There is no point in comparing it to Stephen King's novel because it stands out a lot from it. The book combines suspense and drama while Paul Michael "Starsky" Glaser's film is a totally enjoyable and uninhibited B series about the manipulation of the masses.
Pure pleasure bathed in a very ... eighties aesthetic. Just a big (guilty?) fun. With Schwarzie (one of my idols) and the beautiful Maria Conchita Alonso. It cannot be refused!