Introduction:
Stephen King was paid $2,500 for the film rights to his first novel. Fifty years later, Carrie stands at the start of a screen career that now runs to more than 100 film and television productions, more than any other living novelist can claim. Most of those adaptations are forgettable. A handful are among the best American films of their decades, and the gap between the two groups is wider for King than for almost any other writer.
This guide ranks the best Stephen King movies from worst to best, 30 feature films in four tiers, and tells you exactly where to watch each one in the US today. Every entry carries a verified streaming line and a Screendollars Take.
The ranking rewards films that understood what King was afraid of, not just what he wrote down.
Why Carrie Still Matters: 50 Years of Stephen King on Screen
Carrie still matters because it proved, on its first try, that a Stephen King story could be a serious film and a hit at the same time. Brian De Palma's adaptation opened on November 3, 1976, through United Artists, cost $1.8 million and earned $33.8 million in the US and Canada. It also earned two Academy Award nominations, for Sissy Spacek as Best Actress and Piper Laurie as Best Supporting Actress, a rare double for a horror film.
Everything that followed traces back to that template.
Carrie is a story about a bullied girl, a frightening mother and a small town that looks away, and the supernatural element arrives only after the human cruelty has done its work. The best King films since, from Stand by Me to The Shawshank Redemption, keep that order of priority: people first, monsters second.
The anniversary has also brought Carrie back into the conversation. Mike Flanagan's eight-episode Carrie series, starring Summer H. Howell, premiered in full on Prime Video on October 7, 2026, a month before the original film's 50th birthday. If you want the scariest titles beyond King's work as well, our 100 best horror movies of all time is the wider map.
How We Ranked Every Stephen King Film Adaptation
The best Stephen King movies are ranked here on three questions: does the film work on its own terms, does it find the fear or feeling at the center of King's story, and does it still play today. A film can change the book completely and rank high, as The Shining does. A film can follow the book closely and rank low, as Firestarter (2022) does.
The ranking covers 30 feature films released in theaters or as streaming premieres. TV miniseries and limited series have their own section further down, and so do the honorable mentions. The Lawnmower Man (1992) is left out entirely, since King went to court to have his name removed from it.
The 30 films sit in four tiers. The Bottom Tier holds the misfires. The Solid Middle holds films that deliver the goods without reaching for more. The Heavy Hitters are the essential King films. The Summit holds the six films that became something larger than their source.
The Best Stephen King Movies Ranked at a Glance
| Rank | Film | Year | Director | Tier | US streaming | Key fact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Maximum Overdrive | 1986 | Stephen King | Bottom Tier | Prime Video; free on Tubi and Plex | King's only film as director |
| 29 | Dreamcatcher | 2003 | Lawrence Kasdan | Bottom Tier | Prime Video; free on The Roku Channel | $81.2M worldwide |
| 28 | The Dark Tower | 2017 | Nikolaj Arcel | Bottom Tier | Paramount+ | 95-minute runtime |
| 27 | Firestarter | 2022 | Keith Thomas | Bottom Tier | Netflix | Opened in theaters and on Peacock the same day |
| 26 | Children of the Corn | 1984 | Fritz Kiersch | Bottom Tier | Prime Video; free on Tubi | $14.6M domestic |
| 25 | Carrie | 2013 | Kimberly Peirce | Bottom Tier | Prime Video | $84.8M worldwide |
| 24 | The Running Man | 2025 | Edgar Wright | Solid Middle | Paramount+ | $69.5M worldwide |
| 23 | It Chapter Two | 2019 | Andy Muschietti | Solid Middle | HBO Max | $473.1M worldwide |
| 22 | The Running Man | 1987 | Paul Michael Glaser | Solid Middle | Paramount+ | $38.1M domestic |
| 21 | Creepshow | 1982 | George A. Romero | Solid Middle | AMC+ (via The Roku Channel) | King wrote it and stars in it |
| 20 | The Monkey | 2025 | Osgood Perkins | Solid Middle | Hulu | $39.7M domestic |
| 19 | 1408 | 2007 | Mikael Håfström | Solid Middle | Free on Tubi and Plex | $133.0M worldwide |
| 18 | Pet Sematary | 1989 | Mary Lambert | Solid Middle | Paramount+ | King wrote the screenplay |
| 17 | Cujo | 1983 | Lewis Teague | Solid Middle | AMC app | $21.2M domestic |
| 16 | 1922 | 2017 | Zak Hilditch | Solid Middle | Netflix | Netflix original |
| 15 | The Life of Chuck | 2024 | Mike Flanagan | Solid Middle | Hulu | TIFF People's Choice Award |
| 14 | The Long Walk | 2025 | Francis Lawrence | Heavy Hitters | HBO Max | $63.3M worldwide |
| 13 | Christine | 1983 | John Carpenter | Heavy Hitters | Philo | $21.0M domestic |
| 12 | Gerald's Game | 2017 | Mike Flanagan | Heavy Hitters | Netflix | Netflix original |
| 11 | Dolores Claiborne | 1995 | Taylor Hackford | Heavy Hitters | Rent or buy only | $24.4M domestic |
| 10 | Doctor Sleep | 2019 | Mike Flanagan | Heavy Hitters | Rent or buy only | $72.4M worldwide |
| 9 | The Dead Zone | 1983 | David Cronenberg | Heavy Hitters | Paramount+ | $20.8M domestic |
| 8 | The Mist | 2007 | Frank Darabont | Heavy Hitters | Prime Video; free on The Roku Channel | New ending approved by King |
| 7 | It | 2017 | Andy Muschietti | Heavy Hitters | HBO Max | $719.8M worldwide |
| 6 | The Green Mile | 1999 | Frank Darabont | The Summit | AMC app | Four Oscar nominations |
| 5 | Misery | 1990 | Rob Reiner | The Summit | Free on Tubi | Oscar for Kathy Bates |
| 4 | Stand by Me | 1986 | Rob Reiner | The Summit | Netflix | Oscar nomination for the screenplay |
| 3 | Carrie | 1976 | Brian De Palma | The Summit | Prime Video, HBO Max | Two Oscar nominations |
| 2 | The Shining | 1980 | Stanley Kubrick | The Summit | AMC app | $47.2M domestic |
| 1 | The Shawshank Redemption | 1994 | Frank Darabont | The Summit | AMC app, Philo | Seven Oscar nominations |
Box office figures are lifetime totals from Box Office Mojo as of November 2026.
The Stephen King Movies: Ranked from Worst to Best
The best Stephen King movie is The Shawshank Redemption, and the weakest major one is Maximum Overdrive, the only film King directed himself. The full ranking runs from 30 to 1 below, starting with the misfires and ending with the six films that outgrew their books.
The Bottom Tier: The King Adaptations That Missed the Mark
The Bottom Tier is where King's ideas outran the films made from them. Every film here has a premise worth stealing, and every one of them proves that a premise is not a movie.
30. Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Director: Stephen King
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington
Runtime: 98 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Prime Video, and free with ads on Tubi, Plex and Prime Video. Not available on Apple TV, rent or buy on Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Maximum Overdrive (1986) is the only film Stephen King ever directed, and it sits at the bottom of this ranking for reasons King has admitted himself. A passing comet brings machines to life, and a handful of strangers end up trapped at a truck stop by driverless eighteen-wheelers. It earned $7.4 million in its US run.
The film belongs here as a lesson in what King's prose does that a camera cannot. On the page, his machines are frightening because his people are specific. On screen, the people are an afterthought and the trucks are the stars.
Best for: a bad-movie night with friends who like to talk back to the screen.
The Screendollars Take
Maximum Overdrive is not a typical horror film. It is proof that writing a scare and staging one are different skills. King shoots the trucks with real affection, lingering on chrome grilles and headlights, and leaves Emilio Estevez with almost nothing to play against. Nobody in the diner ever feels like they could die, so nothing in the parking lot ever feels like a threat. The trucks win, and so does the case for King staying at his typewriter.
29. Dreamcatcher (2003)
Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Starring: Thomas Jane, Morgan Freeman, Damian Lewis, Jason Lee, Timothy Olyphant
Runtime: 136 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Prime Video; free with ads on The Roku Channel, Plex and YouTube. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Dreamcatcher (2003) is a Stephen King alien-invasion film that starts as a story about four childhood friends and ends as a military chase movie with Morgan Freeman barking orders. Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back, directs a cast that would be a coup for any film. It took $81.2 million worldwide.
The first hour, set in a snowbound hunting cabin, is close to the King film it wanted to be. The friends share a telepathic bond from childhood, and the film is at its best when it plays that bond as loyalty rather than as a superpower. Then the tone turns, and turns again.
Best for: a snowed-in night when you want something strange and do not mind a mess.
The Screendollars Take
Dreamcatcher is two good movies colliding at full speed. The cabin scenes have the warmth of a reunion, four grown men still talking in the shorthand of boys, and Thomas Jane gives the film a decent heart. The army plot that takes over in the second half belongs to a different picture entirely. Watch the first hour, and treat the rest as a weather report.
28. The Dark Tower (2017)
Director: Nikolaj Arcel
Starring: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor
Runtime: 95 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Paramount+ Premium. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
The Dark Tower (2017) is the film version of Stephen King's multi-volume fantasy series, and it runs just 95 minutes. Idris Elba plays the gunslinger Roland and Matthew McConaughey plays the Man in Black. The film earned $50.7 million in the US.
The problem is scale. King spent decades building the Dark Tower books into the spine of his whole fictional universe, and the film compresses that into a chase between two men and a boy. The ideas are present and the room to breathe is not.
Best for: King readers who want to argue about casting over a short weeknight film.
The Screendollars Take
The Dark Tower is a trailer for an epic that never got made. Elba carries the gunslinger's weariness well, and McConaughey plays the Man in Black with a lazy, smiling menace that the script cannot find enough for him to do. Every scene feels like a summary of three chapters. The books are a long road, and this film takes the shortcut.
27. Firestarter (2022)
Starring: Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon
Runtime: 94 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Netflix. Rent or buy on Apple TV or Amazon.
Firestarter (2022) is the second film of Stephen King's novel about a girl with pyrokinetic powers, and Universal released it in theaters and on Peacock on the same day, May 13, 2022. Ryan Kiera Armstrong plays Charlie, Zac Efron plays her father, and John Carpenter co-wrote the score. It made $9.7 million in the US.
The film has a better soundtrack than story. It keeps the novel's government-agency chase but drops most of the paranoia that made the book feel dangerous, and the result moves quickly without ever building heat.
Best for: a background watch while you are folding laundry, with the volume up for the score.
The Screendollars Take
Firestarter is not a remake that fixes anything. It is a reminder that the 1984 version was never the problem. Armstrong is convincing as a child frightened of her own anger, and Carpenter's synth score gives the night scenes a pulse. Everything around her feels thin, from the agency villains to a finale that ends on a shrug. A story about a girl who can burn the world down should not feel this cool to the touch.
26. Children of the Corn (1984)
Director: Fritz Kiersch
Starring: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton
Runtime: 92 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Prime Video; free with ads on Tubi, Plex, The Roku Channel, YouTube and Prime Video. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Children of the Corn (1984) is the Stephen King film about a Nebraska town where the children have killed every adult in the name of a god in the cornfields. A young couple played by Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton drives straight into it. The film made $14.6 million in the US and launched a long run of sequels.
King has said he actively dislikes it, and it is easy to see why. The short story is a tight, cruel piece about a marriage falling apart on a road trip. The film keeps the cornfield and loses the couple.
Best for: a late-October drive-in mood when the setting matters more than the story.
The Screendollars Take
Children of the Corn is not scary. It is a great poster that runs 92 minutes. The opening, in which the town's children turn on the adults in a diner, is the boldest scene in the film and also the first. After that, the couple wander the empty streets while the young preacher Isaac delivers sermons that are more silly than sinister. The corn is the best actor in the picture.
25. Carrie (2013)
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Judy Greer
Runtime: 100 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Prime Video, and on the AMC app. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Carrie (2013) is the remake of the 1976 classic, directed by Kimberly Peirce with Chloë Grace Moretz as Carrie and Julianne Moore as her mother. It updates the story with smartphones and online humiliation, and it earned $84.8 million worldwide.
It belongs on this list, and at this spot, because it shows how hard the original is to repeat. Moore is unsettling as a mother whose faith has curdled into fear, and the cast is strong. The film still follows De Palma's version so closely that every comparison goes against it.
Best for: a double feature right after the 1976 original, to see what a remake can and cannot change.
The Screendollars Take
Carrie (2013) is not a bad film. It is a film that never needed to exist. Moretz plays Carrie as a girl who is learning her power and starting to enjoy it, which is an interesting idea the film does not follow through. Moore is the best thing here, playing Margaret White as a woman at war with her own body and with everyone near it. Fifty years on, the original still owns the prom.
The Solid Middle: Decent Films That Deliver the Goods
The Solid Middle is the widest tier in this ranking, and the most fun to argue about. These films are not the ones King's reputation rests on, but each does at least one thing better than any film above or below it.
24. The Running Man (2025)
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo
Runtime: 133 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Paramount+, Prime Video and MGM+. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
The Running Man (2025) is Edgar Wright's adaptation of the novel King published as Richard Bachman, with Glen Powell as Ben Richards, a broke father who signs up for a lethal reality show. Critics broadly agree it is far closer to the book than the 1987 film, sending Richards across the whole country rather than into a studio arena. It earned $69.5 million worldwide.
Josh Brolin plays the show's producer, Dan Killian, and Wright works in a nod to the earlier film by putting Arnold Schwarzenegger's face on the $100 bill. The film is busy and loud, and it is better as a chase than as satire.
Best for: a Friday night when you want a big, noisy chase and a smart premise underneath it.
The Screendollars Take
The Running Man is not a remake of the Schwarzenegger film. It is a correction of it. Powell plays Richards as a man who is angry rather than invincible, and that change alone restores the book's idea that the contestant is the show's product. Wright stages the pursuit sequences with the precision of his best work. The satire lands softer than the punches, but the punches land.
23. It Chapter Two (2019)
Director: Andy Muschietti
Starring: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Bill Skarsgård
Runtime: 169 min
Where to watch (US): Included with HBO Max. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
It Chapter Two (2019) is the second half of Andy Muschietti's adaptation of It, following the Losers' Club as adults who return to Derry, Maine, to face Pennywise again. It runs 169 minutes and earned $473.1 million worldwide, a huge number that still trails the first film by a long way.
The adult cast is excellent, with Bill Hader in particular finding real grief inside the comedy of Richie Tozier. The film's trouble is the one King's novel has too: adult fear is harder to film than childhood fear, and the film tries to solve that with more effects.
Best for: a long Sunday afternoon, right after rewatching the first film.
The Screendollars Take
It Chapter Two is not a sequel. It is the half of the book that was always harder to love. Hader's Richie carries the film, playing a man who jokes because the truth would take him apart. Too many scenes still end in a large digital creature, as if the film did not trust its actors to be the scare. The kids were afraid of the clown, the adults are afraid of what they forgot, and that second fear deserved more room.
22. The Running Man (1987)
Director: Paul Michael Glaser
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson
Runtime: 101 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Paramount+; free with ads on YouTube. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
The Running Man (1987) is the Arnold Schwarzenegger version of King's Bachman novel, and it keeps little beyond the premise of a man forced to run for his life on television. It moves the hunt into a studio arena filled with costumed killers, with game-show host Richard Dawson playing the smiling villain. It earned $38.1 million in the US.
As a King adaptation it is barely one. As a piece of 1980s action it is a cult favorite, and Dawson's performance as a host who loves his ratings more than his contestants has aged into the best joke in the film.
Best for: a nostalgic double bill with friends who grew up on video-store action.
The Screendollars Take
The Running Man is a Schwarzenegger movie with a King title. Dawson plays the host with a game-show warmth that turns cold the second the cameras cut, and that is the closest the film comes to the novel's anger at entertainment. The rest is one-liners and spandex. It is dumb, it knows it, and it is still fun.
21. Creepshow (1982)
Director: George A. Romero
Starring: Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Stephen King
Runtime: 120 min
Where to watch (US): Streaming with AMC+ through The Roku Channel; free with a library card on Kanopy. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Creepshow (1982) is a five-story horror anthology written by Stephen King and directed by George A. Romero in the style of 1950s EC horror comics. Two segments come from King's published short stories, "Weeds" and "The Crate," and the rest he wrote for the film. King also stars as Jordy Verrill, a farmer who touches a meteorite.
It made $21.0 million in the US. It belongs in this ranking because it is the purest expression of King's sense of humor on screen, gleefully nasty and in on its own joke.
Best for: a Halloween party with the lights low and a crowd that screams and laughs at the same time.
The Screendollars Take
Creepshow is not a horror film that happens to be funny. It is a comic book that happens to bleed. Romero freezes scenes into comic-book panels, so every kill arrives like a page turn. King plays Jordy as a cartoon of rural hope, and the weeds that swallow him are funnier and sadder than they have any right to be. It is the most fun King has had on a film set.
20. The Monkey (2025)
Director: Osgood Perkins
Starring: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood
Runtime: 98 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Hulu; free with a library card on Kanopy. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
The Monkey (2025) is Osgood Perkins's horror comedy about twin brothers, both played by Theo James, haunted by a wind-up toy monkey that causes a death whenever it plays its drum. It earned $39.7 million in the US and is one of the very few King adaptations played openly for laughs.
Perkins treats every death as a punchline, and the black humor is the point. Underneath the gore it is a film about inheriting a parent's bad luck and deciding what to do with it.
Best for: a group watch with friends who laugh at the wrong moments in horror films.
The Screendollars Take
The Monkey is a film that has a joke about death that keeps getting darker. Perkins stages each accident like a Rube Goldberg machine, so you start laughing before you know who dies. James plays the twins as two versions of the same exhaustion. The toy never changes, and that is what makes it unbearable.
19. 1408 (2007)
Director: Mikael Håfström
Starring: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson
Runtime: 104 min
Where to watch (US): Free with ads on Tubi and Plex; free with a library card on Kanopy; also on the AMC app. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
1408 (2007) is the Stephen King film about a skeptical writer who debunks haunted places and checks into a hotel room he has been warned never to enter. John Cusack carries almost the whole film alone, and Samuel L. Jackson plays the hotel manager who tries to stop him. It earned $133.0 million worldwide.
The film works because it is so contained. Nearly all of the horror happens inside one room, and the room's attacks are personal, digging into the writer's grief rather than throwing generic scares at him.
Best for: a solo watch on a business trip, if you are brave enough to do it in a hotel.
The Screendollars Take
1408 is not a haunted-house film. It is a one-man play in which the set is trying to kill the actor. Cusack holds the screen for most of the runtime with sarcasm that slowly turns into pleading, and the room keeps changing its rules just as he learns them. Jackson's brief scene in the manager's office is a small lesson in how to sell a legend with a straight face. The room never lies to him, and that is the cruelest part.
18. Pet Sematary (1989)
Director: Mary Lambert
Starring: Dale Midkiff, Denise Crosby, Fred Gwynne
Runtime: 103 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Paramount+; free with ads on YouTube; free with a library card on Kanopy and Hoopla. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Pet Sematary (1989) is the first film of King's novel about a burial ground in Maine that brings the dead back wrong, and King wrote the screenplay himself. He also appears as the minister at a funeral. Directed by Mary Lambert, it earned $57.5 million in the US.
The novel is about a father who cannot accept his child's death, and it is one of King's bleakest books. The film is uneven in tone, but Fred Gwynne's neighbor Jud is unforgettable, and the second half commits to the story's grief in ways a studio film rarely did.
Best for: a rainy night when you are ready for something that will stay with you.
The Screendollars Take
Pet Sematary is a film about the bargain every grieving parent would be tempted to make. Gwynne plays Jud with a Maine drawl and a guilty kindness, and his warnings carry the weight of a man who already made the mistake. The scares are crude in places, but the idea underneath them is not. Sometimes, as the film insists, dead is better.
17. Cujo (1983)
Director: Lewis Teague
Starring: Dee Wallace, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Danny Pintauro
Runtime: 93 min
Where to watch (US): Streaming on the AMC app and with AMC+ through The Roku Channel; free with a library card on Kanopy and Hoopla. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Cujo (1983) is the Stephen King film about a mother and her young son trapped in a broken-down car by a rabid St. Bernard. Dee Wallace gives one of the most physical performances in any King adaptation, and director Lewis Teague keeps the second half almost entirely in and around that car. It earned $21.2 million in the US.
The film changes the novel's ending, and King was comfortable with the change. Cujo ranks here because it is one of the few King films with no supernatural element at all. The threat is heat, thirst and a sick dog, and that is plenty.
Best for: a hot summer afternoon, with every window in the house open.
The Screendollars Take
Cujo is a semi killer-dog film. It is a siege film about a mother running out of options. Wallace plays Donna Trenton as a woman whose panic slowly hardens into a plan, and the camera stays close enough to feel the heat inside the car. The dog is never a villain, just a good animal gone wrong. That is why it is so hard to watch.
16. 1922 (2017)
Director: Zak Hilditch
Starring: Thomas Jane, Molly Parker, Dylan Schmid
Runtime: 102 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Netflix. Not available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
1922 (2017) is a Netflix original based on King's novella about a Nebraska farmer, Wilfred James, who persuades his teenage son to help him murder his wife rather than let her sell their land. Thomas Jane plays Wilfred and Molly Parker plays his wife, Arlette. Netflix released it on October 20, 2017.
It is one of the quietest King films and one of the most patient. The horror is guilt, and the film lets it spread like rot through the farm, the family and the man telling the story.
Best for: a late night alone, with the house quiet enough to hear the walls.
The Screendollars Take
1922 is a confession that the confessor keeps getting wrong. Jane speaks in a slow, clenched farmer's accent that makes every justification sound reasonable and spoiled at once. The rats that start appearing are less a monster than the shape his conscience takes. The land was the prize, and it is the only thing that survives.
15. The Life of Chuck (2024)
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill
Runtime: 111 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Hulu; free with a library card on Kanopy. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
The Life of Chuck (2024) is Mike Flanagan's adaptation of King's novella about an ordinary accountant, Charles Krantz, told in three chapters running backward from the end of his life. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024, won the festival's People's Choice Award, and reached US theaters on June 6, 2025.
It is the clearest proof on this list that King's range runs far beyond horror. Tom Hiddleston plays Chuck, and the film's question is simple and large: what is one ordinary life worth to the universe that contains it?
Best for: a quiet evening after a hard week, with someone you love nearby.
The Screendollars Take
The Life of Chuck is a film about how big a small life is from the inside. Flanagan builds the story in reverse, so the end of the world arrives first and the meaning arrives last. Hiddleston plays Chuck with a light, almost shy joy, which makes the grand ideas around him feel personal. It is the gentlest King film ever made, and one of the bravest.
The Heavy Hitters: The Essential Stephen King Films Everyone Must See
The Heavy Hitters are the Stephen King films that define his screen legacy just below the very top. Each one is either the definitive version of its story or the reason a famous director's name is attached to King's.
14. The Long Walk (2025)
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Mark Hamill
Runtime: 108 min
Where to watch (US): Included with HBO Max. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
The Long Walk (2025) is the film of King's Bachman novel about teenage boys in a deadly walking contest where stopping means death. King first wrote the story as a college freshman, and George A. Romero and Frank Darabont both tried to make it before Francis Lawrence finally did, from a script by JT Mollner. It earned $63.3 million worldwide.
Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson play two walkers who become friends while knowing only one of them can survive, and the film rests on their bond. It is the strongest King film of the 2020s.
Best for: a long, empty evening when you can watch without pausing.
The Screendollars Take
The Long Walk is a dystopian thriller. It is a friendship film with a countdown attached. Lawrence keeps the camera at walking pace, so the exhaustion builds in real time and every rest feels stolen. Hoffman and Jonsson talk the way boys do when they are trying not to think about dying. You will remember the conversations longer than the deaths.
13. Christine (1983)
Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul
Runtime: 110 min
Where to watch (US): Streaming on Philo. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Christine (1983) is John Carpenter's film of King's novel about a lonely teenager, Arnie Cunningham, and the possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury that turns him into someone else. Keith Gordon plays Arnie, and the car plays itself. It earned $21.0 million in the US.
King once said Christine is one of the adaptations that leave him cold. It ranks this high anyway because Carpenter understood that the car is a love story, and that the scariest thing about Arnie's change is how much he enjoys it.
Best for: a late drive home in an old car, if you dare.
The Screendollars Take
Christine is not a killer-car film. It is a film about a boy who falls in love and loses himself. Carpenter shoots the Fury repairing its own dents in the dark, metal unfolding as if it were breathing, and it remains one of the great effects in any King film. Gordon's swagger grows a little each scene until his friends no longer recognize him. Every first love is a little possessive, and this one has a V8.
12. Gerald's Game (2017)
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood
Runtime: 103 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Netflix. Not available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
Gerald's Game (2017) is Mike Flanagan's Netflix film of the King novel about Jessie Burlingame, a woman left handcuffed to a bed in a remote lake house after her husband dies suddenly. The book was long considered unfilmable because almost all of it happens inside Jessie's head. Netflix released it on September 29, 2017.
Flanagan solved the problem by giving Jessie's thoughts bodies. Versions of herself and her dead husband argue with her from around the room, and Carla Gugino plays the whole film with almost no room to move.
Best for: an evening when you want a thriller that plays like a puzzle.
The Screendollars Take
Gerald's Game is not about handcuffs. It is about the memories the handcuffs unlock. Gugino plays two Jessies at once, the frightened one on the bed and the sharper one who will not let her lie to herself. Bruce Greenwood is unnerving as a dead husband who keeps talking. The escape, when it comes, is the hardest scene in any King film to sit through, and it was always going to be.
11. Dolores Claiborne (1995)
Director: Taylor Hackford
Starring: Kathy Bates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Christopher Plummer
Runtime: 132 min
Where to watch (US): No subscription streaming right now. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Dolores Claiborne (1995) is the King film in which Kathy Bates plays a Maine housekeeper accused of killing her wealthy employer, years after she was suspected of killing her husband. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays her estranged daughter, and the story moves between past and present to explain what happened. It earned $24.4 million in the US.
It sits in the shadow of Misery, which is unfair. Bates earned a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress here, and the film's flashbacks carry more feeling than almost anything else in King's filmography.
Best for: a gray autumn weekend with time to sit with something heavy.
The Screendollars Take
Dolores Claiborne is a portrait of what one woman did to protect her daughter, and what it cost her. Bates plays Dolores as a woman whose bitterness is the only armor she ever had, and her scenes with Leigh are full of things neither will say. The past is lit warmly and the present is gray and cold, which tells you which one Dolores still lives in. It is the best performance in a King film that almost nobody talks about.
10. Doctor Sleep (2019)
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran
Runtime: 152 min
Where to watch (US): No subscription streaming right now. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Doctor Sleep (2019) is Mike Flanagan's sequel to The Shining, following an adult Dan Torrance, played by Ewan McGregor, as he protects a girl with the same gift from a cult that feeds on it. It earned $72.4 million worldwide.
The film had an impossible job: honor King's sequel novel and Kubrick's film, two works King sees very differently. King has said the script redeemed for him everything he disliked about the Kubrick version, and the film's return to the Overlook Hotel is the reason.
Best for: a long winter night, ideally within a week of rewatching The Shining.
The Screendollars Take
Doctor Sleep is a sequel film in the truest of manner. It is a peace treaty between Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick. Flanagan spends two hours on King's story of addiction and recovery, then walks Dan back into Kubrick's hotel and lets both versions share the halls. Rebecca Ferguson's Rose the Hat is a gracious, frightening villain. Going home has rarely looked this dangerous.
9. The Dead Zone (1983)
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Martin Sheen
Runtime: 103 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Paramount+; free with ads on YouTube. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
The Dead Zone (1983) is David Cronenberg's film of the King novel about Johnny Smith, a schoolteacher who wakes from a long coma able to see the future of anyone he touches. Christopher Walken plays Johnny, and Martin Sheen plays Greg Stillson, a politician Johnny realizes will someday do something terrible. It earned $20.8 million in the US.
It is the most restrained King film of the 1980s, and that restraint is its strength. Cronenberg keeps the gore to a minimum, and the story's real question is moral: what would you do if you knew?
Best for: a winter evening with snow outside and a single lamp on.
The Screendollars Take
The Dead Zone is not a psychic thriller. It is a tragedy about a man who loses his life twice. Walken plays Johnny's gift as a wound, wincing each time a vision arrives, and Cronenberg films the snowy small town in pale, quiet light. Sheen makes Stillson's charm feel dangerous before we see a single crime. The visions are the hook, but the heartbreak is the film.
8. The Mist (2007)
Director: Frank Darabont
Starring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden
Runtime: 126 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Prime Video; free with ads on The Roku Channel and Prime Video; free with a library card on Kanopy. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
The Mist (2007) is Frank Darabont's film of the King novella about shoppers trapped in a small-town supermarket while monsters move through a thick mist outside. Thomas Jane plays David Drayton, a father trying to protect his son, and Marcia Gay Harden plays a woman whose religious panic becomes more dangerous than the creatures. It earned $57.5 million worldwide.
Darabont wrote a far bleaker ending than the novella's, and King backed the change. That ending is the most argued-about scene in any King film. The movie also earns its place among the best cosmic horror movies, since the creatures are only the edge of something vast.
Best for: a night when you can sit in silence for a few minutes after the credits.
The Screendollars Take
The Mist is a creature feature. It is a film about how quickly frightened people turn on each other. Harden's sermons in the supermarket aisles are scarier than anything in the fog, because the crowd keeps listening. The store never feels like a set, and the shoppers never feel like extras. The ending will either stay with you forever or make you furious, and both reactions are correct.
7. It (2017)
Director: Andy Muschietti
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard
Runtime: 135 min
Where to watch (US): Included with HBO Max, and on the AMC app. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
It (2017) is Andy Muschietti's film of the first half of King's novel, following the Losers' Club, a group of misfit kids in Derry, Maine, who are hunted by the shape-shifting clown Pennywise. Bill Skarsgård plays Pennywise. It earned $719.8 million worldwide, the highest total of any film in this ranking.
The film works because it remembers that It is a coming-of-age story first. The kids' bickering, crushes and bike rides make the horror land, because the film has made you care who gets dragged into the sewer.
Best for: a sleepover for older kids who think they are ready, with an adult nearby.
The Screendollars Take
It is a clown horror movie. It is a film about the summer you stopped being a child. Skarsgård makes Pennywise's voice slip between charm and hunger, often within a single line, and the storm-drain opening plays like a short film of its own. The Losers feel like real friends, cruel and loyal by turns. The clown is the threat, but growing up is the monster.
The Summit: The Films That Transcended the Source Material
The Summit holds the six best Stephen King movies, the films that became more than adaptations. Three of them earned a Best Picture nomination or an Oscar win, and all six would rank among the best films of their decade with no King connection at all.
6. The Green Mile (1999)
Director: Frank Darabont
Starring: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse
Runtime: 189 min
Where to watch (US): Streaming on the AMC app. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
The Green Mile (1999) is Frank Darabont's film of King's serial novel about Paul Edgecomb, a death row guard in a Louisiana prison in the 1930s, and John Coffey, a gentle prisoner with a gift for healing. Tom Hanks plays Paul and Michael Clarke Duncan plays Coffey. It earned $286.8 million worldwide.
It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Duncan. At 189 minutes it is the longest film on this list, and it uses every minute to make the routine of the cell block feel lived in.
Best for: a holiday afternoon when the whole family can settle in for three hours.
The Screendollars Take
The Green Mile is a prison film. It is a film about the men who carry out the sentence and what it costs them. Duncan plays Coffey with a childlike gentleness that makes his size feel like a burden rather than a threat. Darabont lets the guards' small kindnesses pile up until they amount to a kind of faith. When the last walk comes, the film has earned every tear it asks for.
5. Misery (1990)
Director: Rob Reiner
Starring: Kathy Bates, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth
Runtime: 107 min
Where to watch (US): Free with ads on Tubi; also on the AMC app. Buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Misery (1990) is Rob Reiner's film of King's novel about Paul Sheldon, a best-selling author rescued after a car crash by Annie Wilkes, a nurse who calls herself his number one fan and then refuses to let him leave. Kathy Bates plays Annie and James Caan plays Paul. It earned $61.3 million in the US.
Bates won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role, and Misery remains the only Stephen King adaptation to win an Oscar. William Goldman wrote the screenplay, and the film keeps the novel's two-person pressure cooker almost entirely inside one remote house.
Best for: a snowy night in, with the phone charged and the doors locked.
The Screendollars Take
Misery is not a stalker film. It is a film about what readers think writers owe them. Bates swings from girlish delight to bottomless rage without any warning in her face, which makes every pleasant moment a threat. Caan does remarkable work lying still, his eyes doing all the calculating. The sledgehammer scene is famous, but the real horror is how reasonable Annie sounds.
4. Stand by Me (1986)
Director: Rob Reiner
Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell
Runtime: 89 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Netflix. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Stand by Me (1986) is Rob Reiner's film of King's novella The Body, about four boys in Castle Rock, Oregon, in 1959 who walk along the railroad tracks to see a dead body. Richard Dreyfuss narrates as the grown-up Gordie, and Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell play the boys. It earned $53.0 million in the US.
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it proved to Hollywood that a King adaptation did not need a monster. King has called it the first successful film translation of his work. It turns 40 this year.
Best for: a summer evening with someone you have known since childhood.
The Screendollars Take
Stand by Me is not a nostalgia film. It is a film about the last summer before friendships start to end. Phoenix plays Chris Chambers with a tough-kid swagger that cracks open in one campfire scene, and that scene is the heart of the film. Reiner never lets the boys become cute. Nobody ever has friends like the ones they had at 12, and the film knows exactly why.
3. Carrie (1976)
Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, John Travolta
Runtime: 98 min
Where to watch (US): Included with Prime Video and HBO Max. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
Carrie (1976) is Brian De Palma's film of King's first novel, about Carrie White, a bullied teenager with telekinetic powers and a fanatical mother, whose prom night ends in fire. Sissy Spacek plays Carrie and Piper Laurie plays Margaret White. Released on November 3, 1976, it earned $33.8 million in the US.
Both actresses were nominated for Academy Awards, and the film was added to the National Film Registry in 2022. It is the first Stephen King adaptation of all, and fifty years later it is still among the best.
Best for: the night before a high school reunion.
The Screendollars Take
Carrie is not a revenge film. It is a tragedy about a girl who was allowed to be happy for exactly one song. De Palma slows the prom to a dream, then splits the screen once the bucket falls, so we see Carrie's fury and the room's cruelty at once. Spacek's face goes blank in a way that is more frightening than any scream. The fire is the ending, but the laughter is the crime.
2. The Shining (1980)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd
Runtime: 146 min
Where to watch (US): Streaming on the AMC app. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
The Shining (1980) is Stanley Kubrick's film of King's novel about Jack Torrance, a writer who takes a winter caretaker job at the isolated Overlook Hotel with his wife and son, and slowly falls apart. Jack Nicholson plays Jack, Shelley Duvall plays Wendy and Danny Lloyd plays Danny. It earned $47.2 million in the US.
King has said plainly that he dislikes the film, arguing that his book is hot and the film is cold. He has a point about the book, and the film is still one of the most studied horror movies ever made. Few horror films have left so many images in the culture, from the twins in the hallway to "Here's Johnny!"
Best for: a snowed-in weekend, if you are certain nobody is typing in the next room.
The Screendollars Take
The Shining is not King's story. It is Kubrick's, and it is the colder, stranger and more frightening of the two. The camera glides behind Danny's tricycle through the halls as if the hotel itself were following him. Nicholson starts the film already a little wrong, which is exactly what King hated and exactly why it works. The Overlook was always going to keep its caretaker.
1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Director: Frank Darabont
Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton
Runtime: 142 min
Where to watch (US): Streaming on the AMC app, on Philo and with MGM+ through The Roku Channel. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon or Fandango at Home.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) is Frank Darabont's film of King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, about Andy Dufresne, a banker sent to prison for a murder he says he did not commit, and his friendship with a fellow inmate named Red. Tim Robbins plays Andy and Morgan Freeman plays Red. It has earned $28.8 million in the US across its original release and later re-release.
It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Freeman, and won none. Its reputation grew on home video and television until it became the most beloved film ever made from King's work.
Best for: any night you need a reason to keep going.
The Screendollars Take
The Shawshank Redemption is a film about what hope costs and what it survives. Darabont lets years pass in a single cut, so time becomes the real sentence, and Freeman's narration is the voice of a man who has learned to want very little, watching a friend who refuses to. Robbins plays Andy as a closed door until the very end. The escape is the payoff, but the point is every ordinary day before it.
Carrie at 50: Where the Original Film Ranks Today
Carrie (1976) ranks third among the best Stephen King movies, behind only The Shawshank Redemption and The Shining. Fifty years after its November 3, 1976, release, it is still the King adaptation every later one is measured against.
Its record backs that up.
Carrie was made for $1.8 million and earned $33.8 million in the US and Canada, the first major box office hit for Brian De Palma. It earned Oscar nominations for Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie, won the Grand Prize at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival, and joined the National Film Registry in 2022.
The story has been retold three times on screen since, most recently in Mike Flanagan's 2026 Prime Video series. None has replaced it. Carrie streams with Prime Video and HBO Max, and it is available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
Stephen King Movies by Genre: Horror, Drama, Thriller, and Sci-Fi
Stephen King movies fall into four broad genres, and the best King horror movies are only one part of his screen record. Some of his most celebrated films have no supernatural element at all.
- Horror. The best Stephen King horror movies in this ranking are The Shining, Carrie, It, The Mist, Pet Sematary, 1408 and Creepshow. Doctor Sleep and The Monkey extend the genre in two very different directions, one into grief and recovery, the other into black comedy.
- Drama. The Shawshank Redemption, Stand by Me, The Green Mile and The Life of Chuck show King as a writer about friendship, decency and mortality. Three of the four were nominated for Academy Awards.
- Thriller. Misery, Dolores Claiborne, Gerald's Game, Cujo and 1922 are psychological thrillers built on confinement, secrets and guilt. Most of them could happen to a real person, which is their quiet strength.
- Sci-fi and dystopia. The Dead Zone, The Long Walk, both versions of The Running Man, Firestarter and Dreamcatcher take King's fears into the future or the fantastic. The Long Walk is the best of the group, and the most recent.
The Directors Who Defined Stephen King on Screen
Frank Darabont is the director who defined Stephen King on screen, with three films in this ranking: The Shawshank Redemption at No. 1, The Green Mile at No. 6 and The Mist at No. 8. His King films share a belief that ordinary people under pressure are the real subject.
- Rob Reiner made two films in the top five, Stand by Me and Misery, four years apart and in completely different genres. Few directors have moved through King's range with such ease.
- Mike Flanagan is the defining King director of the current era, with Gerald's Game, Doctor Sleep and The Life of Chuck in this ranking and the 2026 Carrie series on Prime Video. Gerald's Game, a novel long considered unfilmable, is the best proof of his touch.
- Andy Muschietti made the two It films, the biggest box office success in King's screen history. Stanley Kubrick, Brian De Palma, John Carpenter and David Cronenberg each made one King film, and each brought his own signature to it, which is why The Shining, Carrie, Christine and The Dead Zone feel as much like their directors' films as King's.
Where to Stream Every Stephen King Movie Right Now
You can stream most Stephen King movies in the US with a subscription to Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Prime Video or Paramount+, and several are free with ads on Tubi, The Roku Channel, Plex and YouTube. Two films in this ranking, Dolores Claiborne and Doctor Sleep, are currently rent-or-buy only, and The Shining, The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption stream only through the AMC app, live TV services or add-on channels.
Almost every film in this ranking is also available to rent or buy on Apple TV. The exceptions are the Netflix originals 1922 and Gerald's Game, which are not sold anywhere, and Maximum Overdrive, which is sold on Amazon and Fandango at Home instead. Misery is available to buy on Apple TV but not to rent. For platform-by-platform picks beyond King, see our hidden gems on every streaming platform.
Best Stephen King Films on HBO Max
HBO Max streams four films from this ranking: Carrie (1976), It (2017), It Chapter Two (2019) and The Long Walk (2025). That makes HBO Max the best single service for the It films and for the anniversary-season Carrie. HBO Max also streams the series The Outsider and IT: Welcome to Derry.
Best Stephen King Films on Netflix
Netflix streams four films from this ranking: Stand by Me (1986), Gerald's Game (2017), 1922 (2017) and Firestarter (2022). Stand by Me is the essential pick, and Gerald's Game and 1922 are Netflix originals you cannot rent or buy anywhere else.
Best Stephen King Films on Hulu and Disney+
Hulu streams two of the most recent films in this ranking: The Monkey (2025) and The Life of Chuck (2024). None of the 30 ranked films currently streams on Disney+.
Best Stephen King Films on Prime Video (Including Free With Ads)
Prime Video streams seven films from this ranking with a subscription: Carrie (1976), The Mist (2007), The Running Man (2025), Carrie (2013), Children of the Corn (1984), Dreamcatcher (2003) and Maximum Overdrive (1986). Amazon's former Freevee service is now part of Prime Video, and The Mist, Children of the Corn and Maximum Overdrive are also free with ads there.
Best Stephen King Films on Paramount+ and Peacock
Paramount+ streams five films from this ranking: The Dead Zone (1983), Pet Sematary (1989), The Running Man (1987), The Running Man (2025) and The Dark Tower (2017), which needs the Premium tier. None of the 30 ranked films currently streams on Peacock, even though Firestarter (2022) premiered there.
Best Stephen King Films on Tubi and Free Streaming Platforms
Misery, 1408, Children of the Corn and Maximum Overdrive are free with ads on Tubi. The Mist, Dreamcatcher and Children of the Corn are free on The Roku Channel, and The Dead Zone, Pet Sematary and The Running Man (1987) are free with ads on YouTube. With a library card, Kanopy adds Creepshow, Cujo, The Monkey and The Life of Chuck at no cost.
The Stephen King TV Miniseries and Limited Series Worth Watching
The best Stephen King miniseries are Salem's Lot (1979), It (1990), 11.22.63 (2016), The Outsider (2020) and the new Carrie (2026). Television has given King's longest stories the room that two-hour films rarely can.
- Carrie (2026). Mike Flanagan's eight-episode series, starring Summer H. Howell, premiered in full on Prime Video on October 7, 2026. It is the first television series made from King's first novel. It streams on Prime Video and is not sold on Apple TV.
- IT: Welcome to Derry (2025). HBO's prequel series goes back to Derry in the 1960s to explore Pennywise's origins. It streams on HBO Max and is available to buy on Apple TV.
- The Outsider (2020). HBO's adaptation of King's crime novel, starring Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Erivo, turns a murder investigation into something far stranger. It streams on HBO Max and is available to buy on Apple TV.
- 11.22.63 (2016). James Franco plays a teacher who travels back in time to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It streams on Netflix and is available to buy on Apple TV.
- The Stand (1994). The original television version of King's apocalyptic epic is available to buy on Apple TV.
- It (1990). Tim Curry's Pennywise frightened a generation from television screens. It is currently available to rent or buy only on Fandango at Home.
- Salem's Lot (1979). Tobe Hooper's miniseries of King's vampire novel, starring David Soul, remains the scariest King story ever made for television. It is available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
The Most Underrated Stephen King Films You've Overlooked
The most underrated Stephen King films are The Dead Zone, Dolores Claiborne, Gerald's Game, 1922 and Cujo. Each sits in the upper half of this ranking, and each rarely appears on casual lists.
The Dead Zone is the best film David Cronenberg made from someone else's novel, and it is quiet enough to be overlooked. Dolores Claiborne gave Kathy Bates her second great King role, and Misery's Oscar has overshadowed it ever since. Gerald's Game and 1922 arrived on Netflix within a month of each other in 2017, the same fall It ruled theaters, and both got lost in its shadow.
Cujo is the one most people think they remember and have not watched in years. Dee Wallace's performance holds up better than its reputation. For more films that slipped past audiences, see our list of underrated horror movies.
Honorable Mentions: Stephen King Stories That Just Missed the Rankings
Eight Stephen King films just missed the ranking, from cult favorites to recent studio releases. Each is worth a look for a specific reason.
- Silver Bullet (1985), directed by Daniel Attias, is a werewolf film with real small-town charm. It streams on Paramount+, is free with ads on YouTube, and is available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
- Cat's Eye (1985), directed by Lewis Teague, is an anthology linked by a wandering cat. It streams on Prime Video and is available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
- Firestarter (1984), directed by Mark L. Lester, is the original version with Drew Barrymore. It streams on Paramount+ and is available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
- Hearts in Atlantis (2001), directed by Scott Hicks, is a gentle drama starring Anthony Hopkins. It streams on Prime Video, is free with ads on Tubi and Plex, and is available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
- Secret Window (2004), directed by David Koepp, stars Johnny Depp as a writer accused of plagiarism. It is free with ads on Xumo Play and available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
- Pet Sematary (2019), directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, changes a major story beat from the novel. It streams on Paramount+ and is available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
- The Boogeyman (2023), directed by Rob Savage, expands a short story into a tense grief-horror film. It streams on Netflix and is available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
- Salem's Lot (2024), directed by Gary Dauberman, is the latest version of King's vampire novel. It streams on HBO Max and is not available on Apple TV.
Final Verdict: The Single Greatest Stephen King Film Adaptation
The single greatest Stephen King film adaptation is The Shawshank Redemption (1994). It takes a novella King wrote outside his usual genre and turns it into a film that audiences have kept discovering for more than 30 years, long after its seven Oscar nominations ended in no wins.
The Shining is the more influential film and Carrie is the more historic one, and both are within reach of the top spot. But Shawshank is the King film that most completely becomes its own thing, and the one people return to most. If you watch only one film from this ranking, watch that one. If you watch two, make the second Carrie, fifty years young.
