Pet Sematary (1989)/(2019)
One of King’s darkest, most horrifying novels, Pet Sematary is about death — how we face it, how we process it, and whether we would ever dare try to cheat it. The Mary Lambert-directed 1989 movie has its weak spots, but captures the tone of King’s book. 2019’s remake made a significant detour from the story that infuriated some fans and surprised others.
1989 version: Amazon and Amazon UK, 2019 version: Amazon and Amazon UK, Hulu
It (1990)
Take your pick: King’s mammoth monsterpalooza of a novel was first adapted as a two-part miniseries and then a two-part movie (more on that below). The TV version is good but hampered by its budget and esthetic restrictions; it’s best remembered for a tremendous performances by Tim Curry as Pennywise, the clown manifestation of the evil title entity.
Available on Amazon and Amazon UK
Misery (1990)
Rob Reiner is one of three members of a small club of directors who have made more than one excellent King adaptation (Frank Darabont and Mike Flanagan are the others). Annie Wilkes, the psychotic ex-nurse who traps her favorite author (James Caan) in her house after he’s gravely injured is a character for the ages, and Kathy Bates won a well-deserved Oscar for her performance. Misery is grim, macabre, funny and humane, and one of the best King movies ever.
Available on Amazon and Amazon UK, Hulu, Netflix (UK only)
The Lawnmower Man (1992)
Based on the slimmest of King short stories, this sci-fi thriller defined the term “loosely inspired.” Jeff Fahey stars as a simple-minded gardener who is turned into an all-powerful cyberbeing by the experiments of a scientist (Pierce Brosnan). King sued to have his name removed from the film’s credits and marketing materials, and won.
Available on Amazon and Amazon UK
Needful Things (1993)
Based on a novel billed as “the last Castle Rock story” (it wasn’t), Needful Things is a deal-with-the-devil tale in which old Scratch is played by Max von Sydow, switching to the other team after his iconic turn as The Exorcist. Von Sydow and Ed Harris lead a generally excellent cast in an often clever story, but director Fraser Heston’s work is never more than pedestrian.
Available on Amazon and Amazon UK
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
It may not be the most financially successful King movie of all time, but it’s perhaps only second to The Shining in its infiltration into the cultural zeitgeist. Directed by Frank Darabont (The Walking Dead), this story of how friendship and hope endures over decades in a bleak prison is powerful, profound and deserving of its classic status.
Available on Netflix (US only), Amazon and Amazon UK
Dolores Claiborne (1995)
Kathy Bates stars in her second King drama, this time as the title character, a woman who is somewhat more complex than Annie Wilkes and, in the end, deeply empathetic. Bates drives this overlooked and often absorbing film about memory, loss and injustice, all told through a singular, feminist point of view.
Available on Amazon and Amazon UK
The Green Mile (1999)
Frank Darabont became the master of Stephen King prison stories with this three-hour epic about a team of death row guards led by Tom Hanks and the psychically gifted inmate (the late Michael Clarke Duncan) who changes their lives. Although King’s story falls into the “magic Negro” trap, it’s still an often endearing and moving tale.
Available on Amazon and Amazon UK
Desperation (2006)
ABC’s long-running series of King adaptations closed out with this single-night, three-hour movie directed by regular King associate Mick Garris (The Stand). It’s set in the title town, a wide spot on a Nevada road that has come under the control of a frightening entity named Tak. Like the book, Desperation starts out strong but starts to run out of gas toward the end.
Available on Amazon (US Only)
1408 (2007)
After a sparse few years on the big screen, King returned in style with 1408, a nifty little thriller based on one of his more chilling short stories. John Cusack plays a cynical author of paranormal books who spends the night in an actual haunted hotel room; what happens inside is genuinely unsettling.
Available on Amazon (US only)
The Mist (2007)
The third King-based film by Frank Darabont is also the darkest — Darabont even changed King’s bleak but ambiguous ending to make it even more depressing. A sort of throwback to 1950s monster movies (Darabont even wanted to film it in black and white), The Mist is scary, Lovecraftian fun. King’s story also inspired a TV series that ran for a single season on Spike.
Movie: Amazon (US Only), TV series: Amazon (US only), Netflix
Under the Dome (2013–2015)
Based on one of King’s most well-received recent novels, Under the Dome — about a small Maine town (of course) sealed inside a massive, mysterious alien bubble — started out like gangbusters and got progressively weirder and dumber as it veered further away from King’s epic. But the first season is pretty strong and you may find yourself sucked in anyway.
Available on Amazon and Amazon UK, CBS All Access
11.22.63 (2016)
King’s other big book from about a decade ago was a gripping time travel tale about a man who goes back to 1963 to stop JFK from getting shot. Well-acted by stars James Franco and Sarah Gadon, and full of both heart and supernatural mystery, 11.22.63 is well worth your time (haha) if you missed it the first time around.
Available on Hulu, Amazon and Amazon UK
Gerald’s Game (2017)
King’s “unfilmable” novel — about a woman left chained to a bed in a remote house after her husband dies of a heart attack during sex play — was indeed filmed (for Netflix) by horror auteur Mike Flanagan, who combines King’s strange novel and a bravura performance by Carla Gugino in a tense, claustrophobic thriller with a compassionate theme of feminine resilience.
Available on Netflix
1922 (2017)
Thomas Jane (The Expanse) gives one of the finest
performances of his career as Wilfred James, a Nebraska landowner whose
depraved plot to kill his wife (Molly Parker) — by getting his son involved —
leads to a spiral of psychological and possibly supernatural destruction. A
slow-burning, effective thriller that once again proves King’s novellas are
often the perfect length for filming.
Available on Netflix
It: Chapter One (2017) / It: Chapter Two (2019)
While the TV movie was okay for its time, the theatrical version of King’s book has a knockout first half and a flabby second. In fact, It: Chapter One is damn near brilliant. Director Andy Muschietti brings real heart to the story of the seven kids who team up to battle It, and Bill Skarsgard outdoes even Tim Curry with a frightening, intense performance as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
Chapter One available on Amazon and Amazon UK, Netflix (UK only), Chapter Two available on Amazon and Amazon UK
Mr. Mercedes (2017–present)
Brendan Gleeson plays retired cop turned private eye Bill Hodges in this series based on King’s Hodges trilogy of supernaturally-tinged crime novels. Gleeson is one of his generation’s finest actors, and the show features a different take on the character of Holly Gibney, who later shows up on The Outsider.
Available on Amazon and Amazon UK
Castle Rock (2018–present)
One of the more unusual King-derived series, Castle Rock wove characters and locations from the King Universe into an original story in its first season, while turning its second year into a prequel to Misery. Think of it as “King remixed,” enjoy the many Easter eggs and relish Lizzy Caplan’s work as a young Annie Wilkes.
Available on Hulu, Amazon and Amazon UK
In The Tall Grass (2019)
Vincenzo Natali has been a interesting writer/director on movies like Cube and Splice, but he can’t quite make this oddball novella stretch even to just 95 minutes. It’s got its eerie moments, and loopy work from Patrick Wilson, but what makes the story and movie significant is that it’s one of just a handful of collaborations between King and his son Joe Hill.
Available on Netflix
Doctor Sleep (2019)
A sequel to The Shining? It seemed improbable even when King wrote his 2013 novel. But then Mike Flanagan made a movie that somehow managed to follow up both King’s original 1977 book and Stanley Kubrick’s film version. Both frightening and compassionate, Doctor Sleep was one of 2019’s best and most overlooked movies.
Available on Amazon and Amazon UK
The Outsider (2020)
One of King’s most recent novels got a speedy adaptation on HBO, bolstered by a great cast and a powerful sense of atmosphere and dread. It struggles to stretch the novel through its 10 episodes, but never loses its consistent tone and haunted esthetic.
Available on HBO Now, Amazon and Amazon UK, Sky (UK only), Now TV (UK Only)
