>but found myself noticing through the movie which bits were missing.

Anyone else relate?

Pssshhh ya. I find that most movies adapted from Stephen King novels can't develop ALL the characters in detail like he does, so they wind up falling a bit short.

Eg. If you've read the book Needful Things you'll understand why, at the end of the movie, a woman walks by wearing sunglasses, looking spaced out, dazed and confused. If you haven't read the book you wonder what on earth she is doing there.