Stephen Kingis the undisputed king of horror. Withover 60 novels, over 200 short stories and countless novellas, King has established himself as the king of horror in literature. King has even expanded to other genres such as suspense, crime, science-fiction, fantasy and mystery. King has also been established as the king of horror in cinema, with plenty of filmmakers adapting his work to movies, whereKing often makes cameos.
While some King adaptations have become cultural landmarks, others offer hidden gems of suspense and horror. This list highlights the ten most thrilling King movies, each a testament to King’s unique ability to tap into our deepest fears. Whether those fears aresupernatural entitiesor real life horrors, King has it all.
10’Secret Window' (2004)
Directed by David Koepp
Secret Windowis based on King’s novellaSecret Window, Secret Garden. The movie follows Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp), a successful writer who is struggling with a painful divorce and writer’s block. Mort retreats to a secluded cabin in upstate New York to seek solitude and to focus on his work. However, his isolation is interrupted by a stranger named John Shooter (John Turturro) who arrives at his cabin’s door, accusing him of plagiarism. Mort’s life starts to unravel when people around him start dying in mysterious circumstances.
Secret Windowblends psychological thriller, suspense, and mystery masterfully to create an atmosphere where nobody and nothing can be trusted. Many King adaptations rely on supernatural elements, butSecret Windowsrelies on the horrors manufactured by humans and the human brain, creating a tense psychological experience.The performances by Deep and Turturro elevate the thrills of the movieas they display Mort’s dive into paranoia and Shooter’s terrifying existence, respectively.
Secret Window
9Gerald’s Game (2017)
Directed by Mike Flanagan
Gerald’s Gameis based on King’s 1992 novel of the same name. The movie follows Jessie Burlingame (Carla Gugino) and her husband, Gerald (Bruce Greenwood), who retreat to a secluded lake house to rekindle their marriage. Gerald suggests enacting a stranger rape fantasy, where he handcuffs Jessie to the bedposts. However, things take a dark turn when Gerald dies of a heart attack, leaving Jessie trapped. As hours pass, Jessie starts seeing hallucinations and visions. Eventually, she cannot tell the difference between reality and hallucinations.
Gerald’s Gameis atestament of King’s excellence in real life horror.Mike Flanagan masterfully captures Jessie’s helplessness, which is complemented by a powerful performance from Gugino.In her pursuit of survival, Jessie is forced to face long-buried traumas, transforming her battle from a physical one to a mental and physical battle. Throughout the movie, audiences are on the edge of their seat waiting to see how Jessie survives, but her survival becomes more complicated with the arrival of the Moonlight Man (Carel Struycken), and Jessie’s and the audience’s confusion on whether he is real or another one of her hallucinations.
Gerald’s Game
Directed by David Cronenberg
Based on King’s novel of the same name,The Dead Zonefollows Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken), a schoolteacher who falls into a 5-year coma. When he awakens, he discovers that his fiancée, Sarah (Brooke Adams), has moved on and started a family with another man. He also discovers that he gained the psychic power to see the past, present, and future of people’s lives through physical contact. When Johnny meets a corrupt politician, he sees a catastrophic future, and he has to decide how far he will go to change that future.
The Dead Zoneis based on King’s novel and directed byDavid Cronenberg,two of the most iconic people in the horrorgenre.The Dead Zonestands out as an exploration of fate, free will, and the dilemmas of changing destiny. Cronenberg creates a gripping and thrilling atmosphere using a dark tone and a compelling narrative that blends psychological tension, supernatural elements, and moral complexity.
The Dead Zone
7'1408' (2007)
Directed by Mikael Håfström
1408follows Mike Enslin (John Cusack), a skeptical and cynical author who writes about haunted locations, debunking supernatural phenomena. Mike receives a postcard telling him not to stay in room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel inNew York City. Seeing it as a challenge, Mike travels to the Dolphin Hotel and requests room 1408. The hotel manager, Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson) advises Mike against staying in that room, but he insists. At first, the room is just an ordinary hotel room, but eventually it shows Mike its malevolent nature, turning into a night where time and reality are distorted, with the goal to drive him to madness.
When people hear about a supernatural horror movie set in a hotel, they think that it is going to be haunted. However, in1408the antagonist is not a ghost or a demon, the antagonist is room 1408 itself, and it is more evil than most demons, whichsets the movie apartfrom other horror movies that have the same setting. The descent of the skeptic Mike into madness and fear because of the room he dismissed at first is another terrifying and thrilling element.Cusack gives one of his best performancesin a movie that relied majorly on his performance.1408has a terrifying, claustrophobic tone and atmosphere that will keep watchers on the edge of their seat to know what will happen to Mike.
6’It' (2017)
Directed by Andrés Muschietti
Ittakes place in Derry, Maine, where children have been mysteriously disappearing for centuries. The movie opens with the disappearance of Georgie Denbrough (Jackson Robert Scott). The following summer, a group of seven outcast kids who call themselves the “Losers' Club” come together to solve Georgie’s disappearance, as his brother, Bill (Jaeden Lieberher), is part of the group. During their investigation, the group quickly realize that their town is haunted by a supernatural entity they call It, which manifests as children’s worst fears and usually appears as Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgård). The group learns that It emerges every 27 years to feed on fear and the children of Derry.
Ittaps into the fear of the unexpected. It is a monster that takes the form of the things its victims fear the most, leaving them unable to expect his next move or how they can beat him. The monster also grows stronger the more feared he is. Theperformance of Skarsgård is a career-defining one, and a performance that creates a dreadful and terrifying atmosphere due to how creepy It is, especially in its Pennywise form. Throughout the movie, the Losers' Club face their childhood fears, which adds another terrifying layer to the movie due to how familiar and normal those fears are.
5’The Mist' (2007)
Directed by Frank Darabont
The Misttakes place in the small town of Bridgton, Maine, where a violent thunderstorm causes significant damage. The residents of the town meet in a local supermarket to gather supplies. However, while they are at the supermarket, an unnatural mist suddenly envelops the town, cutting off visibility and communication with the outside world. The mist conceals vicious monsters that prey on any human they stumble upon. Tensions rise between the people in the supermarket, and now they have to find a way to deal with the monsters outside and the tension inside the supermarket.
The premise of a typical town suddenly being plunged into a mist filled with deadly monsters is very terrifying and induces a state of claustrophobic dread due to the isolation of the characters and the unknown nature of the monsters lurking in the mist. However,The Mistdoesn’t stop at being amonster horror movie.The Mistexplores how social order breaks down and fanaticism rises under extreme pressure.It explores how humans change and break when faced with the terrifying unknown.
4’Pet Sematary' (1989)
Directed by Mary Lambert
Pet Semataryfollows the Creed family as they move from Chicago to rural Maine, where the father, Louis (Dale Midkiff), accepts a job as the local physician. When the family cat, Church, dies, Louis makes the decision to bury it in a nearby ancient Mi’kmaq burial ground that has the ability to resurrect the dead. The next day, Church returns home but with a sinister behavior. Tragedy strikes the family again, when Louis' son, Gage (Miko Hughes), is hit by a truck. Despite all the warnings, Louis buries his son in the same burial ground, and what comes back is more sinister than anybody could have expected.
Pet Sematarytakes parents' biggest fear, the death of the child, and turns it into a sinister event where the child comes back as an evil being.The movie explores death, grief, and humans' temptation to change the cycle of life and death when given the chance. Grief drives Louis to do the unthinkable despite warnings from people around him who know better than him, and despite him seeing the negative changes that happened to the family cat. His actions and decisions make watchers want to save him, yet they know he is doomed beyond saving.
Pet Sematary
3’Carrie' (1976)
Directed by Brian De Palma
Carriefollows the titular shy, socially awkward sixteen-year-old high school girl Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), who is bullied by her schoolmates and oppressed by her fanatically religious mother, who believes mensuration to be caused by sins. When Carrie gets her first period, she discoversshe has telekinetic powers. With prom approaching, Carrie is asked to prom by a popular boy at the request of his remorseful girlfriend. However, at prom night turns into a nightmare when a vicious prank, orchestrated by another classmate, douses Carrie in pig’s blood. As a reaction to her humiliation, Carrie unleashes hell with her powers on everybody.
Carriewas King’s first ever published novel,and the 1976 movie was the very first adaptation of his work.Carrie’s slow building of tension allows the audience to feel empathy towards Carrie as they witness the mistreatment she endures atthe hands of her motherand her schoolmates. The slow burn makes watchers anticipate Carrie’s inevitable breakdown. However, it is hard to expect how terrifying this breakdown is.Spacek gives a great performanceas Carrie, which earned her a nomination for a Best Actress Oscar.
2’Misery' (1990)
Directed by Rob Reiner
Miseryfollows Paul Sheldon (James Caan), a successful novelist, who crashes his car during a blizzard. Nurse and Paul’s self-proclaimed “number one fan,” Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), rescues him and takes him to her remote home to treat his injuries. When Annie reads the manuscript of the final novel of Paul’s successful romance novel series where he kills the main character named Misery, a terrifying side of her emerges, and she holds him hostage until he writes a new novel where Misery lives.
Miseryis theonly King adaptation to win an Oscar, due to Bates' amazing performance as Annie. Her mood swings, shifting from nurturing to violent in an instant, create a constant sense of unease as the audience and Paul cannot predict what she does. Every moment of the movie is filled with danger, from Annie’s unexpected bursts of rage to Paul’s secretive efforts to escape. The isolated location where most of the story takes place intensifies the suspense as well.
1’The Shining' (1980)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
The Shiningfollows the Torrance family as they move into an isolated hotel, after the father, Jack (Jack Nicholson) accepts a job as the caretaker of the hotel during the winter. Jack’s young son, Danny (Danny Lloyd) has psychic abilities which allow him to see the hotel’s terrifying past. After a snowstorm isolates the family from the outside, the hotel’s sinister spirits and ghosts start to taunt Jack, worsening his already unstable mental state. As Jack descends into madness, he turns on his family, wanting to kill them.
The Shiningis the adaptation King famously hates. However,Stanley Kubrickknows how to evoke suspense andThe Shiningis thrilling from the very first minute to the last. Jack’s gradual transformation from a struggling writer to a homicidal maniac is captivating. Kubrick’s direction transforms the Overlook Hotel into a character in the movie rather than just a setting. The hotel with all its supernatural entities and vast, empty corridors, creates an environment where danger is widespread and possible everywhere and at any time.
