Survivor Type Is The Most Disturbing Stephen King Story Ever Adapted For The Screen

"Survivor Type" is the scary tale of a surgeon, Dr. Richard Pine, who steals medicinal heroin from a hospital and sets out on a cruise ship to sell it as part of a series of side scams. Unfortunately, the ship sinks, leaving him as the sole survivor and forcing an injured Dr. Pine to fend for himself, with a broken leg, on a desert island.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Richard manages to save his heroin from the capsizing vessel. As he grows increasingly hungry, however, Dr. Pine begins performing surgery on himself and using the heroin to deal with the pain and horror of his circumstances. Richard details his stomach-churning journey in the pages of a diary, making it clear to the reader that the surgeon is slowly going insane.

As the gruesome story continues and Dr. Pine deteriorates further, he ends up amputating both of his legs as well as other parts of his body — and consuming them. Not surprisingly, his ravings in the diary become even more unhinged. Though the surgeon still believes — egotistically — that he will survive, as he is a "Survivor Type," the diary abruptly ends when a mad Richard finally amputates one of his hands.