The 15 Best Stephen King Movies and TV Shows You Can Stream Right Now

In 2017, It, an adaptation of horror legend Stephen King’s 1986 novel, became the highest-grossing horror film in history. It was a fitting badge of honor for the prolific horror novelist, who has seen dozens of his books and stories transferred to film, often with only mixed success.

Fortunately, there’s still plenty of King-inspired material that lives up to his name. Take a look at 15 movies and television shows currently streaming that capture the essence of King’s work.

1. Carrie (1976)

Sissy Spacek stars as Carrie White, a telekinetic teen who gets her revenge on the mean girls (and boys) in high school. Based on King’s first novel (1975), the master of horror wasn’t such a well-known commodity at the time. Trailers for the film misspelled his name as “Steven.”

Stream it: Amazon Prime

2. Creepshow 2 (1987)

A macabre King vibe inspired this anthology, a sequel to 1982’s Creepshow, which the writer collaborated on with horror master George A. Romero. The standout of the sequel is “The Raft,” about a group of college kids who find a sentient blob of sludge at a lake that makes their weekend getaway anything but relaxing. Two other King stories, the bowling-centric “Pinball” and “Cat From Hell,” were planned but cut due to budgetary concerns. The latter wound up in 1990’s Tales From the Darkside: The Movie.

Stream it: Amazon Prime

3. 11.22.63 (2016)

King’s revisionist take on JFK’s assassination comes to life in this Hulu original series. James Franco stars as a professor who discovers he can travel back in time to prevent Lee Harvey Oswald from shooting at the motorcade in Dallas. Unfortunately, those heroics have consequences in the future. The late director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) was originally slated to helm a feature based on the book before the rights eventually went to J.J. Abrams.

Stream it: Hulu

4. Gerald’s Game (2017)

Carla Gugino’s weekend getaway with her husband turns into an endurance test when she finds herself alone and handcuffed to a bed. Slowly, creeping horrors both real and imagined begin to materialize. To keep her sanity—and her life—she’ll need to escape by any means necessary. King loved the movie, which he described as “hypnotic.”

Stream it: Netflix

5. In the Tall Grass (2019)

King’s 2012 novella—co-written with his son, Joe Hill—is a classic King conceit of taking the mundane and making it terrifying. After chasing a boy into a thick patch of farmland grass, two siblings realize that it harbors dangerous and mystifying entities. Patrick Wilson co-stars.

Stream it: Netflix

6. The Mist (2007)

One of King’s most gut-wrenching adaptations comes courtesy of Frank Darabont, who had previously helmed 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption. In a small Maine town, artist David Drayton (Thomas Jane) finds himself trapped in a grocery store as a strange fog envelops residents—and brings with it a terrifying menagerie of creatures. Darabont had previously adapted a King short story, “The Woman in the Room,” as a low-budget project in the early 1980s. As he has does with many budding filmmakers whose work impresses him, King sold Darabont the rights for $1.

Stream it: Netflix

7. Stephen King’s Silver Bullet (1985)

Corey Haim and Gary Busey are an unlikely pairing in this werewolf thriller based on King’s novella Cycle of the Werewolf. Don Coscarelli (Phantasm) was originally slated to direct the film but quit over disagreements with producer Dino de Laurentiis. Dan Attias wound up helming the movie.

Stream it: HBO Max

8. The Green Mile (1999)

Tom Hanks stars in this adaptation of the 1996 King novel, which was serialized and released in six published installments. Hanks plays a prison guard assigned duty on death row who finds himself grappling with the otherworldly abilities of inmate Michael Clarke Duncan, who may or may not be innocent—and gifted with paranormal powers. To reinforce Duncan’s physical presence, filmmakers sometimes used camera tricks to make him appear even taller than his co-stars.

Stream it: Hulu

9. Stephen King’s Storm of the Century (1999)

King wrote this original miniseries for ABC about a mysterious stranger named Linoge (Colm Feore) who terrorizes a small town during a snowstorm. He’ll leave them alone—but only if they agree to a horrifying request. King has called it his favorite among all of his made-for-television work.

Stream it: Hulu

10. The Dead Zone (1983)

Christopher Walken has the weight of the world on his shoulders as Johnny Smith, a teacher who emerges from a coma with psychic powers. When he encounters a power-mad politician (Martin Sheen) with destructive tendencies, Johnny must decide whether to take drastic action. King’s 1979 novel also inspired a USA Network television series starring Anthony Michael Hall, which is available to stream for free on Tubi.

Stream it: Amazon Prime

11. Children of the Corn (1984)

King’s short story from 1978’s Night Shift collection imagines a small town in which children are free to explore their most violent impulses without any parental supervision. Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton are a couple who stumble upon this kid-run community and quickly come to regret it. The film franchise has grown to nine movies, but you’re best off sticking with the original.

Stream it: Amazon Prime

12. A Good Marriage (2014)

When Joan Allen finds some incriminating evidence pointing to her perfect husband (played by Anthony LaPaglia) being a serial killer, she must decide between the love of her life and a monster who takes lives. The film is based on the novella of the same name in King’s 2010 collection Full Dark, No Stars.

Stream it: Amazon Prime via Freevee

13. 1922 (2017)

Full Dark, No Stars also contains the novella 1922, which Zak Hilditch adapted into a Netflix film in 2017. It’s less about what Nebraska farmer Wilfred James (Thomas Jane) will do to keep his wife from uprooting their family to the city and more about the very messy (both literally and psychologically) aftermath of those actions. The corn had already mostly been harvested by the time filmmakers started shooting in Vancouver, so the stalks you see in the movie were either shipped in or added during the editing phase. The rats, however, were all actually on set.

Stream it: Netflix

14. The Outsider (2020)

King’s 2018 novel The Outsider grew out of the author’s urge to write about someone who was inexplicably in two places at the same time. The story—which was optioned as a miniseries almost immediately after its publication—follows the supernaturally charged investigation of a child’s murder in Oklahoma, seemingly committed by an upstanding citizen (played by Jason Bateman) who also happens to have an unshakeable alibi. Ben Mendelsohn stars as the lead investigator, with help from private detective Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), whom King considers “one of the most interesting characters in my entire lexicon.”

Stream it: HBO Max

15. Lisey’s Story (2021)

In this adaptation of King’s 2006 novel of the same name, Julianne Moore stars as Lisey Landon, a widow plagued with once-repressed memories unearthed over the course of a treasure hunt left by her dead husband (Clive Owen). With J.J. Abrams as producer and Spencer director Pablo Larraín behind the camera, the miniseries is both mentally and visually arresting; King was so invested in the project, in fact, that he agreed to write all eight episodes, something he hadn’t done for one of his TV adaptations since ABC’s 1997 version of The Shining.

Stream it: Apple TV+

A version of this story ran in 2019; it has been updated for 2023.