The All-Time Underrated Stephen King Movie Gems to Watch This May
Among the countless Stephen King films, these three are undeservedly little talked about.
Film and television adaptations of Stephen King 's work have been around for nearly 50 years. While some are really not worth mentioning because they were terrible reimaginings of the books, there are some real hidden gems. But despite their unpopularity, they appear extremely refreshing now, in the 2020s, so here are three underrated Stephen King movies that are sure to impress you.
Stephen King's Hidden Gems That Deserve More Attention
3. Storm of the Century (1999, Dir. Craig R. Baxley, IMDb rating: 7.3/10)
2. The Mangler (1995, Dir. Tobe Hooper, IMDb rating: 4.4/10)
1. Sleepwalkers (1992, Dir. Mick Garris, IMDb rating: 5.3/10)
Storm of the Century is technically a TV series, but it consists of three one-and-a-half-hour episodes, so it can certainly be listed with other movies. King personally wrote the script, making it an original project rather than an adaptation of his books. The action takes place in a remote village on the island of Little Tall, where one Andre Linoge arrives. He has claimed to be an ancient sorcerer who will only leave the townsfolk if they give him a child.
Mike Flanagan, the creator of Midnight Mass, cited The Storm of the Century as his inspiration, using homages such as the sheriff's office in a grocery store and a gathering of townspeople in the midst of a terrible storm as a prime example of horror with an eerie sense of inevitability.
If King is the king of horror fiction, then Tobe Hooper is the king of horror movies, though his The Mangler was unfortunately panned by critics upon release. But don't let its IMDb rating fool you. Yes, the original short story of the same name may not be the best of King's career, and while the movie has its fair share of sometimes annoying campiness, The Mangler offers some pretty crazy plot twists, embellished by great acting from Ted Levine and Robert Englund.
As for Sleepwalkers, this movie is no less campy than The Mangler. What stands out, however, is the duo played by Alice Krige and Brian Krause, consisting of two half-crazed monsters with incestuous tendencies.
Each of the three movies above is now available for on-demand viewing on various services. For example, all three episodes of the Storm of the Century miniseries can be streamed on Hulu. Unfortunately, The Mangler is not available for streaming, but it can be rented or purchased on platforms such as Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, YouTube, Google Play and Microsoft. The same goes for Sleepwalkers, but it's also available for free at The Internet Archive.