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This story originally ran in 2017 and has been updated to reflect recent releases, including this weeksThe Monkey.
Nonetheless, we gave it the old college try.
47.Maximum Overdrive(1986)
47.
46.The Mangler(1995)
46.
Of all the Stephen King adaptations, we must confess that this one has our favorite title.
Boy, though, is this thing ridiculous.
What, exactly, is the Mangler, you ask?
Well, the Mangler is a demonically possessed …laundry press!
Eventually the Mangler develops legs and starts chasing people.
Its all terrible, but, you never know, it might be your thing.
Maybe youre into laundry-press cosplay.
45.Graveyard Shift(1990)
45.
Graveyard Shiftis as schlocky as low-budget horror films get.
Wanna guess why?
We dont want to give it away.
All right, theyre being killed by … a giant bat!
Because bats hunt at night, you see.
(In the short story, its a giant rat.
Bats are much more cinematic.)
44.Riding the Bullet(2004)
44.
43.Sleepwalkers(1992)
43.
What are Sleepwalkers, you ask?
According to theStephen King Wiki,theyre an ancient and forgotten nomadic race of vampiric shape-shifting werecats.
42.Silver Bullet(1985)
42.
They really might have been better off just having a guy carry a mounted bear head around.
41.Cell(2016)
41.
Our smartphones have come up with far more creative ways to kill us today.
40.Dolans Cadillac(2009)
40.
The movie tries to be a grindhouse schlockfest, but can barely work up the energy.
39.Firestarter(2022)
39.
38.Cats Eye(1985)
38.
37.Needful Things(1993)
37.
You wouldnt think a moral fable about a possibly demonic shop owner (played by Max von Sydow!)
How do you make Harris and Amanda Plummer boring?
Its really hard!Needful Thingssomehow finds a way.
36.Creepshow 2(1987)
36.
Harrigans Phone(2022)
35.
Then the phone starts texting Craig back.
Also: Dont give old people social media; their lives have been hard enough.
34.The Night Flier(1997)
34.
33.Firestarter(1984)
33.
This movie would have been alotbetter if it had been directed by John Carpenter.
32.Dreamcatcher(2003)
32.
It is bizarre that people this smart and this talented made such a misfire.
For what its worth, after this movie, there werent any big-budget studio King adaptations untilThe Dark Tower.
31.The Dark Tower(2017)
31.
30.Pet Sematary(1989)
30.
29.The Dark Half(1993)
29.
(King came up with it after he stopped writing books as Richard Bachman.)
Overall, it plays out as the thin idea it was on the page.
28.Thinner(1996)
28.
Imagine what David Cronenberg might have done with this.
27.The Boogeyman(2023)
27.
This turns out to be a bit of a feint though.
26.A Good Marriage(2014)
26.
Allens a tremendous, vastly underappreciated actress, and this movie gives her countless opportunities to showcase why.
25.No Smoking(2007)
25.
Well, Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap made a whole Hindi movie about that concept.
24.Cujo(1983)
24.
The movie isnt any more complicated than that though it does have Whos the Boss?
rug rat Danny Pintauro as the cute kid.
Imagine a nightmareOld Yeller.
You could do worse.
23.Hearts in Atlantis(2001)
23.
22.Carrie(2013)
22.
(King wanted Lindsay Lohan!)
21.It Chapter Two(2019)
21.
), bloated sequel.
The movie may just have too much reverence for King canon to truly let itself run free.
Fittingly, King remains a huge fan, and he even has a (sort of funny!)
cameo in this one.
More kid terror, less adult angst, yo.
20.Doctor Sleep(2019)
20.
The film still isnt that bad, and it features solid performances from Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson.
19.Secret Window(2004)
19.
18.The Monkey(2025)
18.
King, at his best, can mix horror and comedy splendidly.
That might not be Perkinss forte.
17.Pet Sematary(2019)
17.
Maybe everything that dies someday comes back.
Like too much modern horror, the remake indulges in lame jump scares and questionable plotting.
16.Children of the Corn(1984)
16.
This was based on a short story initially published inPenthouse(beforePenthousewas the literary juggernaut it is now).
15.Christine(1983)
15.
This seems destined for a remake with a self-driving Uber, doesnt it?
14.The Green Mile(1999)
14.
Ultimately, what saves the movie is the cast and crews expert devotion to its polished, well-meaning hokum.
13.Apt Pupil(1998)
13.
An argument could be made that he hasnt challenged himself as much since.
12.The Mist(2007)
12.
Other thanSausage Party,its the best film set almost entirely in a supermarket.
11.Dolores Claiborne(1995)
11.
The courtroom-thriller aspect of the film doesnt work, but just about everything else does.
Its a better movie than you remember.
10.It(2017)
10.
(In this movie, your darkest anxieties are coming to kill you.)
9.The Running Man(1987)
9.
And thank goodness for that!
The real thrill comes from Richard Dawson, playing anightmarish version of himself.
Its one of the greatest over-the-top villain performances of the 80s.
Who loves you, and who do you love?
8.1408(2007)
8.
This makes for a genuinely unsettling thriller, directed with inventive weirdness by Swedish filmmaker Mikael Hafstrom.
7.Stand by Me(1986)
7.
Its the only one with a dead body.
And, for what its worth, its the adaptation thatStephen King likes the most.
6.Creepshow(1982).
Its inconsistent, but still a load of fun.
5.Misery(1990)
5.
Bates is frightening in her stillness, which makes Annies sudden bursts of violence all the more horrifying.
But sneaky dark humor comes from the actresss malicious glee at landing such a rich role.
4.The Shawshank Redemption(1994)
4.
Its great, but its too much talking.
King wasnt wrong: The filmistoo talky.
Not surprisingly, the movies rhapsodic online devotion has provoked an equally passionate backlash.
3.The Dead Zone(1983)
- premise, put on film.
Its one of his best performances.
Seek it out its still great.
2.Carrie(1976)
2.
Kings breakthrough as an author famouslyalmost didnt happen.
Above all,Carrieis a beautifully calibrated, slowly escalating symphony of tension.
By the time prom comes and Carrie sets her classmates aflame, its both a relief and a shock.
ButCarrieremains the most disturbing and sympathetic film about the hell inside so many teens.
1.The Shining(1980)
1.
I dont get it, hesaid in 2014about the movies passionate fans.
But there are a lot of things that I dont get.
But obviously people absolutely love it, and they dont understand why I dont.
(Not surprisingly, King hates that movie, too.)
