Days of Our Lives indicates Stefan DiMera (Brandon Barash) could be very much alive and well. His mother, Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel), is definitely hiding something with regard to Stefan’s fate.

It seems like Gabi Hernandez’s (Cherie Jimenez) ex-husband could pop back up in Salem at some point.

Is Vivian Alamain Forging Stefan DiMera’s Death Documents on Days of Our Lives?

Vivian recently told Eli Grant (Lamon Archey) and Rafe Hernandez (Galen Gering) that her son Stefan died when his heart, which was transplanted from his identical twin Jake DiMera gave out late last year. At first, Vivian provided a photo of Stefan’s headstone in Alamainia, but that means nothing.

Vivian then provided a copy of Stefan’s death certificate, but she didn’t even file it until December 2025, two full months after Stefan supposedly died. That seems really fishy. Rafe and Eli think it’s dodgy, too.

Vivian is an expert at forging documents. Look at the mess she caused for Xander Cook (Paul Telfer) when she forged that letter from Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston) stating he wanted Philip Kiriakis (John-Paul Lavoisier) to be his heir. That passed muster as well.

Because they were skeptical, while Rafe and Eli were doing their official business in Alamainia, they went ahead and had Stefan’s remains exhumed to get them DNA tested.

Shocking Housekeeper Testimony Reveals Stefan Was Held Captive on DOOL

While Rafe and Eli went to Alamainia to investigate the CCTV feed from the crypt, they are coming back to Salem with a lot more information than they anticipated. This week, they met up with the housekeeper that Vivian fired.

The FBI agents learned that Vivian was holding Stefan against his will up until the point that he supposedly died in captivity, which was a part they didn’t know anything about.

When Rafe and Eli first questioned the woman, they expected to hear that the man held captive in the house was Dimitri von Leuschner DiMera (Peter Porte). Vivian swore up and down that Dmitri had been an unwelcome house guest before she evicted him and sent him back to Salem without his belongings.

Instead, the housekeeper said she has no idea who Dmitri is. She told the agents that the only man she saw in the house being held was Stefan and that he was in good health. He was trying to stay fit in captivity and mentioned missing his wife.

Vivian Alamain’s Devious Plot to Separate Gabi Hernandez and Stefan DiMera on Days

The housekeeper said that was a year ago, roughly eight to ten months before he died. When Rafe and Eli told her that Stefan had passed away, the ex-housekeeper seemed shocked. According to her, Stefan hadn’t seemed sick while she was still working for Vivian.

Now Rafe knows that Stefan didn’t leave Salem willingly and he never wanted to divorce Gabi. He was taken from her and Vivian is the culprit. The audience knows that Stefan wanted to reconcile with Gabi and work on their marriage.

That’s when Vivian’s manservant, Ivan Marais (Ivan G’Vera), knocked Stefan out, stuffed him in the trunk of his car, and hijacked him off to Alamainia. Vivian wanted to control Stefan’s life and never approved of his marriage to Gabi.

Vivian probably wouldn’t accept that any woman was good enough for her son. We even saw Vivian forge Stefan’s signature on the divorce decree that she dropped off to Gabi before she left town.

Will Gabi Hernandez Abandon Philip Kiriakis for Stefan DiMera?

Now, over a year later, Gabi still thinks her ex-husband wanted to leave her and Salem far behind. She is currently grieving his supposed death. I can’t wait until Gabi learns that Stefan was held captive by his mom and actually wanted to be with her.

I do feel bad for Philip, though. He’s been really supportive of Gabi’s feelings about her late husband. Wait until Gabi finds out that she was cheated out of a future with Stefan; that is going to sting.

Gabi and Philip are also about to take a romantic Miami getaway. This news could put some strain on their budding relationship. I think Gabi would drop Philip like a hot rock and take Stefan back if he popped back up in Salem.

The Twin Switch: Could Jake DiMera Be in Stefan DiMera’s Grave?

The way Vivian was pulling faces when Eli and Rafe were questioning her makes me think she is still hiding something. I don’t really think Stefan is dead. I think he may be very much alive, and maybe Vivian shipped him off somewhere to hide him before Rafe and Eli showed up.

It would have been really risky for Vivian to keep Stefan at the estate while the FBI was searching the premises. Rafe and Eli should learn from the FBI lab that the DNA from the exhumed remains is a match for Stefan.

While that makes it look like he’s definitely dead, he had an identical twin brother, Jake, who is also dead and would be a DNA match as well. Vivian could have put Jake’s remains in Stefan’s coffin. I wonder if Rafe and Eli will think to check Jake’s grave, too.

Vivian Alamain and Peter Blake’s Master Plan for the DiMera Estate on Days of Our Lives

If Stefan really did die in October, then Vivian had no motive to work with Peter Blake (Jason Brooks) to orchestrate the DiMera kidnappings. It now seems pretty clear that Vivian was at least a partner in this crime, if not the mastermind.

Without Stefan being alive, Vivian wouldn’t participate because she wouldn’t have a chance to get hold of any of Stefano DiMera’s (Joseph Mascolo) estate. I suspect Vivian lied and said Stefan was dead so she and Peter could discuss divvying up the estate.

Then, Stefan could reappear alive and he and Peter could run the DiMera company together as two of the few DiMeras left if they had killed everyone else in the crypt as planned.

Days of Our Lives Spoilers: The Fallout of Stefan DiMera’s Return

At this point, there are so many red flags that we can say Stefan DiMera is probably alive. I’m going to give it a 98% probability. Plus, people rarely stay dead on Days of Our Lives.

Once Gabi and Philip commit to each other, that’s the perfect time for Stefan to make his escape from wherever Vivian has stashed him. He will likely run from his wicked mom and come back to Salem looking to reunite with Gabi.

If Stefan is alive, there’s going to be a whole lot of fallout. Philip could wind up being collateral damage, which would be ironic because he’s co-CEO of Titan specifically because of Vivian’s chicanery.

I expect a lot more twists and turns very soon because Rafe is pushing for answers. Once he’s back from Alamainia, Rafe is going to confirm to Gabi that Stefan is dead based on the DNA results. But those results could be accurate yet misleading if Jake’s remains were in that grave.

The woman who has claimed she’s “spiritually married” Quinton Aaron is no longer allowed at his bedside as The Blind Side actor recovers from his spinal stroke, a source exclusively tells Us Weekly — and she’s not denying it.

An insider close to Aaron’s family revealed that Margarita has been “banned” from Quinton’s hospital room as his family investigates their suspicions further.

“I’m OK with it, I’m at peace with this. Quinton and I pray a lot and believe in God and believe in a higher power. I can feel his presence telling me this will work itself out,” Margarita exclusively told Us on Wednesday, February 4, when asked about her alleged ban.

Aaron is “not talking” yet, so he has not asked about Margarita, the source said.

Us is told the actor’s loved ones decided as a family not to discuss Margarita with Aaron because they want to “protect” him from her and continue to focus on his recovery.

The insider claimed that before Aaron’s relatives went public with their suspicions, Margarita allegedly tried to isolate his relatives from his hospital bedside.

Margarita, however, denied that.

“Hospital staff even told me they were limiting visitation. They were only giving everyone five minutes once a day to be with him,” she said in response.

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Related: Who Is Quinton Aaron’s Wife? Inside the Actor’s Marriage to Margarita

Quinton Aaron’s wife, Margarita Aaron, is asking for support after the Blind Side actor fell ill and was hospitalized. Margarita began a GoFundMe campaign in January 2026, revealing her husband — who is most famous for portraying Michael Oher in the Sandra Bullock film — was “on life support due to a severe blood infection.” […]

According to a source, one of Aaron’s family members confronted Margarita at the hospital. (On Tuesday, the star’s relatives raised alarm bells about the legitimacy of the pair’s marriage and accused Margarita of not being a registered nurse, as well as being married to someone other than Aaron).

“If his family confronted me, I’d like to know which one. Not one of his family members confronted me in the hospital, and if they did, they were an invisible ghost with a sheet because none of them showed up,” Margarita told Us. (Our insider scoffed at her response, saying she knows exactly which family member challenged her.)

The source claimed Margarita allegedly denied the allegations before later admitting to hospital staff she was “spiritually married” to the actor and not legally wed.

Margarita shared a different story when addressing the accusations.

“That’s not true. I didn’t admit that to [the] staff,” she claimed to Us. “But we are spiritually married. We are tied as one.”

“I used to literally beg his family to come see him or try to even FaceTime him in the hospital. He used to say no one loves me. They love me for my name and what I can bring them.”

Margarita does admit she is legally married to another man.

“I am separated from my ex and we are both working on this process to make sure a divorce gets finalized so we both can move on with our lives,” she explained. “I have watched Quinton in the hospital for seven days, I prayed, I watched this man go through trials and tribulations.”

Margarita wants the family to put down their swords.

“Instead of us fighting over him, let’s fight for his life and what is right,” she told Us.

Aaron’s loved ones plan to investigate this matter further.

“Since the health crisis of our beloved family member Quinton Aaron, we have raised some suspicions about the legitimacy of Quinton and Margarita’s marriage to each other, as well as her legitimacy as a registered nurse. We have found some alarming details,” they said in a statement provided to Us on Tuesday. “We as a family believe Margarita isn’t who she claimed to be to us. This has caused us to want to investigate her further.”

Related: ‘The Blind Side’ Star Quinton Aaron Reveals Shocking 200-Lb. Weight Loss

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Quinton Aaron, best known for his breakout role in The Blind Side, has dropped 200 pounds — and says his biggest weight lifted was an emotional one. “Hey guys it has definitely been a tough few years since Covid. Made new friends and lost old ones. However, last year when I married my #puertoriqueña @margaritaleta75 […]

Aaron’s brother Jarred told TMZ that he believed Margarita was assisting in making “crucial and life-saving medical decisions.” (The outlet reported Margarita holds “no power of attorney” and has never made medical decisions on Aaron’s behalf.)

Last month, the family confirmed that Aaron had been put on life support at an Atlanta hospital after collapsing at home. They later shared he had suffered a “spinal stroke.”

“We acknowledge that you’ve heard about Quinton Aaron’s condition. We appreciate the overwhelming love, support and prayers that Quinton has received over the past few days from his fans, the public and our concerned community,” they said at the time.

An update on Aaron’s condition was shared via a GoFundMe on January 26.

“He is alert, aware and recovering. The Aaron family has a lot to deal with for the betterment of their loved one, but will be sure to keep everyone posted regarding Quinton’s health as we see fit,” the update read in part.

The campaign has raised almost $48,000 with more than 640 donations at the time of publication.

Ari Fletcher has sparked reactions on social media after admitting she’s considering getting a lil’ cosmetic upgrade, and of course, folks online wasted no time weighing in with their thoughts.

RELATED: Still Goin’ Strong?! Ari Fletcher Gives Peek Into Nightcap Vibes With Moneybagg Yo Following Rumors About Her & Lil Baby (VIDEO)

Ari Fletcher Reveals Her Next Possible Cosmetic Tweak

LiveBitez dropped clips from Ari Fletcher’s recent livestream, where she sat pretty in her beauty room and opened up about getting a lil’ cosmetic upgrade. Ari told viewers she wants to redo her breasts because she’s not feeling how they look right now. She said she mainly wants a lift. Ari added that her skin might’ve stretched, making them sit lower, but joked they can’t drop any further since she has “a bra under her chest.” In another clip, the beauty entrepreneur shared a little trick she uses to make her chest look perkier, but once she tried it, she realized she wasn’t feeling how much bigger it made them appear. See the full video here.

The Internet Weighs In On Ari’s Lil’ Enhancement Tease

Meanwhile, over in LiveBitez’s comment section, some folks said Ari looks just fine and doesn’t need to change a thing, while others chimed in and agreed the body dysmorphia is real and hits hard.

Instagram user @im_him_bruetherrrr wrote, “Love yourself ladies.” 

Instagram user @krys_theladydoc wrote, “The body dysmorphia in the industry is real.” 

While Instagram user @missnady_ wrote, “She lost weight so her skin stretched and also yal seriously need to stop being bothered by what someone chooses to do on their body and diagnosing them with mental illnesses. 😂”

Then, Instagram user @sweetma4life wrote, “Sad! The topic is always about booty, body, face or designer 🤦🏽‍♀️” 

Another Instagram user @milstyle8631 wrote, “They’re going to naturally drop with age smh once they start getting surgery they never stop looking for perfect.” 

Instagram user @helpinghandsbyaj wrote, “They look best when they hang, this perfection sh** getting out of hand. Omg this is sad!!” 

While another Instagram user @hereforlaughs.202 wrote, “Just leave it alone sister.”

Ari Gives Peek Into Date Night Vibes With Moneybagg Yo

Ari recently had the internet chatting for a whole different reason after dropping a clip with Moneybagg Yo. She gave fans a peek into their nightcap vibes, and the internet was here for it. The video showed them cruising through the city, locked in, and vibing to some music.

RELATED: Not Pressed?! Fans Think Ari Fletcher Just Clocked The Rumors About Her & Lil Baby (PHOTOS) 

Justin Bieber Didn’t Plan To Perform In Shorts

The Singer Rehearsed For Only 15 Minutes

Justin Bieber’s Performance In His Underwear Received Mixed Reactions

The Singer’s Demeanor Communicates One Of Vulnerability

Whew… the Woods family drama isn’t slowing down. GloRilla and her sister, Victoria Woods, aka Scar Face, are trading shots — and this latest feud has the internet taking sides. While GloRilla’s been flaunting her success, Scar Face is calling her out in a new interview for allegedly leaving the family in the dust.

RELATED: That’s How You Feel? GloRilla Claps Back At Family Neglect Claims As Her Sister Victoria Woods Doubles Down (WATCH)

Scar Face Takes GloRilla Drama Straight To TV

Scar Face joined TMZ Live to spill all the tea on what she says is GloRilla’s lack of support for the family that struggled before her rise. While the rapper has shown off flashy gestures, like gifting her dad a Jaguar (which Scar disputes ever happened), her sister says the rapper prioritizes a few close friends over her own family. According to Scar, their mom is still grinding at FedEx, even after GloRilla claimed to have helped her parents retire. When asked what it would take to fix things, Scar Face named $2500, a figure far smaller than most would expect from a millionaire like Glo, making the whole situation feel even messier.

The Comments Section Did Not Play

Once the clip dropped, folks ran straight to TMZ’s Instagram comment section and had words. Fans came through ready to ride ten toes down for Glo, shading her sister for even bringing it up, while others cracked jokes like “Big Glo probably bought the couch in the background.” Meanwhile, some were left wondering… what exactly has Scar Face done for their parents?

One Instagram user @abaddyellowb_ commented, “If ENTITLED was a person‼️‼️‼️”

This Instagram user @thebrandeemack said, “I would have flown to Memphis if that was my sister… wear her out“

And, Instagram user @mrbrandonanthony added, “I’m sorry but I didn’t understand one syllable this person said.“

Meanwhile, Instagram user @flowerdom joked, “😂Adding “at the end of the day the day gotta end” to my daily conversations.“

While Instagram user @ms.thang_1 shared, “The question is what have YOU done for your parents?“

Finally, Instagram user @_youcancallmesunshine said, “I bet Glo bought that couch in the back lol“

Sister Posts TMZ Clip, GloRilla Calls For Backup

Not even an hour after TMZ dropped the interview, Victoria reposted it on her Facebook with the caption “Bluffed called.” GloRilla fired back by telling fans she’d Cash App anyone who reported her sister’s page — after Scar Face claimed Glo once asked for her Cash App, then blocked her. As previously reported, GloRilla also updated her profile picture to what appears to be her sister working at FedEx and even dropped a link to the job site, Indeed. Looks like the drama keeps escalating, and the internet can’t get enough of this sibling showdown.

RELATED: Family Feud Or Facts? GloRilla Slammed By Sister For Allegedly Neglecting Mom And Siblings (VIDEO)

Music lovers, rejoice! Noah Kahan teamed up with Mastercard to debut the official music video for his latest single, “The Great Divide,” during a 2026 GRAMMY Awards commercial break in Los Angeles, California, on Feb. 1.

Not only did fans get a look at the emotional music video ahead of his forthcoming album, dropping Friday, April 24, but now they’re getting the chance to experience the music live, both through Mastercard Priceless Experiences with Kahan and on The Great Divide Tour kicking off Thursday, June 11.

To celebrate, Mastercard launched a sweepstakes, encouraging eligible cardholders to find as many Easter eggs as possible in the music video, for a chance to attend an intimate album listening party with Kahan in Nashville, Tennessee, or a Priceless Experience to his summer tour, inspired by The Mastercard Collection, a global suite of elevated dining, entertainment, and travel benefits. 

“’The Great Divide’ has taken on a life of its own because of the fans,” he said in a press release.

“This partnership with Mastercard felt like a natural way to honor that connection and turn it into something we can experience together. From the video to the moments we’re creating, it’s all about celebrating the community that’s been there from the start,” the songwriter added.

And Kahan is just as excited about what’s ahead.

On the GRAMMYs red carpet, the hitmaker told ET’s Kevin Frazier, “It’s gonna bring a lot of really, really cool opportunities to fans to get closer to the music process.”

This includes hearing more about what inspired the heartfelt track.

“The song is about two people who are friends, but there’s a lot of distance between them. … I’m really happy to see people connecting with it and finding their own people in their lives that they wish they could reach out to as well,” he told ET.

“I’ve worked really hard to make this music as emotional as possible and have as much representation of where I am in my life and I hope they feel that too, he continued.

And even if you don’t snag one of the sweepstakes prizes, you can still join the fun. Mastercard is giving World Elite and World Legend Mastercard (TM) cardholders special access through The Mastercard Collection to Preferred and VIP tickets for Kahan’s summer tour beginning Feb. 12.

For official rules and to enter the sweepstakes, visit priceless.com/noahkahansweeps before it ends on Feb. 11. No purchase is necessary to participate. Open to Mastercard cardholders prior to 2/2/26 who are permanent legal residents of 50 US/DC & legal age of majority.

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It’s beyond obvious to say that movie adaptations are tricky, but they’re also an inevitability, and sometimes, they’re done well. If you don’t like reading for whatever reason, some texts do thankfully translate well to the big screen. Take The Shawshank Redemption and Misery, for example. Both very good books (one a novella with a slightly different title, and one a novel, technically), and both very good movies (released in 1994 and 1990, respectively).

And what do you know? The original stories in both cases were written by Stephen King. His work’s been translated to film and television incredibly often over the decades, but below, only the movie adaptations are going to be covered. And, specifically, the ones that were noticeably worse than the books they were based on. Some of these movies were still good, but if they were good alongside source material that was great, they have a shot at showing up here.

10

‘The Dark Half’ (1993)

Image via MGM

Considering how wild the premise of The Dark Half is, it’s probably just worth celebrating that a movie got it to work at all. The Dark Half is indeed a better movie than, say, Dreamcatcher, but the Dreamcatcher movie isn’t here because the Dreamcatcher book wasn’t all that good to begin with. The Dark Half, though, as a novel, was very good, and maybe also quite underrated overall, too.

In book and movie, there’s an author who effectively kills off a pseudonym he used to write under, but then that pseudonym comes alive, or comes back to life, but either way, he starts murdering people. It’s very distinctively about writing, so maybe that makes it feel a little more compelling when you actually read it, but The Dark Half (1993) works decently enough, all things considered. Being a little weaker than the source material isn’t the hugest of issues, in this particular instance.

9

‘Doctor Sleep’ (2019)

Image via Warner Bros.

Doctor Sleep isn’t right up there as one of Stephen King’s best books published post-2000, but maybe it’s accurate to call it one of the better ones of the 21st century. There have been worse releases, for sure. Anyway, it’s a sequel to The Shining, and The Shining had a movie that ended pretty differently from the novel, so King’s original Doctor Sleep (the book) follows the ending of the book version of The Shining.

The adaptation of Doctor Sleep, on the other hand, tries to follow the ending of The Shining’s original text and movie. It wants to be a bit more than just a straightforward sequel, bringing together a book and a movie, even after the author of the former didn’t really like the latter adaptation. Points for trying, and Doctor Sleep (2019) sure is ambitious, but also, it might’ve been a better and more consistent movie if it hadn’t tried reconciling and continuing two different versions of The Shining.

8

‘The Running Man’ (2025)

Image via Paramount

If you were a Stephen King fan in 2025, then not only did you get a new book (Never Flinch… it was a’ight), but you also got four film adaptations of King’s work that same year. Well, The Life of Chuck was first screened in 2024, but got a wider release in 2025. Also, that year saw the release of The Monkey, The Long Walk, and The Running Man.

The Long Walk was pretty strong, and pretty close to being as impactful and intense as its source material. The Running Man, though, didn’t quite get there. It captured the spirit of the book better than the 1980s adaptation, which was so loose it barely counts as an adaptation, but The Running Man (2025) did make some deviations in ways that didn’t always help. It’s a subdued example, as it’s a pretty solid popcorn flick that moves well and entertains a decent amount, but there’s a visceral quality and an extra sense of desperation in the original book that wasn’t fully captured.

7

‘The Dead Zone’ (1983)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Long before he wrote a story about going into the past to stop an assassination, Stephen King wrote a story about someone assassinating someone in the present to prevent the awful visions he sees of the future. The story about the past was 11/22/63, and the story about seeing the future was The Dead Zone, with the latter getting a movie adaptation not long after the book’s initial publication.

There are some parts of The Dead Zone movie that work the way the book does, but it frustratingly streamlines the plot while still feeling a bit too slow. The book takes much longer to get through, but it’s an unexpectedly effortless read, and it doesn’t feel like as much work as the comparatively brief movie. This is all a bit of a hot take, because some people seem to sort of like David Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone, but it’s just missing something to take it from okay to genuinely really good.

6

‘Needful Things’ (1993)

Image via Columbia Pictures

There’s a lengthy and impressively escalating build-up into all-out madness in Needful Things that works better across hundreds of pages than it does over a couple of hours. It’s the kind of thing that a miniseries could do justice, because you need the time to really showcase the town of Castle Rock and dig into various people living there, all before having the town fall apart with everyone turning on each other in increasingly violent ways.

You still get a sense of chaos alongside a good many deaths in the movie, but it comes down to impact once more. There just isn’t the same impact found in the film, even if it’s a perfectly decent flick. There’s a lot of work that goes into getting through a novel that’s on the longer side of things, as far as Stephen King’s are concerned (not quite The Stand, of course, but then again, not much is length-wise), but the novel of Needful Things is ultimately rewarding if you’ve got the time to spare.

5

‘Cujo’ (1983)

Image via Warner Bros.

If you’re talking about Cujo, as in the book, it’s pretty mortifying stuff. There’s a horror of a very natural (rather than supernatural) kind here, and while plenty of Stephen King books are horrifying in fantastical and realistic ways simultaneously, Cujo is pretty much all about the realistic. There’s a dog who gets rabies and turns violent as a result, and a group of characters who are all put in immense danger because of this bad luck.

It’s not a long book, and the number of characters is also on the more manageable side of things, so Cujo technically should work well as a movie. And yeah, this 1983 adaptation is mostly solid, but then it does alter the ending in a way that’s definitely nicer, but also not as impactful; nowhere close, really. It’s like the inverse of the situation with The Mist, where the ending of the film adaptation went into considerably darker territory than the final few pages of the original novella.

4

‘It Chapter Two’ (2019)

Things are a bit complicated when it comes to the late 2010s adaptation of It, since the mammoth book was split into two movies. The reason for this was that one half of It has the main characters as kids, and then the other half of the novel has them as adults, with the same central foe taken on both times. But it’s not a neat tale of two age groups, since the novel of It cuts back and forth between the characters when they’re young and older.

You lose a lot with It Chapter Two because of this. It feels repetitive in a way that the original story doesn’t really, with its interesting structure. It (2017) does well at capturing most of the stuff with the characters as kids, so it’s a bit harder to criticize, though the choice with that first film to divide the narrative in such a way did ultimately doom the second film.

3

‘Pet Sematary’ (2019)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Working in a brutally effective way on two fronts, Pet Sematary stands as one of King’s scariest and also one of his saddest books simultaneously. There’s an exploration of death and a look at the desire to defy it, which is all horrific in very human and raw ways, but then there’s an ability to actually maybe reverse death, and then in come the supernatural elements and eventual scares on that front.

Neither movie adaptation of Pet Sematary quite delivers in the same way that the book does. The one from 1989 probably fares a little better than the version released in 2019, but not by a great deal, in all honesty. Things are followed decently well, so it’s more just a case that the really powerful parts of Pet Sematary have, so far, been far more impactful if you’re either reading the text or listening to an audiobook, compared to watching the whole story retold as a movie.

2

‘The Dark Tower’ (2017)

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

There are seven main books in The Dark Tower series, plus an interquel, a novella, and a bunch of other stories (some short, some novels) that tie into the series in some way, but one thing’s fairly clear: none were really adapted in – or represented by – 2017’s The Dark Tower. There are some elements taken from books #1 and #3, and a suggestion that things could be happening in a way that’s different from the events of the book (keeping it vague at the risk of spoiling something), but still. You want a bit more of The Dark Tower when you watch The Dark Tower.

Whatever it was trying to adapt or reflect, this movie failed. If it was trying to do its own thing, or build upon the main series, it didn’t really do that well, either. And The Dark Tower series is very long and complicated, so any sort of movie adaptation was never going to be easy, but this still felt like the wrong approach. The only reason it’s not #1 in this ranking is because of that ambiguity surrounding the extent to which it can be counted as an adaptation. Call it partially getting off on a technicality or whatever.

1

‘Salem’s Lot’ (2024)

Image via Max

Since ‘Salem’s Lot is such an incredible book, and quite close to one of Stephen King’s very best efforts overall, the movie adaptation being just average at best is extremely disappointing. That makes it stand out as an example of a movie that really isn’t much compared to what it could’ve or should’ve been. And further, maybe saying it’s kind of average is a stretch.

This movie follows the same basic plot, with vampires slowly taking over a small town and the few humans left having to fight for their lives (not lives of the undead variety), but the slow burn of the novel is sacrificed for… nothing? There isn’t really anything gained by pacing this like a horror movie, or trying to pace it like a horror movie, since Salem’s Lot (2024) still feels slow, just not slow in a good or purposeful way. Even if you really hate reading, by no means should you watch this before getting around to the book (can’t be overstated just how much better it is).

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Salem’s Lot

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Release Date

October 3, 2024

Runtime

113 minutes

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Writers

Gary Dauberman

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Producers

Mark Wolper, Michael Bederman, Roy Lee, James Wan, Michael Clear, Judson Scott

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  Makenzie Leigh

  Susan Norton

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  Jordan Preston Carter

  Mark Petrie

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