The Top Ten Best Stephen King Movies
No novelist has had a greater impact on horror than Stephen King. The incredibly prolific writer has created countless iconic characters and stories over the past five decades. King has a relatively cinematic writing style, so it’s no surprise that his many of his popular books have been adapted into movies.
Unfortunately, many of these early efforts were poorly received. There were a few diamonds (Carrie, The Shining), but plenty of duds (Graveyard Shift, Maximum Overdrive, Children of the Corn, Thinner).
The wide perception back in the ’80s was that, with rare exceptions, King adaptions were doomed to fail. This finally began to change in the early ’90s, when Misery and The Shawshank Redemption received widespread acclaim. Today, King movies have largely shed the negative connotations of those early years.
Of course, there are still duds from time to time. Don’t even get me started on the atrocious adaption of The Dark Tower, which utterly trashed one of my favorite King works.
Here are my top ten best Stephen King movies. Not every film on this list is horror. In fact, King is a more versatile writer than he’s been given credit for. Some of his best material is outside the genre. King has written effective fantasy, sci-fi, and drama.
This is a horror site, but I’ve included some non-genre works on the list. After all, how could I make a list of the best Stephen King movies without including Shawshank or The Green Mile?
10. The Running Man (1987)
The Running Man was initially published under King’s infamous pseudonym, Richard Bachman. The book is set in 2025 (yes, this year!) and features a reality TV show contestant (how prescient!) who must evade a group of hitmen in order to survive.
Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in a King adaption in his peak action hero glory days. I don’t think King imagined a giant musclebound Austrian as his protagonist, but this weird combo works surprisingly well.
This is one of those cheesy old action movies with cartoonish one-liners (“It’s showtime!”) and lots of wild machine gun battles. It’s amazing how Schwarzenegger always hits his targets and the bad guys always miss when they shoot at him. This is a really fun movie for people who like this type of thing.
9. The Boogeyman (2023)
This one stars scream queen Sophie Thatcher as a grieving daughter. She and her sister are terrorized by a shadowy supernatural monster after their mom dies. The Boogeyman has an intriguing story and plenty of creepy atmosphere. I’m keeping this short because I covered this movie extensively in the article linked below.
Related: The 7 Scariest PG-13 Horror Movies
8. The Mist (2007)
King’s haunting and creepy cosmic horror novella about a town inexplicably engulfed in mist is even more disturbing onscreen. Mrs. Carmody, played by Marcia Gay Harden, is one of King’s better villains. You will learn to despise this lady, both in the story and the movie.
Some King adaptations have toned down gruesome material from his books (Cujo being a prime example), but this one takes the opposite approach with one of the most brutal and bleak endings in horror movie history. The Mist was also adapted as a television series in 2017.
7. Creepshow (1982)
This is an anthology collaboration between King and director George Romero, based on the classic E.C. horror comics of the 1950s. King himself stars in one segment, as a hillbilly farmer who has an unfortunate encounter with a mysterious meteor. His acting isn’t great, but he has a lot of fun in the role.
My favorite segment is “The Crate”, starring the venerable Hal Holbrook in what I believe is his only horror role. The unsufferable wife of a college professor (played wonderfully by Adrienne Barbeau) gets devoured by an ancient monster hiding inside a crate. Creepshow was followed by two sequels and a Shudder TV series.
6. Misery (1990)
Kathy Bates reached superstardom with her unforgettable role as Annie Wilkes, an obsessed fan who kidnaps and tortures a novelist after he kills off her favorite character.
Wilkes is an absolute monster in the book and Bates was the perfect casting choice. She won the Best Actress Oscar in a rare victory for a horror movie. Even King, who often dislikes adaptions of his work, praised the film.
It’s easy to interpret Misery as King commenting on some of his more deranged fans, but according to him, it’s actually an allegory for his struggles with cocaine abuse.
5. It (2017)
This savage and uncompromising adaption of one of King’s most popular novels features an unforgettable performance by Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The change from a ’50s setting to the ’80s, and the decision to adapt only the first half of the novel, were brilliant choices. The kids are all compelling, especially Beverly (Sophia Lillis).
When you have an iconic villain facing off against characters you actually care about, you’ve got the perfect recipe for an excellent horror movie. Too bad It Chapter Two didn’t live up to the quality standards of this film.
4. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Viewers may not realize that this movie was adapted from King (the novella Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption). It certainly doesn’t fit with the conventional image of his work.
A wrongly convicted man (Tim Robbins) strikes up a decades-long friendship with an older gentleman (Morgan Freeman) who was a criminal in his youth. Freeman and Robbin’s believable and heartfelt friendship is the heart of this film. Prison dramas aren’t my cup of tea, but this is as good as that genre gets. Get busy living, or get busy dying!
3. The Green Mile (1999)
Frank Darabont’s adaption of King’s serialized tale of injustice during the Great Depression features Tom Hanks as a death row prison guard. His life is irrevocably changed after meeting John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a wrongly convicted inmate with supernatural powers.
Both the movie and the novel avoid cheap sentimentality and end with a suitably bittersweet (well, mostly bitter) conclusion. It’s easily one of the best Stephen King adaptations.
2. The Shining (1980)
Stanley Kubrick’s masterwork is one of the creepiest haunting movies ever made. Jack Nicholson’s crazed performance as a wannabe novelist staying at an isolated Colorado hotel is the stuff of legends. King famously doesn’t like this adaption, but I (and millions of others) sure do!
Few horror films have as many creepy moments as The Shining, and that’s why it’s one of the best Stephen King horror movies.
Related: 5 Winter Horror Movies That Chill Me to the Bone
1. Carrie (1976)
The first King movie adaption is still my favorite. Carrie White is one of the most tragic figures in horror. Despite being shy and quiet, she is clearly capable of overcoming her mom’s abuse and finding happiness. But it all comes crashing down because of high school mean girls and Carrie’s inability to control her telekinetic powers.
The unhinged rage and terror of Carrie’s prom rampage has been seared into my mind since I was a kid. Believing that everyone is against her, she brutally punishes the innocent along with the guilty on a fiery night of carnage.
Along with Sissy Spacek’s iconic performance, Piper Laurie deserves credit for playing Carrie’s utterly insane mom, Margaret. She scared the hell out me as a kid! Carrie was followed by an awful sequel and a couple of tepid remakes.
Chip Off The Old Block?
King adaptions will undoubtedly continue for the foreseeable future, but I also want to shine a spotlight on Stephen King’s son, Joe Hill, who has established himself as a successful novelist in his own right. Not surprisingly, there have been several movie adaptions of his work, including Horns, In the Tall Grass, and The Black Phone.
It’s probably a stretch to think that Hill will ever have as many adaptions as his dad, but who knows? At this point, it’s too early to make a strong comparison between Hill movies and King films, but I really enjoyed The Black Phone and am looking forward to the upcoming sequel. Hopefully The Black Phone is just the beginning of quality adaptions of Hill’s work.
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