It's a standard rule of thumb: the book is usually better than the movie. This is a rule that most of us know well when it comes to the books that we hold near and dear to us. For me, one of my favorite authors is the king himself, Mr. Stephen King. This rule of thumb applies to most if not all of his books that have been recreated with movie magic. Here is a list of four of King's more popular books that have been made into movies / tv shows that did not live up to the greatness of their book predecessors. Here is your formal SPOILER warning for those of you who have not read these books or read these movies.

1. "It"

It is the latest movie to hit the big screen from King's collection. This movie remake has had major success and is one that I saw several times at the theaters. It makes an admirable attempt at telling the kids side of this story but as is the downfall of most movies, it leaves out major plot points. The book tells the story of the adults and children in a parallel time frame so we see each of their sides of the story unfold at the same time. I understand the creative choice to tell the stories separately but this decision ultimately removes the surprise and tension that builds in the time frame set by the book. As I stated earlier, I was a fan of the latest movie adaption but the older film will always hold a place in my heart thanks to the talent of the one and only Tim Curry. If you haven't seen the older movie, please do yourselves a favor and watch it. Tim Curry's performance is more than worth it.

2. "The Shining"

Next on my list is The Shining. I know that many people regard Stanley Kubrick's film as one of the greatest of all time and I have to hit that with a strongly disagree. The book tells a much deeper story than a case of cabin fever turned lethal. King's book gives Jack more of a purpose than just the demise of his family and that alone makes the book of much greater value than the movie.

3. "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger"

The Dark Tower is one of the newer releases from King's world and it really missed its mark. For those of you who don't know, The Dark Tower is actually a series of eight books by King that tells the story of Roland Deschain and the other members of the Ka-tet who are attempting to save the world from The Man In Black's plans of destruction and ruin. This new film attempts to do the impossible task of mashing several books together into one movie. This is never a good idea, that is until it becomes socially acceptable to have four hour long movies. (But here's hoping (: ).

4. "11.22.63"

11.22.63 tells the story of a modern-day man who travels back in time to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I know, it sounds awesome and it totally is! This book was picked up by Hulu to be turned into an original. This was one series that my boyfriend and I eagerly awaited. When it finally arrived on our Hulu homepages, we dove right in and quickly climbed back out after just one episode. The series takes a complete right turn from the path that was set by King's original book and only manages to touch back on the original plot line at far and apart moments during the series. I can understand making creative decisions to remove sections of plot and even jumping around but this series comes close to completely missing the original story.

There are countless other masterpieces from Stephen King that I didn't hit upon in this article but the rule of thumb still remains the same across all of the films from his works: the books are always and will always be better than the movie.