8 Chilling Stephen King Adaptations That Still Give Us Nightmares

Stephen King is a master at horror, and his novels have terrified us for decades. While many of his books have been transformed into movies and TV shows, not all of them have quite hit the mark. And then, others have been adapted into something darker and much more terrifying.

Sure enough, King hasn’t liked all of the adaptations. Most times, when authors don’t like their adaptations, their fan bases follow their opinions, but that hasn’t been the case in every instance here. In fact, there’s an adaptation that King likes that I don’t, and there’s one that he doesn’t like that I adore.

It’s time to take a look at all of his adaptations and pick out the eight that still give us nightmares.

The Stand
Cujo
The Long Walk
Carrie
Misery
Pet Sematary
It
The Shining

The Stand

The original four-part miniseries is much better than the most recent adaptation in 2020. I have to wonder the point of the coda in the recent version of the story, as it wasn’t needed considering the way the original ended. This is one of those times when I don’t agree with the author furthering his work.

But, back to The Stand from 1994, which starred the likes of Gary Sinise, Jamey Sheridan, and Rob Lowe. This isn’t one of those stories that has a villain who makes you scared. It’s all about human nature and the way that some “villains” can’t be stopped. After all, this focuses on a super flu that kills the majority of the world’s population.

As mentioned, the horror is in the way people act. We see how some will turn to the side of good and look for a way to help replenish the world. Others turn to the side of evil and greed, finding a way to benefit from the loss of millions of people. I will always find real people the scariest monsters in horror movies.

Cujo

I will forever have nightmares about animals being infected by rabies after watching the 1993 adaptation of Cujo. This story is all about a friendly Saint Bernard, who wouldn’t usually hurt a fly. Well, when he’s bitten by a bat, he turns into a rabid killer, and it’s the sort of nightmare no pet owner wants to go through.

Part of the horror is not really understanding what’s going on at first. You slowly see this sweet and gentle family dog turn into a deadly menace. Then we get Donna and Tad trapped inside their car with the crazed animal after them. They have to choose between trying to get away from the dog or suffering from the sweltering heat in their broken-down car.

The nightmare ending sticks out, and if you haven’t seen Cujo or read the book, I’m not going to spoil it here for you. There is a remake of the movie coming, but I don’t think it really needs it. Once is enough!

The Long Walk

The most recent King film adaptation is one that you don’t want to sleep on. The Long Walk is a dystopian horror, and sometimes, I think these are far scarier than monster horror movies.

The Long Walk is set in the 1970s, where every year, 50 boys need to take part in a competitive walking marathon, which is televised to the world. There’s a set pace, and each boy has to keep up. If they don’t, they’re killed. The winner gets a life filled with “his heart’s desire,” but considering the trauma of the event, is there really a “winner”?

This is one of those adaptations that will affect you mentally as you think about the situation. There’s a realness to it, which is why it suits fans of The Stand, and you’ll find yourself thinking about it for days or weeks afterward. If something sticks with you so much, it’s scary!

Carrie

Did you know that Carrie was King’s first published novel? It was also the first of his works adapted, and now look at how far he’s come! There have been a few iterations of Carrie over the decades, but the original is the scariest.

The bloody prom scene was everything in the book, and Brian De Palma captured it perfectly in the movie. We also can’t overlook Sissy Spacek’s performance, as she brought this teen girl to life. There’s also the mentality behind Carrie’s evolution, which still speaks volumes.

Yes, there are jump scares in this movie, but at the time of its release, it was one of the most influential to use this tactic. And it did it extremely well, leaving you wondering what was coming next. I am intrigued by what Mike Flanagan will do with his upcoming series, but I doubt it’s going to beat the first adaptation.

Misery

Kathy Bates may be known today as Madeline “Matty” Matlock in the hit CBS series and “The Unsinkable” Molly Brown in Titanic, but there is a role that stands out that really put her name on the map. It’s all about Misery, which shows just how dangerous fans can be. I do think it’s something that needs to be highlighted time and time again, as we continue to see obsessed fans become dangerous to celebrities.

The story follows James Caan as a bestselling author who ends up kidnapped by a deranged fan, Annie Wilkes. At first, Paul Sheldon believes that he’s in luck, as he suffers a serious car crash and is rescued by a former nurse. Things quickly take a turn when she learns that Paul has killed off her favorite character from his novels.

Rather than letting him go, she decides to hold him hostage to shape his writing. Paul needs to find a way to escape, but he also needs to survive the horror long enough to do so.

Pet Sematary

I remember watching this as a kid without my parents initially knowing, and it immediately set the tone for my interests. Of course, horror was going to be at the top of my list, and there are scenes from this movie that stick in my mind even today. Along with these scenes is the lesson that the dead should stay dead.

The 1989 adaptation of Pet Sematary is the strongest, but I did find a darkness to the change in the storyline in the 2019 version, as it even further explored the topic of death. However, for a horror movie, you often just want to be scared, and there’s no doubt that the 1989 version does that.

At first, the movie focuses on bringing a cat back to life, and that has its own horror in itself. However, it’s the loss of 2-year-old Gage and the desperate need to bring a child back from the dead that offers the real horror. Creepy children make for some nightmarish horror villains, but I think there’s another layer to it when you know a parent has led to this creation through grief.

It

I have one major fear, and it is clowns. I can thank Pennywise for that, and it’s all from seeing It at a young age. The 1990 miniseries remains one of the best King adaptations of all time, and there’s a reason there have been various adaptations since, including the most recent Welcome to Derry.

The story is creepy enough without even thinking of the potential real-life inspiration in the form of John Wayne Gacy. (Though King has not confirmed this connection, it’s hard to ignore the similarities.) The story follows a killer clown that lures children in and then returns almost three decades later to finish the job, terrorizing the now-adults who have just wanted to move on from their nightmare.

I still can’t watch anything with a killer clown, and I will never go to a kid’s birthday party with one.

The Shining

It’s funny that the one adaptation that King has famously disliked is the one that has become the stuff of nightmares for horror fans. The 1977 movie adaptation of The Shining brings several changes to the original novel, and it ends up making the story far scarier than any writing could do. Maybe we have to thank Jack Nicholson’s performance as Jack Torrance for that.

Look, the Overlook Hotel is scary enough. With the ghostly inhabitants and that river of blood, this is one of those movies that will stand the test of time. Then there’s the manic look in Jack’s eyes as he screams, “Here’s Johnny!” through the hole he has made in the door.

When The Shining first came out, it didn’t get the praise that it has now. As people think of the iconic scenes and the imagery used throughout, it’s one of those films that plays on the mind and makes you need to delve into the mastery more.

Which King adaptation still gives you nightmares?