Stephen King movie adaptations ranked

Whether you’re a Stephen King fan or not, chances are you’ll be familiar with his work.

It’s pretty hard not to be. Even if you’ve never read any of the horror author’s stories, you’ll almost certainly have stumbled across some of them on screen, particularly considering there are so damn many of them (somewhere around a hundred when you lump in movies, sequels, and TV shows together).

For this list, we’ve focused solely on ranking every Stephen King movie adaptation, and specifically originals and remakes (no sequels, because frankly the Children of the Corn franchise alone is long enough for its own list).

Some of these films are terrible, some are masterpieces. Some you’ll have seen before, some you won’t. Some you’ll know straight away are Stephen King movies (hello, The Shining), some you may never even have realised were adapted from the author’s work.

From forgettable ’80s b-movies to films that have left a permanent mark on movie history, here’s every single Stephen King film adaptation ever made, from the very worst to the very best.

20. Hearts in Atlantis (2001)

OK, we’re going to go out there and say this one qualifies for “hidden gem” status. It’s a long way from being the best King movie adaptation, sure, but Scott Hick’s coming-of-age mystery still packs a heavy punch of nostalgia and features some great acting turns from Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis, and a young Anton Yelchin. The story follows a lonely 11-year-old boy, Bobby (Yelchin), who befriends a man (Hopkins) who moves into the apartment above him — only to learn he has unusual abilities and appears to be on the run from some shadowy figures.

A side note if you were wondering about the title: The filmmakers presumably went with Hearts in Atlantis because it’s the title of the book, but the book itself is actually a collection of five linked stories, the second of which is titled Hearts in Atlantis and is all about college students addicted to the card game Hearts. The movie, on the other hand, is a straight adaptation of the first story in the book, which features absolutely no mention of either Hearts or Atlantis whatsoever. Confusing titles aside, though, this one is worth a watch.

19. Secret Window (2004)

Featuring an impressively dead-eyed turn from John Turturro as the villain, Secret Window sees writer Mort Rainey (yeah we know, Johnny Depp is in this) attempting to find solace from his recent divorce in a remote lake house — only for a stranger to show up on his doorstep accusing him of plagiarism. What follows is an unpleasant, escalating cat-and-mouse game which is equal parts horror and psychological thriller, with writer/director David Koepp keeping the tension and dread mounting until the movie’s twisty conclusion.

18. Apt Pupil (1998)

It’s difficult to separate Apt Pupil from its own disturbing legacy. The movie was directed by Bryan Singer, who has since faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct including the allegation that he sexually assaulted 13-year-old extra Victor Valdovinos on the film’s set in 1997.

As hard as it is to do, I’ve tried to assess Apt Pupil here solely on the movie’s own merits. The film sees high school student Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro) discovering the real identity of an elderly man in his neighborhood, Arthur Denker (Ian McKellen), a Nazi war criminal in hiding, before proceeding to blackmail him with demands to hear his firsthand accounts of the concentration camps. Like the novella it’s based on the film is disturbing, and its characters dark and complex, but the central performances from Renfro and McKellen alone make it worth watching, as does the way the tension builds and builds and builds.

17. Carrie (2013)

Carrie is a King novel so enthralling that it’s been adapted repeatedly. Director Kimberly Peirce translated King’s ’70s-set tale of a tormented telekinetic teen to the 2010s, adding cyberbullying to the high school horrors that Carrie endures before her bloody breakdown at prom. Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore bring gravitas to the lead roles of the terrifying mother-daughter duo. Advancements in visual effects allow for a third act filled with carnage, gore, and fire. However, while solidly scary, Peirce’s remake still can’t hold a candle (much less a flaming gas station) to Brian De Palma’s Academy Award-nominated 1976 version.

16. Pet Sematary (2019)

Coming out a full 30 years after the first adaption of Pet Sematary (more on that one in a moment), Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer’s version of King’s early creepfest stars Jason Clarke and Amy Seimetz as Louis and Rachel, a couple who’ve just made the terrible mistake of relocating to rural Maine only to discover there’s something deeply odd about the forest behind their house. If you’re looking to be scared and disturbed this one’s a good choice, as what it occasionally lacks in character development it more than makes up for in jump-scares and suspense.

15. Dolores Claiborne (1995)

Not Kathy Bates’ finest outing in a Stephen King adaptation (you’ll see why shortly), but a fine outing nonetheless. Steering more into psychological thriller territory than horror, Dolores Claiborne follows a widow who’s been accused of murdering the elderly woman she was caring for, and her tense relationship with her estranged daughter, Selena (Jennifer Jason Leigh), that’s played out via flashbacks. It’s a well-told, well-acted story, but be warned — it’s also a dark and disturbing one with monsters that are all too human..

14. Pet Sematary (1989)

When we talk Classic King, this is what we’re talking about: a quiet small town in Maine, the kind of place that should be peaceful, yet its community end up being ripped asunder by creeping supernatural forces.

In this case, the Creed family move away from the big city to watch their children grow up happy and healthy. When that dream is shattered, a grief-stricken father (Dale Midkiff) takes to a burial ground steeped in local legend, searching for solace. The results are gutting, sometimes literally. With a creeping camera and nightmarish practical effects, director Mary Lambert brought King’s creepy prose to grisly life (and even directed the decently disturbing sequel, Pet Sematary Two). Thanks to her, a generation of King fans clung to this creepy cautionary tale that warns, “Sometimes, dead is better.”

13. Creepshow (1982)

What do you get when you take a collection of King’s short stories and hand them over to the godfather of the modern zombie, George A. Romero, to direct for the big screen? The all-time classic horror anthology, Creepshow.

Horror is made for anthology films and this one is the standard bearer. The five shorts written by King, in what is also his screenwriting debut, are brilliantly woven together throughout the film via animated scenes portraying a comic book that carry the tales on its pages.

Even if you haven’t seen Creepshow, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with iconic scenes from the film: Leslie Nielsen — yes, the Leslie Nielsen of Naked Gun and Airplane! fame — neck deep in sand awaiting his death in Something to Tide You Over. An undead Jon Lormer rises from the grave and surprises his (remaining) family members with a severed head dressed up with candles and presented like a cake as he exclaims “Happy Father’s Day!” And, of course, King himself stars as a dull farm boy who sees his farm and eventually his own body overtaken by an alien mosslike lifeform in The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill.

12. Doctor Sleep (2019)

King famously loathed Stanley Kubrick’s movie adaptation of The Shining. So, modern horror auteur Mike Flanagan (Hush, The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor) had a lot to prove with a sequel that would integrate the 1980 psycho-thriller and the 1977 novel’s follow-up, titled Doctor Sleep. Some fans have bristled at the changes from the book, but others have cheered how Flanagan translated the mood of King — if not the exact story — into an ambitious, bloody, and deeply unnerving next chapter.

Ewan McGregor stars as the grown-up but still haunted Danny Torrance. However, the real stars of this film are Kyliegh Curran, as a brave young girl with “the shining,” and Rebecca Ferguson as the evil, sexy, and enviably stylish child-killer, Rose the Hat.

11. 1408 (2007)

Yes, we know there’s another, way more famous haunted hotel movie on King’s lineup, but don’t forget to pack your bag for the Dolphin Hotel too. You actually can’t check in any time you like to the titular room number 1408, but if, like haunted hotel reviewer and book author Mike Enslin (a superbly cynical and slowly unhinged John Cusack), you force your way in despite the manager’s warnings (an effortlessly foreboding Samuel L. Jackson), you can never leave.

Director Mikael Håfström does some truly scary things with special effects in this adaptation of King’s short story, and they even shot three different endings, all different to the author’s original. But the real winner of this film is Cusack, whose performance mostly contained to the hotel room itself is unrelentingly compelling.

10. IT: Chapter One (2017)

The IT remake seemed to come at the perfect time, riding high on the coattails of Stranger Things-induced ’80s horror nostalgia (Finn Wolfhard even stars) and tapping into the nightmarish memories of a generation who grew up terrified by both the old TV series and the book. As a big fan of the latter I remember being nervous going into this one, but was pleasantly surprised by how Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of this tale of small-town evil turned out.

The scares are there, yes (helped along by Bill Skarsgård’s theatrically creepy take on Pennywise the Clown), but Muschietti’s film also taps into the awkward highs and lows of adolescence that King’s book expertly portrayed.

9. Gerald’s Game (2017)

How do you turn a story that’s set almost entirely in a single room into a watchable film? Well for a long time, with Gerald’s Game at least, you didn’t. The novel came out in 1992, and it was only a full 25 years later that Mike Flanagan’s adaptation finally made it to Netflix. King himself previously admitted he thought the book was “unfilmable” when he first read it in college, and it’s easy to see why: The story follows Jessie (Carla Gugino), who gets trapped in a remote lake house handcuffed to a bed after her husband unexpectedly dies of a heart attack. Much of the story takes place in her head, but Flanagan’s direction — which makes use of flashbacks and imaginary conversations — brings Jessie’s internal nightmare effortlessly to life.

8. The Mist (2007)

While two of writer/director Frank Darabont’s King adaptations have risen to the lofty heights of all-time greatest film lists (more on them later), The Mist has flown largely under the radar. It has a decent enough Rotten Tomatoes audience rating, and positive enough reviews, but it appears to have been mostly lost in the shadow of Darabont’s earlier work. It’s an ill-deserved legacy.

Following a father and son who get trapped in a gas station store with a group of strangers as a weird fog envelops their town, The Mist takes an intriguing premise and spins out a tense popcorn-muncher of a film that’s equal parts fun, jumpy and harrowing. It’s not a perfect movie – some of the special effects look a little dated here and there – but it’s still leagues ahead of most monster movies, and comes complete with a chilling human antagonist and a convincing analogy of the dangers of fundamental religion.

7. The Dead Zone (1983)

It’s hard to imagine that either Stephen King or David Cronenberg would have known how unsettlingly timely The Dead Zone would feel in 2022. The 1983 adaptation of the author’s 1979 novel introduces us to Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) — a provincial school teacher about to marry his sweetheart. After a car accident that almost kills him, Johnny wakes up with the psychic ability to see people’s past and future. It will take him a while to understand that his powers are not just about seeing the future, but about being able to change it. The psychological thriller becomes political when a Trump-like figure is introduced halfway through the film. Add some nuclear anxiety and seen today, The Dead Zone seems here to tell us that we still haven’t learnt our lessons.

But there’s much to be enjoyed about the film outside its political relevance. Starting with the award-worthy performances by Christopher Walken and Michael Sheen, and adding Mark Irwin’s stunning cinematography, Cronenberg’s adaptation is a cinematic feast. To experience The Dead Zone in all its glory, look for the film’s digital restoration.

6. The Shining (1980)

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining occupies a strange place in movie history. The film has long enjoyed praise from critics, it sits comfortably in the IMDb top 250 movies of all time, and it’s probably one of the most famous horror movies ever made. On the other hand, King himself isn’t a fan. Yep, really. The author hasn’t been shy with his opinions of the movie over the years, describing it as “cold” and calling Shelley Duvall’s character Wendy “one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film.”

So, does he have a point? Well, you could certainly argue that the characters in Kubrick’s adaptation are nowhere near as three dimensional as King’s; Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) doesn’t unravel like he does in the book (he’s already unravelled to begin with), while Duvall’s character comes across as far more helpless on screen. But despite this, The Shining remains undeniably quintessential cinema — it’s disturbing, genuinely scary, and features imagery (the twins in the hallway; the river of blood; “Herrrreeeee’s, Johnny!”) that will burn themselves forever into your brain.

5. Carrie (1976)

The word “iconic” gets thrown around cavalierly, but Brian De Palma’s Carrie truly earns this distinguished adjective. Those who shudder at the very idea of watching a scary movie may not have seen Carrie, but they know the image of a girl in a pretty prom dress, draped in pig’s blood. They recognize the howl of Margaret White: “They’re all gonna laugh at you!”

Sissy Spacek stars as the titular telekinetic teen girl, a sheepish misfit mocked for her awkwardness and her zealot mother (Piper Laurie). But an act of kindness from a popular girl (Amy Irving) could prove a turning point for Carrie — and on prom night no less! Of course, King isn’t much for happy endings. And De Palma’s adaptation delivers when it comes to chills, screams, and haunting imagery. It’s little wonder Spacek and Laurie each earned Academy Award nods for their riveting and unnerving performances, streaked with agony, ecstasy, and resentment.

4. The Green Mile (1999)

It’s not easy to make a three-hour movie fly by, but Frank Darabont’s prison-set thriller is so incredibly tense, emotional, harrowing, and beautiful, that it easily feels half that length.

Taking place in a death row penitentiary in 1935 Louisiana, The Green Mile sees prison guard Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) and his colleagues coming to terms with the miraculous gifts of new inmate John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a giant of a man who has been sentenced to death for the murder of twin girls. Pretty much every character in The Green Mile is memorable in their own right: there’s Paul’s towering best friend Brutus (David Morse), their snivellingly sadistic colleague Percy Whitmore (Doug Huchison), troubled prison warden Hal Moores (James Cromwell), and nightmarish inmate “Wild” Bill Wharton (Sam Rockwell). Saying that a movie is a rollercoaster of emotions feels clichéd, but in this case it fits. The story has the ability to shock, and make you laugh, disturb, and – ultimately – bring a tear to the eye.

3. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

It was always going to be near the top of the list, wasn’t it? Frank Darabont’s adaptation of King’s novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption has topped so many all-time greatest movie rankings — including its famous number one spot above The Godfather on the IMDb top 250 — that it would’ve been ridiculous for us not to include it up here. Its place in movie history is well deserved, too. I enjoyed King’s novella like I do most of his work, but this is probably one of the rare instances where the film surpasses its source material.

Tim Robbins is perfect as Andy Dufresne, a man who suddenly finds himself behind bars for a murder he claims not to have committed, while Morgan Freeman gives a legendary performance as his prison mate-turned-friend Red. There’s some truly unpleasant supporting roles from Mark Rolston as violent inmate Bogs and Clancy Brown as brutal prison guard Captain Hadley. It’s a film that’ll be watched and studied for decades to come.

2. Misery (1990)

Is Annie Willkes, played with terrifying (and Oscar-winning) intensity by Kathy Bates, the greatest female movie villain of all time? Very possibly.

Telling the nail-biting tale of best-selling writer Paul Sheldon (the late James Caan), who gets rescued from a car crash by his “number one fan” only to be held hostage, Misery is a horribly tense film that’ll have you sweating every time Wilkes leaves the house and Sheldon embarks on yet another doomed escape attempt. There are truly classic moments of dialogue (“you dirty bird”) and some scenes (you know the one) that will probably never leave your head once you’ve seen them. All in all Misery is an excellent thriller, one of two powerhouse King adaptations from Rob Reiner, and one of the greatest suspense movies ever mad

1. Stand By Me (1986)

Although some of King’s lengthier tomes (i.e. IT) have made excellent movies, you could make a pretty convincing case that it’s his shorter novels and novellas that work best on screen. Stand By Me is the perfect example of this. Screenwriters Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans took the author’s novella The Body — a coming-of-age tale about four friends who go hunting for a dead teenager while evading the local bullies — and squeezed out every drop of the story’s poignancy and humour. It’s a tear-jerking snapshot of the anxieties, friendships, highs, and lows of childhood. The novella packed a powerful punch of nostalgia and Rob Reiner’s direction channels this in its own way, placing the boys’ friendships front and centre, then considering them through a throughful adult lens. “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12,” the grown up narrator (Richard Dreyfuss) writes at one point. “Jesus, does anyone?”

Keep an eye out for a young Kiefer Sutherland as the brilliantly unpleasant Ace Merrill, Wil Wheaton as budding writer Gordie Lachance, Corey Feldman as the bold Teddy Duchamp, a young Jerry O’Connell as the sweet Vern Tessio, and of course, the exceptional River Phoenix as Gordie’s best friend Chris Chambers. Their performances, like the movie itself, have a well-deserved place in cinematic history.