Stephen King is renowned for his prodigious writing career, releasing nearly a book annually throughout much of his professional life. Spanning over five decades, many of his works—including short stories—have been adapted into either films or TV series. The quality of these adaptations varies greatly—here are the best and worst King movies if you’re curious. Fans often approach King adaptations with caution, aware of the unpredictable nature of such projects, but King himself seems quite satisfied with this aspect. After all, he’s not involved in the filmmaking process.

“I’m not a hard guy to get along with,” King shared with Deadline. He explained that he’s comfortable with directors taking creative liberties with his work—possibly explaining why some adaptations significantly deviate from the original material. King remains unfazed by this approach. Differing from writers who treat their creations as untouchable, he stated, “I’ve collaborated with numerous film professionals throughout the years whom I consider very intelligent, tenacious, and capable of overcoming obstacles. And I admire that.”

When faced with negative reviews or poor box office performance, King is unbothered and distances himself from the outcome. “If it doesn’t work so well, I can say, well, they went out and they gave their best shot but I didn’t have anything to do with it,” he commented. “I’m just a bystander in this car wreck.”

A notable trait often observed by Stephen King fans is that his opinions on film adaptations of his books can greatly differ from popular opinion. His sentiments regarding “The Shining” are widely known; although many horror enthusiasts consider it a masterpiece, King was dissatisfied with Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation. “I think ‘The Shining’ is a beautiful film and it looks terrific and as I’ve said before, it’s like a big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it,” he remarked to Deadline.

King’s main issue with Kubrick’s vision was the portrayal of Jack Torrance, the unhinged writer depicted by Jack Nicholson. “He’s crazy as a s***house rat. All he does is get crazier,” King observed. “In the book, he’s a guy who’s struggling with his sanity and finally loses it. To me, that’s a tragedy. In the movie, there’s no tragedy because there’s no real change.”

King also sided with critics who disapproved of Shelley Duvall’s interpretation of Jack’s wife, Wendy. While promoting “Doctor Sleep,” the 2013 sequel to his original novel, he told BBC News, “Shelley Duvall as Wendy is really one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film. She’s basically just there to scream and be stupid and that’s not the woman that I wrote about.” Ouch. (And also: wrong, in this writer’s opinion.)

While Stephen King has written several screenplays — including the 1997 miniseries adaptation of “The Shining” in which he attempted to right the perceived wrongs of Stanley Kubrick’s film — he’s only ever directed his own work once. In the trailer for the 1986 film “Maximum Overdrive” (via YouTube), King appears as himself and speaks directly to the viewer, acknowledging that movies based on his books haven’t always been great. “A lot of people have directed Stephen King novels and stories,” he says, “and I finally decided, if you want something done right, you oughta do it yourself!” He smiles maniacally, and we’re off.

“Maximum Overdrive,” unfortunately, was not the critical success King was likely hoping for. It’s a deeply silly movie about electronics and machines coming to life, mostly embodied by an evil truck with a Green Goblin mask that terrorizes people in a remote diner. The score by AC/DC isn’t half-bad, as 80s cheese goes, so there are a lot of reasons to enjoy “Maximum Overdrive” anyway — but it’s certainly not “good.” In fact, some consider it Stephen King’s worst film ever.

In the years since his ill-fated directorial attempt, King has attempted to explain why that movie is so bonkers. He told The Kingcast (via Screenrant), “At that time, I was doing a lot of cocaine and I was drinking a lot. You can tell!” Camera assistant Silvia Giulietti simply told Slashfilm, “He didn’t know where to put the cameras.”