With episodes that regularly pass the three-hour mark, it’s safe to say that almost anything goes on The Joe Rogan Experience. And with plenty of room for conversations to breathe and stray from the path, it’s never a surprise to see Rogan exploring unexpected territory.
But in this particular episode, the territory was more terrifying than unexpected. With over 2,500 episodes, Joe Rogan’s art of audience engagement stems from a deep, eclectic knowledge of many subjects.
One subject that Rogan returns to regularly is horror movies. And like so many viewers of this cult classic horror flick, Rogan had nothing but praise for its chilling atmosphere and memorable set pieces.
However, Rogan was quick to point out that the world’s major authority on horror was surprisingly not a fan.
“You know what’s crazy? Stephen King didn’t like it,” shared Rogan. “King didn’t like that version.” “King doesn’t like anything cool,” responded regular guest Ari Shaffir. “He likes Salem’s Lot.”
Despite King’s disapproval of the film, its exceptional visuals cannot be denied. This was a point of discussion that Rogan approached with childlike glee.
“Like that one scene with Shelley Duvall in the bathroom and the axe is coming through. ‘Here’s Johnny!’” laughed a wide-eyed Rogan, doing his best Jack Nicholson impression. “That f*king movie was crazy.”
Rogan was, of course, talking about Stanley Kubrick’s iconic horror masterpiece The Shining. Kubrick adapted his film three years after King’s novel was released in 1977.
The film is arguably the best example of a slow-burning horror film, building towards a maddening and shocking conclusion. Outside of the explicit horror tropes, the film is also revered for its performances from Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd.
Despite its universal acclaim with audiences and critics, King felt that much of what made the novel special was lost in its translation from the pages to the silver screen.
Among his criticisms of Kubrick’s version were the portrayals of Jack and Wendy Torrance. King argued that the movie rid them of many of their most redeeming qualities. King also felt that the supernatural aspects of the Overlook Hotel were too subdued and a missed opportunity.
King can’t exactly be blamed for having really high expectations from the adaptations, especially considering just how colorful his work is, especially since it seems to have bled from incidents from his real life.
Rogan reveals eerie Stephen King incident
While Rogan and his guests were happy to praise The Shining adaptation and tease King for his sometimes prickly social media opinions, Rogan balanced the conversation by shedding some light on a lesser-known chapter in King’s personal life.
It concerned a near-death experience in his hometown. In 1999, a van struck King while he was traversing the local roads on foot. As Rogan reveals, King suffered multiple severe injuries from the accident.
These included a collapsed lung, multiple fractures to his right leg, a broken hip, and a deep scalp laceration. Understandably, King’s recovery was long and prevented him from writing for a considerable period.
But in typical King fashion, there were a number of eerie threads connected to this shocking episode in his life. Firstly, the driver of the van. Bryan Smith, who was reportedly distracted when he struck King, died just over a year later in a separate incident.
Secondly, the parallels of the accident with another King novel, 1983’s Christine, which tells the tale of a car possessed by supernatural forces wreaking havoc on local citizens. The accident and recovery would also later influence the character arc of Roland Deschain, the protagonist of King’s The Dark Tower series.
With a back catalogue as influential and beloved as King’s, and a personal life hiding very real tragedies, Rogan is perhaps a bit more forgiving when it comes to the writer’s views on social media.
