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Iconic horror novelist Stephen King has had a ton movies adapted from his work — and that's not counting TV shows and miniseries.
And there's simply no sign of slowing down, what with a new Salem's Lot adaptation coming, film versions of short stories Boogeyman and Mr. Harrigan’s Phone also on the way, and both The Long Walk and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon currently in development.
With so many films to choose from, what are the best Stephen King adaptations? We've whittled this massive catalogue down to 12 movies. From ghosts to psychics to… ghosts wanting to feed on psychics, these are truly the movies that not only captured the best of King's work, but also became cinema classics in their own right.
Here are the top Stephen King movies ever, ranked from #12 counting down to #1. Keep scrolling for the list or view the slideshow for a visual countdown!
How Many Stephen King Movies Are There?
There are 54 film adaptations of Stephen King stories, according to the author's official website. The first King adaptation was Carrie in 1976, while the most recent was Mr. Harrigan's Phone. According to the website, there are four additional films currently in development. Next up is Salem's Lot in April 2023.
The Best Stephen King Movies, Ranked
12. The Dead Zone (1983)
Where to Watch: HBO, HBO Max, Cinemax Go, or rentable on most platforms.
Director: David Cronenberg
Long before Stephen King's 1979 novel The Dead Zone served as fodder for a TV series, it inspired a 1983 film from director David Cronenberg. Cronenberg, who'd already made a name for himself with surreal horror films like Videodrome and Shivers, brought that signature touch to this gripping psychological drama.
The Dead Zone starred Christopher Walken as Johnny Smith, a humble school teacher who is injured in a car accident, trapped in a coma for five years, and awakens to discover he can psychically glimpse into a person's past, present, and future with a mere touch. Less grotesque and violent than many of Cronenberg's horror efforts of the day, Dead Zone was a bleak and unsettling film that made full use of Walken's peculiar presence and gravity as an actor.
11. Gerald's Game (2017)
Where to Watch: Netflix
Director: Mike Flanagan
For years it was thought King's 1992 outing Gerald's Game, which involves a woman handcuffed to a bed fighting to free herself after her husband has a heart attack, was un-adaptable. But then writer/director Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass) came along and knocked it out of the park. Starring Carla Gugino as the trapped, desperate Jessie, Flanagan's Netflix horror movie is superb small-scale suspense and features an immensely captivating performance by Gugino. Taking place mostly in one room, Gerald's Game is a set of tightly wound gears that cranks out dread.
Read IGN's review of Gerald's Game.
10. The Mist (2007)
Where to Watch: Rentable on Amazon and most platforms.
Director: Frank Darabont
The Mist is based on a King short story found in the 1985 collection Skeleton Crew. Ostensibly a monster movie, The Mist finds a group of people trapped in a remote grocery store after a strange fog envelops the region and terrifying, dinosaur-like creatures begin appearing. But the core of this horror/sci-fi fusion is survival, and the lengths some will go to ensure theirs.
The movie benefited from a solid cast (including stars Tom Jane and Marcia Gay Harden) and director Frank Darabont — who's one of three directors on this list who've had the most success with King's work — actually garnered praise with a revised ending that deepened the dark tone of the story.
Read IGN's review of The Mist.
9. Creepshow (1982)
Where to Watch: Rentable on Amazon and most platforms.
Director: George A. Romero
Horror legends Stephen King and George Romero teamed up for 1982's Creepshow, which was conceived as an homage to the Golden Age of horror comics in the 1950's, including E.C. Comics' infamous releases and DC books like House of Secrets and House of Mystery.
That anthology legacy is reflected in the execution of Creepshow, which revels in its juvenile, B-movie status. The film also has the distinction of featuring original material written by King, rather than a script wholly adapted from his prose work. While two of the five vignettes are based on his short stories, the remaining three are unique to Creepshow. These vignettes are cleverly glued together with animated sequences and a framing sequence starring King's son, Joe (now an accomplished horror writer in his own right).
8. The Green Mile (1999)
Where to Watch: HBO Max, or rentable on most platforms.
Director: Frank Darabont
Because director Frank Darabont had crafted what many consider to be the definitive Stephen King movie with The Shawshank Redemption (more on that film later) some feared he was revisiting overly familiar territory when he returned to adapt another of King's prison dramas, The Green Mile.
Like Shawshank, The Green Mile is a period piece set largely within a prison and centered on a wrongly convicted felon. In this case, the prison is the Depression-era Cold Mountain Penitentiary, and the felon is John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan). The corrections officer in charge of the death row inmates (Tom Hanks) is enthralled by Coffey's gentle nature and apparently supernatural healing powers, causing great emotional turmoil as he debates whether he can allow such a marvelous and obviously innocent man to be executed. The Green Mile is easily one of the most emotionally gripping King films (or books, for that matter) and further proof that his non-horror tales are often the ones most ideally suited for film.
Read IGN's review of The Green Mile.
7. Stand By Me (1986)
Where to Watch: Netflix, or rentable on Amazon and most platforms.
Director: Rob Reiner
Frank Darabont isn't the only director with a real knack for bringing Stephen King tales to life on screen. Before Misery, Rob Reiner also directed this coming-of-age tale based on King's novella "The Body", collected in the 1982 book Different Seasons.
Stand By Me featured narration by Richard Dreyfuss and a "who's who?" lineup of up-and-coming teen actors at the time – including Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell. This quartet played a group of friends who hear a rumor about a dead body being discovered and venture out to track it down and find small-town glory. Along the way, they battle some ruthless bullies and learn a thing or two about each other. This was another King film with a deceptively simple formula that really thrived on the strength of the performances. King himself even labeled it as the first truly successful adaptation of his work.
6. It: Chapter One (2017)
Where to Watch: HBO Max, or rentable on most platforms.
Director: Andy Muschietti
Fittingly, one of King's most iconic novels is also one of his most successful adaptations, shattering box office records. But more than just being a moneymaker, IT is a very effective horror film that pits a group of intrepid middle schoolers against the terrifying, inhuman killer lurking beneath the streets of an idyllic Maine town. It's filled with ample spookiness, devilish scares, and a horrifying performance by Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
It's first chapter works well not just because it's frightening, but because it does something that so few horror films ever manage – it makes audiences care for these heroes as they face down the unimaginable. Just like the book, the half of the story featuring our main characters as kids is the more engrossing part, which is why only Chapter One is here on our list.
Read IGN's review of It: Chapter One.
5. Doctor Sleep (2019)
Where to Watch: Tubi (w/ ads), or rentable on Amazon and most platforms.
Director: Mike Flanagan
Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep is a modern horror miracle. Adapting King's sequel novel to The Shining, about a grown-up Danny Torrence (Ewan McGregor), Flanagan had to merge the world of King's prose and Kubrick's cinematic vision. Since Kubrick's The Shining took many liberties with King's book — so much so that King himself disavowed the film — Flanagan had to bring both worlds together in a way that felt genuine, gripping, and scary.
Visually, most everything we associate with The Shining comes from Kubrick (the hedge maze, the "twins," the various ghouls, etc) and Doctor Sleep is a beautiful, brutal blend of it all. On top of that, it's a fantastic film created by one of the best new masters in the horror game. Also see our video for Doctor Sleep: How the Shining Sequel Handles the Legacy of Jack Torrance
Read IGN's review of Doctor Sleep.
4. Carrie (1976)
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video, or rentable on most platforms.
Director: Brian De Palma
"If you've got a taste for terror… invite Carrie to the prom!"
That was the Grindhouse-worthy tagline for Carrie, and it said all that needed to be said about this teen horror drama. Carrie was King's big break as a writer in 1974, and a mere two years later, it also became fodder for one of the best films based on his work. The titular character — Sissy Spacek — a prototypical awkward teenage girl who suffers from bullying at school and an overbearing, fanatically religious mother (Piper Laurie) at home. She also happens to manifest destructive, psychokinetic powers when she's upset, so you can imagine what happens when Carrie becomes the victim of a cruel prank at her prom.
Carrie was praised both because of its terrifying qualities and its serious exploration of a very troubled character, easily still ranking as one of the very best of the traditional Stephen King horror movies.
3. Misery (1990)
Where to Watch: Showtime & Showtime apps, Cinemax go, Fubo, or rentable on most platforms.
Director: Rob Reiner
Misery operates on a very simple formula. It features only two main characters who spend most of the film locked away in a remote cabin in winter. But both the 1987 novel and Rob Reiner's 1990 adaptation really made the most of this formula.
As with so many of King's stories, Misery features a troubled writer as the lead protagonist. James Caan starred as novelist Paul Sheldon, a man who is rescued from a car crash by a nurse named Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates). Unfortunately, as Sheldon's "number one fan" Wilkes uses her unique opportunity to trap Sheldon in her cabin and force him to write a new book that will resurrect his most famous character, Misery Chastain. It was a great premise that allowed for Hitchcock levels of tension as Sheldon struggled to placate his demanding host and find a way to escape her clutches. Bates won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Wilkes, a character who still ranks as one of the all-time great horror villains.
2. The Shining (1980)
Where to Watch: HBO Max, or rentable on most platforms.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining was born from what might be King's most famous novel, which told the tale of a man named Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) – another of King's struggling writers with a pronounced dark side. Torrance serves as winter caretaker for the remote, luxurious Overlook Hotel in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. A combination of cabin fever and a strong supernatural influence compels Jack to try and murder his family and join the many restless souls trapped within the Overlook's walls. The only thing standing in the hotel's way is Jack's young son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), whose psychic gifts the hotel both craves and fears.
In a twist, King has always been very adamant in his dislike of this adaptation, which he chalks up to Kubrick downplaying the family themes and the supernatural nature of the hotel, but both elements are now among the film's more praised qualities. The Shining is a technically brilliant film, with innovative camera work (particularly the tracking shots of Danny on his tricycle) and the use of physically impossible building layouts to create a subtle but very unsettling feeling. The Shining is so good that it manages to almost remain separate from King's name, ranking simply as one the best horror movies of all time.
1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Where to Watch: HBO Max, Fubo, or rentable on most platforms.
Director: Frank Darabont
The first of Frank Darabont's feature-length Stephen King adaptations, The Shawshank Redemption also remains his best. The movie was adapted from the lesser-known novella "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" (also Different Seasons collection that spawned Stand By Me). The movie starred Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne, a banker convicted of murdering his wife and her lover based on circumstantial evidence and doomed to spend the rest of his days within the cold walls of Shawshank Penitentiary. Morgan Freeman co-starred as Red, the wise, world-weary smuggler of contraband.
While Shawshank often veered into dark territory, the movie was ultimately an uplifting tale about one man's refusal to give up hope in even the most depressing circumstances. Robbins played a capable everyman hero, but often it was Freeman who stole the show, both in person and through his now iconic narration.
Upcoming Stephen King Movies in 2023
We love the classics, but you may be anticipating what Stephen King releases are coming next. For movies, you can look forward to:
- Salem's Lot – Release Date: April 21, 2023
- The Boogeyman – Release Date: 2023
What are your fav Stephen King movies ever? Let us know in the comments.
This article has been updated with streaming information and upcoming Stephen King release information for 2022.