Why Stephen King’s The Raft Needs a Movie Adaptation

Stephen King’s harrowing short The Raft was adapted into a segment of Creepshow 2, but it’s time for a feature-length version of the story. Read by most King fans as part of his Skeleton Crew anthology, The Raft focuses on four college friends who head out to a remote lake for some partially clothed fun. It’s an odd decision, since it’s fall and the water is freezing, but the group soon has much more to worry about when a creature resembling an oil slick arrives to make them a meal.

In a great touch, the origin of the creature isn’t explained by King, making the scenario that much scarier. No one knows where this monstrosity came from, and no one knows what level of intelligence it might possess. What’s clear is that consuming these four people is on its to-do list, and once caught, there’s almost no way to free one-self from its gooey grip. It’s a bit reminiscent of The Blob in that way, which may well have influenced King.

While Creepshow 2‘s adaptation of The Raft is easily the standout segment of the film, it’s only about 20 minutes long. King’s concept is a great one though, and could easily support a full movie if expanded somewhat.

Why Stephen King’s The Raft Needs a Movie Adaptation

As it stands, Creepshow 2‘s version of The Raft is a pretty spot-on adaptation of Stephen King’s story, which is itself pretty short. The plot is adapted faithfully, as are the characters. The only real elements that don’t get brought over are the creature having shimmering, hypnotizing colors on top that it uses to lure in prey, and the ending, which still sees everyone get eaten, but no one ever makes it back to shore. However, this is one story that could easily be expanded outside of the limited scope King chose to give it, and into a full-length feature. Not a long one, to be sure, 90 minutes tops, as it shouldn’t wear out its welcome, but certainly longer than 20.

To support this, the titular raft could be made slightly larger, allowing for a few more characters to be present as potential victims. Also, more time needs to be spent with them as they get progressively more hopeless, fearful, and paranoid, perhaps turning on each other, leading to someone losing it and actually throwing another person to the creature over a perceived or past wrong.

The creature also needs to be realized far better than it was in Creepshow 2. There, the budget was very small, and while the practical death effects look great, the creature itself just looks like a vaguely sinister tarp floating through the water. The creature’s hypnotizing colors also need to be part of the mix this time. These characters also deserve better actors to play them, as Creepshow 2‘s cast wasn’t exactly award-worthy. In short, The Raft as a story merits a more grand treatment. Only time will tell if it gets one.

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