Movies

10 Best Stephen King Movies, Ranked From Good to Genius

10 Best Stephen King Movies, Ranked From Good to Genius
Image credit: Legion-Media

Average stories aside, here are only King's best adaptations.

Stephen King is known as the King of Horror, but horror is only one part of his oeuvre, in which mundane drama, fantasy, and detective stories easily coexist.

Since it can sometimes be difficult to sort out all the numerous adaptations of King's work, this is a list of 10 movies that are definitely worth seeing.

10. Pet Sematary

In 1989, Pet Sematary became the highest grossing horror movie in the world. The story of a young doctor who performs an ancient ritual to bring his loved ones back to life, the author himself considers the most terrifying he ever created.

9. The Mist

A thick fog suddenly descends on a city, and if a person falls into the fog, he will surely meet terrible monsters. The director focused not on monsters on the street, but on people locked in a supermarket and their sometimes monstrous behavior.

8. The Dead Zone

David Cronenberg, before this project, believed that the director should write the script himself, but here he had to tell a someone else's story. And Stephen King created a political thriller with elements of mysticism which is not typical for the author.

7. The Green Mile

There are those who criticize the movie for being too dramatic, but most viewers were touched by the story of a man who befriended a mouse and a warder who witnessed a miracle.

6. It

2017's It isn't just Stephen King's most commercially successful film adaptation. It is also the highest-grossing horror movie of all time.

The story of the confrontation between small-town teenagers and a demonic clown has grossed $700 million worldwide.

5. Stand By Me

Stand By Me is one of the 1980s cult movies that inspired the Duffer Brothers to create Stranger Things. Like the first episode of the Netflix project, the movie follows a teenager who goes missing and his friends go looking for him.

4. Misery

Misery is the name of the character whom, according to the plot of the movie, the popular author "kills" in his next book.

Threatening reprisals, she demands to rewrite history, and the author has to obey. Kathy Bates, who played the lead role, won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her performance.

3. Carrie

King liked the way Brian de Palma told the story of a bullied schoolgirl who takes brutal revenge on the perpetrators at the prom.

In his opinion, the ending was even better than in the book. Famous directors were also enthusiastic about the movie. Martin Scorsese, for example, saw Carrie three times.

2. The Shawshank Redemption

This movie has been at the top of the charts for many years. The story of the friendship between prisoners delights viewers around the world, giving hope and reminding us not to despair.

1. The Shining

Jack Nicholson's character sticking his head through a hole in the door, the streams of blood pouring out of the elevator doors, the twin ghosts in the hotel corridor – these shots have entered the history of cinema forever.

However, Stephen King himself doesn't like this adaptation.