One of the most famous authors of all time, Stephen King has more than earned his “King of Horror” moniker over the years. The author’s ᴀssorted works have been adapted for movies on countless occasions, with films based on Stephen King’s books often going on to earn a famous status of their own. Outings like Stand By Me, The Green Mile, and The Shawshank Redemption have earned rave reviews and multiple award nominations, underlining the seismic influence that the author has had on wider popular culture.

However, the horror maestro has decidedly not built his reputation off the back of sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. A master in the art of emotional devastation that goes beyond supernatural horror, movies based on Stephen King’s stories have an innate ability to reduce their viewers to tears. Many of these moments have been brought to life onscreen with consistently tear-jerking results, leveraging a devastating emotional heft through their evocative subject matter. From the supremely unjust fate of John Coffey to the heartbreaking end bestowed upon Brooks Hatlen, it’s not a stretch to argue that everyone cries at these Stephen King movie scenes.

9

The Final Twist

The Mist (2007)

An adaptation of the 1980 novella of the same name, 2007’s sci-fi horror outing The Mist follows a group of people trapped in a supermarket after an unexplained supernatural mist envelops the town of Bridgton, Maine, bringing a nightmarish ᴀssortment of bloodthirsty monsters with it. Frank Darabont’s movie is notorious for possessing one of the most terrifying endings in sci-fi history, a scene that frequently leaves viewers in tears of pure despair.

Trapped in the mist among the monsters in a car that has run out of gas, Thomas Jane’s David makes the harrowing decision to mercy-kill the vehicle’s occupants, a group that includes his young son, Billy. This would be a devastating development in itself, but the fog clears mere moments later, revealing the U.S. military rescuing survivors and rendering David’s soul-rending sacrifice utterly meaningless. In an ironic twist, The Mist’s conclusion is an outlier among King’s most tear-jerking movie adaptations in the sense that, while it’s based on King’s work, this devastating ending is actually entirely of Darabont’s concoction.

8

Georgie’s Murder

It (2017)

Chronicling the experiences of seven teenagers terrorized by a supernatural enтιтy that frequently takes the form of a nightmarish clown, 1986’s horror novelIt remains one of Stephen King’s most celebrated works to this day. The novel had previously been adapted into a 1990 miniseries, but Andy Muschietti’s two-part take on King’s story marked the first time that It had made it to the silver screen. 2017’s first chapter would set the bar high in terms of upsetting material, kicking off the movie with arguably its most iconic scene, the heartbreaking death of Georgie Denborough.

Bill’s younger brother is murdered in sadistic fashion by Pennywise after encountering the eponymous enтιтy in a storm drain, a sequence that slowly builds in menacing dread and culminates in legitimately heartbreaking fashion. No matter how many times you’ve experienced it, the sight of Pennywise literally ripping a six-year-old’s arm off, or the sound of Georgie desperately crying for his brother as he is dragged into the drain to his fate, means that this remains one of the saddest moments in any King adaptation.

7

Eddie’s Demise

It Chapter II (2019)

While it failed to attain the same critical response as its predecessor, 2019’s It Chapter II was decidedly not short on sad moments, from Adrian Mellon being savagely murdered after being ᴀssaulted by homophobic teenagers, to Stanley Uris committing suicide to unite his friends against Pennywise. However, few instances guarantee more tears than the demise of James Ransone’s fan-favorite Eddie Kaspbrak, fatally impaled by Pennywise as he attempted to save his best friend, Bill Hader’s Richie Tozer.

Eddie’s heroic end is a heartbreaking development in and of itself, but his death gets even more devastating in light of It Chapter Two’s R+E reveal during the movie’s ending. Carving the pair’s initials onto the town’s kissing bridge, Richie is heavily implied to have been in love with Eddie, adding a new layer of heartbreak to this popular character’s loss. Throw in the fact that the Losers weren’t even able to give their beloved friend’s body a proper burial, and this moment rarely fails to deliver a knockout blow right in the feels.

6

Ellie Gets Hit By A Truck

Pet Sematary (2019)

Even when viewers are aware that what they are witnessing isn’t real, there are fewer more upsetting sights in all cinema than the onscreen demise of a child. However, Stephen King has never been afraid to do away with children in his novels, a state of affairs that has translated to the silver screen with harrowing results on multiple occasions. Case in point? You’d have to be made of stone not to be affected by the demise of Ellie Creed against the backdrop of 2019’s Pet Sematary. The young daughter of protagonist Louis Creed, Ellie is accidentally killed by a derailed tanker truck after rushing onto the road.

It speaks volumes to the soul-cleaving nature of this scene’s subject matter that it’s one of the movie’s most traumatizing moments, despite the camera cutting away at the exact moment of impact. The sequence’s shock levels are compounded even further by the fact that many viewers were likely expecting Louis’ son Gage to be the one killed by the truck, in line with the events of King’s original novel and the first 1989 movie adaptation, adding a jaw-dropping flourish to what is already an utterly desolating moment.

5

The True Knot Murders Bradley Trevor

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Serving as a sequel to 1980’s seminal horror outing, The Shining, 2019’s Doctor Sleep follows the now-adult Danny Torrance as he struggles to process his childhood trauma. The movie also follows a villainous cult dubbed the “True Knot.” Psychic vampires led by Rebecca Ferguson’s Rose the Hat, the group preys on “steam,” an essence released by individuals who possess the “shining” ability when they die in agony. This chilling status quo forms the basis of one of the most upsetting Stephen King movie scenes of all time: the shudder-worthy demise of Jacob Tremblay’s Bradley Trevor, also known as “Baseball Boy.”

A young athlete who uses the “shining” to aid him in baseball games, Trevor is abducted and murdered in excruciatingly slow fashion by the True Knot. Invariably leaving viewers extremely shaken, Baseball Boy’s death scene in Doctor Sleep is an absolutely horrific sequence; Tremblay’s harrowing screams for mercy and the visual of a young boy being tortured to death are so disturbing that you’d have to be made of stone not to feel moved. Shooting the sequence left Rebecca Ferguson in literal tears, while King himself requested that director Mike Flanagan tone down the jarring levels of violence in his original vision.

4

The Reveal Of Chris’ Fate

Stand By Me (1986)

One of cinema’s quintessential coming-of-age stories, 1986’s Stand By Me isn’t necessarily the first outing that may come to mind when thinking of the most upsetting moments that Stephen King movies have to offer. Furthermore, Chris Chambers’ fate is already confirmed at the movie’s outset, with a newspaper paragraph in the introduction revealing that River Phoenix’s character was stabbed to death while trying to break up a confrontation in a restaurant.

However, by the end of the journey of personal discovery that audiences accompany the movie’s quartet on, the confirmation that Chris still met a desperately unfair end during Stand By Me’s ending is enough to reduce the most hardened viewers to tears. The odds were perpetually stacked against Gordie’s best friend by his family’s reputation and being wrongfully accused of stealing school milk money, but he didn’t let that sway him from beating the odds to become a lawyer. Accordingly, the fact that such an incredible life was wasted in such needless fashion rarely fails to tug on even the sternest of heartstrings.

3

Dick Hallorran’s Undeserved End

The Shining (1980)

The quintessential example of a likable horror character who should have lived, the death of Dick Hallorran against the backdrop of 1980’s seminal horror outing, The Shining, rarely fails to get the waterworks going. A kindly, empathetic man blessed with the same abilities as Danny Torrance, Hallorran was the type of individual to drop everything just to come to the young boy’s aid after his father embarked on a murderous rampage, even battling the elements on a snow cat to reach the Overlook H๏τel in the middle of a fierce blizzard.

Unfortunately for Scatman Crothers’ character, the only reward for his good nature was to be immediately and savagely murdered by a maniacal Jack Torrance after being ambushed in the H๏τel lobby. A legitimately upsetting end for the most undeserving of recipients, Hallorran’s death feels so unjust that it’s enough to add tears of frustration to the ongoing waterworks of despair already elicited by his brutal end.

2

“Brooks Was Here”

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Based on King’s 1982 novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, 1994’s critically acclaimed prison drama The Shawshank Redemption is renowned for playing host to one of the saddest movie moments ever brought to life onscreen, although it’s ironic to note that the scene in question wasn’t actually drawn from its source material. One of the major differences between Stephen King’s Shawshank Redemption book and the movie is the suicide of James Whitmore’s Brooks Hatlen, an insтιтutionalized elderly prisoner released on parole after serving more than five decades in Shawshank Penitentiary.

Tragically, Brooks is unable to cope with the pressures of the outside world after being incarcerated for more than half a century. While he dies of old age in King’s canon, the movie sees the former prison librarian dress himself in his best suit before hanging himself in his halfway house, carving “Brooks was here” into an overhead beam as a poignant farewell in heartbreaking fashion. An unashamed tear-jerker, Brooks’ demise remains one of the saddest movie deaths of all time, irrespective of genre or source material.

1

John Coffey’s Execution

The Green Mile (1999)

Based on the author’s 1996 novel of the same name, 1999’s The Green Mile remains one of the most evocative Stephen King movie adaptations of all time. The film follows the plight of Michael Clarke Duncan’s John Coffey, a gentle giant of a man who, despite being cognitively challenged, possesses remarkable supernatural abilities of resurrection. In a cruel twist, the death row prisoner is wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of two young girls. Tragically, his innocence isn’t enough to prevent his fate; Coffey is ultimately sent to the electric chair anyway, culminating in one of the most melancholic moments in cinematic history.

Set to the heart-rending strains of Thomas Newman’s iconic score, the scene in the Stephen King adaptation is sheer heartbreak fuel in its entirety. From Coffey begging the guards not to place the hood over his head, to Paul desperately grabbing his hand one last time before giving the order, The Green Mile’s conclusion is one of the most emotionally devastating movie endings of all time. If there was ever a Stephen King movie scene that guaranteed waterworks, it’s decidedly this one.