The Long Walk is just the latest example of Stephen King’s lasting legacy as a writer, highlighting the brutal humanity that has always made his stories (and subsequent adaptations of them) rank among the best horror creations of all time. Debuting in 1975 with Carrie (which was quickly adapted into a film), King has maintained a steady stream of horror hits ever since, inspiring dark landscapes and iconic monsters for generations of filmmakers to experiment with.
Some of the most engaging have been in the realm of television, with miniseries adaptations of It and The Stand or underrated classics like Castle Rock bring King’s terrifying tenor to the small screen. The best examples of Stephen King’s works outside their original literary forms are in the movies. To celebrate Stephen King’s August 19 birthday, here are 19 Stephen King adaptations that best highlight the horror and humanity brought to his works, and how decades of filmmakers have translated those creepy vibes for the big screen.
19
Carrie (1976)
Directed by Brian De Palma and with a memorably heartbreaking lead performance by Sissy Spacek, Carrie was a statement of intent by one of horror’s most influential voices. King’s original novel served as the inspiration for a film that accurately reflected the emotional core of the story, while leaving room for creative flourishes like an updated ending.
What makes the entire concept of Carrie so scary is the way it’s painfully grounded. There’s no overt curse or supernatural evil at play, it’s merely a young woman whose mother and bullies turn a potentially miraculous power into a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly curse. Humanity is the root cause of the problems in Carrie, signifying a key theme of Stephen King’s entire canon.
18
The Shining (1980)
While Stephen King was famously frustrated by Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining, the film remains an undeniable piece of the pop culture horror lexicon. A fascinating and deeply unsettling film, long before the ghosts and gore start to fill the halls, The Shining embraces a different path when it comes to the fate and morality of Jack Torrence.
That flawed humanity that festers into something gruesome (as seen especially in works like The Long Walk) is at the core of The Shining, which remains so effective because of just how ambiguous it feels throughout. While King purists might still be mad about the lack of walking topiary, The Shining was early proof that tweaking King’s stories didn’t remove their horrifying core.
17
Creepshow (1982)
Stephen King is nothing if not a fan of pop culture himself, making his reimagining of classic horror anthologies in Creepshow especially commendable. Directed by George A. Romero with a script by King (his first swing at being a screenwriter), Creepshow features several darkly comedic vignettes of extreme horror and gore that have great fun with broad caricatures of human flaws.
In many ways a cinematic version of his short story collections, Creepshow is a great showcase for the twisted tenor that King can bring to his stories. While stories like Carrie and The Shining are grim in their portrayal of humanity’s flaws, Creepshow embraces the darkness for a big of grim gallows humor.
16
Children of the Corn (1984)
Children of the Corn shouldn’t work as well as it does, but the mix of Stephen King’s demented creations and Fritz Kiersch’s horror touches keeps the film about murderous children in the ruins of a small town horrifyingly real. While the original draft was written by King himself, behind-the-scenes drama couldn’t blunt the effectiveness of King’s idea.
Based on one of King’s short stories, Children of the Corn‘s opening act is one of the most unsettling beginnings to any horror movie, a slow-burning build from innocent Americana into a stealthy poisoning and brutal murders. While the rest of the film can’t quite match that opening sequence, it speaks to the core creepy ideas that make King stories and adaptations so compelling.
15
Stand By Me (1986)
Directed by Rob Reiner during his historic run of cinematic hits, Stand By Me doesn’t feature any of the overt supernatural threats that pervade many of Stephen King’s stories. Instead, the real horror of Stand By Me can be found in the morbid curiosity of children or the vicious impulses of teenagers. It’s humanity at its most realistic.
Like The Long Walk or The Shawshank Redemption, pure humanity is a big part of what makes the understated horror in Stand By Me so effective. The little realistic touches and grounded characters make those frightening brushes with death all the more real. Even in a life-affirming story about nostalgia and friendship, the horrors of humanity are just waiting out of sight.
14
Pet Sematary (1989)
Written and directed by Stephen King, Pet Sematary‘s deeply personal origins as a story imagining King’s potential reaction to his own son’s hypothetical death gives the film a truly creepy edge. There are the natural scares that come with the twisted actions of a resurrected child, which King films with a gory sense of almost campy (and effective) glee.
What makes Pet Sematary a compelling story is the emotional arc of the grieving parents, especially Louis Creed. Driven to desperation in his depression following the death of his son, Pet Sematary is scariest when it’s rooted in the weaknesses of human compᴀssion (an element the pretty good 2019 adaptation of Pet Sematary leaned heavily into).
13
Misery (1990)
Proof that Stephen King’s brand of horror thrillers can earn Oscar gold when given the right outlet, Rob Reiner’s Misery is a masterclass in understated horror. Bolstered by a one-of-a-kind performance by Kathy Bates as an obsessive fan who has “saved” her favorite author, Mistery is one of King’s harshest stories brought to brutal reality.
Like the best of Stephen King’s stories, the flawed humanity is the truest monster at play. Misery highlights how King’s mastery of character could be translated by great filmmakers, actors, and creatives behind the scenes, translating a fully fleshed-out monster in a way that never makes her feel inhuman.
12
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
One of the most emotional stories Stephen King has ever written, The Shawshank Redemption highlights King’s talent at writing a very different type of horror. As far removed from shapeshifting clowns as possible, the painfully grounded world of Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption explores the existential horror of losing hope.
The Shawshank Redemption‘s most potent storybeat centers on elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen. The film’s eventual focus on Brooks being released from prison and discovering a world that has moved past him is haunting in a way few stories can match, a painful snapsH๏τ of a broken humanity that lingers far longer than a slasher kill.
11
1408 (2007)
An expansion of Stephen King’s short story of the same name, 1408 feels like a unique refinement of many of King’s recurring focal points as a writer. While the main draw of the film is watching John Cusack’s ghost skeptic try to figure his way out of a cursed room, the real draw is the unraveling grief and pain that spills out of him in the process.
Still struggling with the death of his young daughter, Mike Enslin spends 1408 denying the existence of the supernatural and his own grief in equal measures. He only stands a chance of escaping it by confronting it head-on, an admirably human response leading to a memorably chaotic conclusion to one of the more self-contained supernatural stories based on King’s works.
10
The Mist (2007)
Another collaboration between Frank Darabont and Stephen King’s works, The Mist stands out as one of the movies that best adapts King’s work while still changing it to fit a bleaker tone. The grim movie may have plenty of scary monsters slithering around just off-screen, but the religious fanatic Mrs. Carmody stands out as one of King’s most instantly detestable creations.
Marcia Gay Harden is delivering a pitch-perfect performance as a human you love to hate, grounding the film even as it becomes more supernatural. It all builds to The Mist‘s tweaked ending that takes the story to an even darker place. The Mist proves how well the cinematic medium can refine and expand King’s horrifying creations.
