I have been a long time fan of Stephen King’s stories but not so much his movies. The main reason is that compared to his writing, the movies generally suck.
I read my first King novel when I was ten (1976 if you really want to know). That’s when I fell in love with 
horror/mysteries in general. I stayed up all night Christmas eve that year reading Salem’s Lot as well as The Amityville Horror by George Lutz. I was hooked and the bar has been set by the feeling I got when I read Salem’s Lot. While certainly not his scariest book, for a ten-year-old it was pretty darn terrifying. I watched the TV miniseries when it aired in ’79 and of course I was still pretty young then, so as far as I was concerned it was a terrific movie.
In general the movies that came out from ’79 until the late 80’s seemed to me to be low-budget, and just didn’t capture what I got out of the books, but the last few years, since the Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption were released, they have been getting better and better. The most recent flick to come out is The Mist, which is to be released in theaters on November 21st. Directed and adapted from Stephen King’s short story by Frank Darabont, not surprisingly the director of the aforementioned Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile, this looks to be a serious thriller and chiller. I checked out the trailer over at themist-movie.com and the wife decided then and there that she wasn’t going to see it with me but Pete, my ten-year-old wants to go see it with me and I may just take her.
The Mist by Stephen King is also one of my favorite short stories, really a novella in itself. There are several that I really like and consider favorites though, most of them in Skeleton Crew as is The Mist. The Reach, while not a horror story, really shows how Stephen King can grab your attention and keep hold until he lets go.
If you aren’t familiar with the Mist it details a mist that rolls in to a Maine town and traps the townspeople inside a grocery store. As they realize that there are some sort of creatures out there, things start to get ugly, both inside and outside the store. You are better off going to check out the two trailers at http://www.themist-movie.com/, as well as the webisodes that are up to get a general idea of what the movie is about and look for me at Arbor Place Mall Theater a few days after it’s out. I would love to go see it on opening day but it’s too crowded for my tastes and with the hours I work I won’t have a day off work until about the 27th anyhow.