. Cell a stephen king adaptation that starts promising and devolves into nonsense. Jackson and john cusack star in stephen king movie. Cell is a quasi zombie story by stephen king, circa 2005, its basically the thing kirkman ripped off while developing the walking dead. A list of stephen kings movies, organized alphabetically. When a mysterious cell phone signal causes apocalyptic chaos, an artist is determined to reunite with his young son in new england. King wrote the screenplay, making him an integral component of the film. Jackson, stephen king horror thriller movie hd when a mysterious cell phone. The book is often dismissed as minor king, even by his most ardent fans. Easiest explanation is that the two good endings john cusack saves the world with explosives, or he and his son leave the scene unharmed were in cusacks head. He probably got pulsed immediately after he arrived at phoner central. The pulse is depicted as an electrical signal that transmitted globally through cellular telephones in roughly 2006.
With king behind the source material and cowriting the screenplay, cell has all of the ingredients to be another great horror film. Everyone using a cellphone at the time of the pulse experienced a kind of psychological reboot, with the following initial effects. His proposed version would have taken a global survey of the. Having read the book twice now once a few years ago and again last week, i have mixed feelings about the film. Besides, theres mild amusement to be had watching people shuffle around like violent zombies as a result of cell phone usage. As he prepares to celebrate, somebody, somewhere, triggers the pulse, a. I didnt interpret the book as decrying the evils of cell phones technology, but rather an interesting allegory for anything thats ubiquitous. Clayton riddell, a struggling artist from maine who is estranged from his wife, sharon, and his young son, johnny, has landed a graphic novel deal in boston. A film has been made of cell but even actors of the calibre of john cusack, samuel l jackson and isabelle fuhrman couldnt save it from being awful, like many stephen king adaptations it strays a lot from the book. There have been many who have compared stephen kings cell with his earlier apocalypsenow effort, the stand.
The final result is the asofnow worst stephen king film adaptation. Suspenseful and sentimental, unbridled in its ability to disturb and disgust, cell stands as a writers manifesto to the postaccident part of stephen kings career. The story of why it took 10 years to make stephen kings cell into a movie and why its an important film. The story follows a new england artist struggling to reunite with his young son after a mysterious signal broadcast over the global cell phone network turns the majority of his fellow humans into mindless vicious animals. Stephen kings cell gets a bargainbin adaptation film. I didnt like cell i didnt like desperation i hated dreamcatcher. When a mysterious cell phone signal causes apocalyptic chaos, an artist is. The book more of a novella than a standard king length novel was a decent sort of thriller. After the closing credits have finished, the catalyst signal from the movie plays. Stephen king is a funny one, his first 10 books or so, and all his early short stories, were amazing then he kind of went through a weird dip then he wrote a few which were to me top notch then he dipped again.
His recent work includes the institute, elevation, the outsider, sleeping beauties cowritten with his son owen king, and the bill hodges trilogy. Stephen king zombie film cell to be directed by paranormal activity 2 helmer. Stephen king based on the novel by, stephen king screenplay by 1 more credit. Like with the original novel, cell is built around a ridiculous premise that feels like a parody of a stephen king book a comedian cooked up for a bit. The pulse was an international cellular signal that began armageddon. John cusack and samuel l jackson are phoning it in as survivors of a crisis that turns mobile users into.
Cell is a 2016 american science fiction horror film based on the 2006 novel of the same name by stephen king. Cell, directed by tod williams, isnt just an adaptation of stephen kings novel cell released in 2006. After cell introduces some questionable plane crash effects and ticks off its postdisaster. The movies been around for a while at film festivals and vod, and will soon be released in theaters. That said, we will have to wait and see if the final product provides the unique take on the genre that audiences are hoping for. Stephen kings novel cell was published in 2006 and its taken 10 years to get it out on film. This like many of stephen kings novels is both a terrible look at mankind and a wondrous look at what could be. There was talk for a while of eli roth making a movie out of cell, stephen king s technophobic spin on the zombieapocalypse thriller. The only real ending is him getting pulsed and joining the flock. Finally, however, the movie version of cell started coming together, thanks to a new script by stephen king, who reportedly said he would be changing the original ending of the novel for the movie. This ending is confusing, so join me as i try to figure. The film was released on june 10, 2016 to video on demand, prior to a limited release scheduled for july 8, 2016. Film adaptation of stephen kings cell to premiere at. This whole movie is all about how we act when theres no wifi.
The book more of a novella than a standard kinglength novel was a decent sort of thriller. Just the thought of that genre guttersnipe going all hostel on the authors haunted new england was enough to send the wrong kind of chills down king fans spines. Cell is a 2006 apocalyptic horror novel by american author stephen king. A lifeless husk of a film that lacks even the basic understanding of how storytelling works. Stephen kings bestselling novel is brought to terrifying life in this mindblowing thriller starring john cusack and samuel l. Its based on a 2006 novel by stephen king who cowrote the screenplay, but the film reduces the book to its bare bones, so that theres not much in the way of. Top 6 reasons cell is a much better movie than it gets. Can someone explain to me the ending to stephen kings cell. Jackson, john cusack movie hd when a mysterious cell phone signal causes apocalyptic chaos, an. Stephen kings it film adaptation gets a 2017 release date. Cell is an underrated stephen king adaptation by zach dionne may 15, 2018 cell is one of the more underrated adaptations from the stephen king canon. Today marks the vod release of the film adaptation of stephen kings cell, a book that stands out as the writers first and only novellength zombie story to date.
The other cell phone, which the man had set up as a detonator on the school bus, also has 3 bars. The cell, my 3rd time reading it, does not fail to deliver horror and gore, yet also brings the beauty of one mans search for his family after an apocalyptic phone call. What makes this movie about a zombie attack different from any other movie. Clay dials the number, and the entire fairgrounds goes up in a giant fireball, killing almost all of the phonepeople, raggedy man included. All stephen king movies ranked cell is a 2016 american science fiction horror film based on the 2006 novel of the same name by stephen king.
This message was timely back in 2006, when the stephen king bestseller this film is based on hit bookstores, but it bears some repeating. One could argue that stephen kings cell was never intended to be anything more than a breakneck, technophobic riff on the george romero school of zombie satire. On this ending explained, i tackle the stephen king apocalyptic zombie thriller cell 2016, starring john cusack and samuel l. The book was released by scribner on 24 january 2006. The book starts in downtown boston, the film starts at the airport. Stephen kings bestselling novel is brought to terrifying life in this mindblowing. Stephen king movies a list of 29 titles created 3 months ago sep 18 sep 19 a list of 39 titles created 27 sep 2018 see all related lists. There was talk for a while of eli roth making a movie out of cell, stephen kings technophobic spin on the zombieapocalypse thriller. In 2012, the film was declared to be happening, with john cusack playing the lead role. And there are some good reasons, endoftheworld setting, the survivors polarized into two camps, one camp, arguably no longer even human, a big bang ending in an arena like setting, etc.
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