Top 12 Stephen King Horror Movies As Rated By Critics

Considering some of the other films on this list, it might surprise you, but Brian DePalma's Carrie is number one on critics' list as the most highly rated Stephen King adaptation. Nothing against the movie, as Carrie is a masterpiece directed by DePalma, but with other cinema masters like Kubrick in play and the fact that this was the very first Stephen King adaptation, the odds were against it. It scored 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and is largely considered one of the greatest horror films ever made, not just one of the best adaptations of King's work. DePalma believed in the book so much that he lobbied to direct the film, and his artful and sensitive direction makes that evident in the finished film. Sissy Spacek was convinced to audition after DePalma already knew what actress he wanted to cast. Still, she went in for the audition wearing an old dress her mother had made, without make-up and with Vaseline in her unwashed hair, and got the part.

While you might not think of Rob Reiner as a master of horror, he certainly managed to direct one of the most chilling and best versions of King's work in his film Misery. The film has a great but small cast, and Kathy Bates can never be forgotten as Paul Sheldon's "number one fan" who kidnaps Sheldon to force him to write her favorite character back into her favorite book series. The amusing and truthful undertones of the film, an author's unease with celebrity, the unfettered adoration of fans, and that obsession's potential dark side are even in the book and film's title. Misery is not only the state that Sheldon finds himself in but the name of the put-upon heroine of his most famous and pulpy book series. Read more: The Best Horror Coming Out of TIFF 2023.

At 89 percent approval, David Cronenberg's masterful adaptation of King's The Dead Zone is potentially Cronenberg's most mainstream film. It shows what the director is capable of within the framework of studio filmmaking. Another extremely critically popular King classic brings to life the tale of Johnny Smith, a seemingly average school teacher who is blessed or cursed with the gift of precognition after a car accident. Smith lost the woman he loved during the five-year coma that he fell into but gained the ability to prevent disasters when his power gave him the chance to change the future. The film deals mainly with the psychological horror of knowing what will happen and trying to get people to believe you. The film's cast is splendid, including Christopher Walken as Johnny, Brooke Smith as his former love, Nicholas Campbell as Frank Dodd, and Martin Sheen as Greg Stillson.

Andy Muschietti's version of It (2017) is the next on the list. The film was a massive success with a critical approval rating of 86%, breaking many records at the box office. Artistically, the casting of Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise was praised as a great casting choice, with the actor stepping into the role previously played in a beloved turn by Tim Curry. The casting of the children who make up the self-named "Loser's Club" was also right on the money. Muschetti brought frightening and exciting twists and turns to the adaptation that went with King's books' ideas. The film honored the book's spirit while not adhering to the narrative in a way that would render it lifeless. Read more: New V/H/S/85 Trailer: Press Play On A Bloody Trip To The '80s.

You could argue that Dolores Claiborne isn't horror, but I argue that it is. It is more along the lines of realistic horror, the everyday sort that sickens the minds of young girls who are abused far too young. Indeed, David Strathairn as Joe St. George is an abusive nightmare of a man who is terrifying to anyone who has ever endured this kind of familial situation. Taylor Hackford does a beautiful job of showing that sometimes women can be driven to commit acts to protect themselves and their children. Who is evil in this situation? The complex nature of the question is what makes the film superb.

Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining is probably one of the films you have been waiting for. It sits at 83% approval on Rotten Tomatoes and is undeniably a masterwork in horror films and cinema itself. The idea behind The Shining is not that dissimilar to Dolores Claiborne, as it is based on family troubles and an abusive father who has problems with alcohol and controlling his temper with his wife and child. The difference is that The Shining has the aspect of the supernatural because of the psychic abilities of Danny Torrance and Halloran. Psychic ability, which King calls the shining, which is short for the shining lamp of God, is a recurring theme among King's stories and books. King was not fond of Kubrick's masterful adaptation, perhaps because it is not kind to the characters of Jack and Wendy Torrance, but audiences and critics love it. Kubrick's exacting direction made the film difficult for the actress Shelley Duvall but yielded a cold and forbidding epic that made a hotel one of the scariest places to be.

Mikael Håfström version of Stephen King's short story 1408 was a tremendous financial success and a critical hit. Most of the film's praise is laid upon the performances of actors John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. The story is about an evil hotel where people become trapped in room 1408 and relive the worst moments of their lives over and over again. The story's basic idea is that you can't get rid of your bad memories; you must find a way to deal with them to live with them. There's no way out other than to go through the experiences and put them in the proper perspective.

Doctor Sleep is director Mike Flanagan's adaptation of the long-awaited sequel to King's book The Shining. Many of the same touchstones repeatedly present in King's work are here. People with psychic ability, people who have suffered emotional and physical trauma, who find solace in alcohol and their dreams. In the film, Dan Torrance became an alcoholic and has since turned his life around. Torrance finds peace with using his "shine" to help elderly people in a hospice transition peacefully into death and comes to the aid of a young psychic named Abra, who is targeted by the True Knot, a group of psychics who torture and feed on the powers of young psychically gifted children like Abra. Read more: A New Fall of the House of Usher Clip Introduces The Family.

Frank Darabont's film of King's novella The Mist is a masterpiece of gloom and horror but has the problem of an ending that is so downbeat and depressing that people get angry at the film. King believes that Darabont gave the film an end that he wished he had thought of, but the film's standing critically reflects the audience's anger about the ending. It sits at 73% on Rotten Tomatoes and should be placed higher, but it has been reassessed since the film's release. While the Lovecraftian horrors that walk and fly outside of the market are terrible, what's terrifying about the film are the people inside the market. Darabont's succeeded wildly with the film's exploration of the psychology of a crowd of scared human beings and the awful things they do.

John Carpenter's Christine is about a 1950s car that takes over the personality of the person who owns her. It's a really dangerous car, more so than usual. It stars Keith Gordon as Arnie Cunningham, a friendly but not confident high school student who finds the confidence he's always wanted in Christine. Christine seems to be possessed by some evil that is jealous of the person who drives her and will kill anyone who harms them or threatens the love between her and Arnie. The obsession is mutual, as Arnie will do anything for Christine. Carpenter made a film about a killer, possessed car work, and you feel sympathy for the characters that deepens the narrative, which might usually be considered silly in other and less talented hands.

At 69%, director Lewis Teague's Cat's Eye enters the 11th spot. Cat's Eye is an anthology built around the idea of a stray cat who wanders through two stories, Quitters Inc. and The Ledge, while having visions of a young girl, Amanda (Drew Barrymore), who seems to need the cat's help. The cat, named General by Amanda, stays on the outskirts of the first two stories but becomes the center of the third story with Amanda called General. After her parents, who don't like the cat, put General out for the night, a troll attacks Amanda, and it's up to General to save her. Cat's Eye has a much lighter and more comedic touch than many of the other films on the list, and that's what makes it work. It is charming, with just enough danger to make it work as a horror anthology.

Paul Micheal Glaser's The Running Man is a more satirical take on the downbeat book by Stephen King. The book has a lot to say about social issues and even the environment at a time before it was famous as a theme in books. It's a harsh world where children are dying from polluted air, and society has engineered a permanent underclass of victims for network shows. Many of the same basic ideas are present in the film, but it's less about the climate change-induced dystopia than a group trying to start a revolution. The argument of poor people and criminals forced to fight for their lives for entertainment has been used again in The Hunger Games series, which is underrated for its amount of horror. The Running Man is a very 80s film with Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wisecracks, but some of King's ideas remain. Underneath the surface veneer of cheese, there's a lot of horror there.