- “It: Chapter Two” comes to theaters September 6 and it’s sure to be a blockbuster.
- Ahead of the movie’s release, we turned to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to determine the best Stephen King adaptations, based on critic scores.
- The list includes classics like “The Shining” and recent Netflix releases like “Gerald’s Game.”
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“It: Chapter Two” comes to theaters September 6 and it’s looking like a blockbuster already.
2017’s “It,” the first movie in this current series, broke the domestic opening-weekend record for a horror movie (before inflation) with $123 million, and the sequel could surpass that.
Ahead of the movie’s release, we turned to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to determine what the best Stephen King adaptations are, according to critics.Rotten Tomatoes ranks movies based on a weighted formula that accounts for the number of reviews a movie has received.
The list includes classics like “The Shining” and “The Shawshank Redemption” and recent Netflix releases such as “1922” and “Gerald’s Game.”
The list could faces some changes by the end of the year, though. Not only is “It: Chapter Two” around the corner, but “Doctor Sleep,” a sequel to “The Shining,” hits theaters in November.
Below are the 13 best Stephen King movie adaptations, ranked according to critics:
13. “1408” (2007)
Based on: King’s 1999 short story
Critic score: 79%
What critics said: “Things certainly go bump in the night in this slow-burning Stephen King adaptation. But 1408’s short story origins are very clear: think a long, if enjoyable, episode of The Twilight Zone.” —BBC
12. “The Green Mile” (1999)
Based on: King’s 1996 serial novel
Critic score: 79%
What critics said: “Much of the three-hour movie takes place in the prison, but the resonant characterization, expansive plotting, and judicious use of exterior locations and flashbacks turn the walls into windows.” —Chicago Reader
11. “Dolores Claiborne” (1995)
Based on: King’s 1992 novel
Critic score: 83%
What critics said: “The role of Dolores may be rough around the edges, but it’s a windfall for Ms. Bates, who does a walloping good job.” —New York Times
10. “It” (2017)
Based on: King’s 1986 novel
Critic score: 86%
What critics said: “This new It has more on its mind, and gives more body and voice to King’s ideas of childhood anxieties and the corrosive power of fear.” — Vulture
9. “The Shining” (1980)
Based on: King’s 1977 novel
Critic score: 85%
What critics said: “The Shining is a bonafide classic. By this point, almost every scene is so iconic, the experience of watching it — truly watching it — feels something like devouring a Greatest Hits collection.” — Birth.Movies.Death.
8. “1922” (2017)
Based on: King’s 2010 novella
Critic score: 89%
What critics said: “There’s an unshakable menace that lingers, a tale of guilt and regret that burrows its way under the skin.” —Guardian
7. “Salem’s Lot” (1979)
Based on: King’s 1975 novel
Critic score: 88%
What critics said: “It places the emphasis on [Tobe] Hooper’s fluid camerawork, creepy atmospherics, and skillful handling of the gripping climax.” —Time Out
6. “Misery” (1990)
Based on: King’s 1987 novel
Critic score: 90%
What critics said: “Bates turns Wilkes into the nastiest nurse to reach the screen since Louise Fletcher tormented Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” —Philadelphia Inquirer
5. “Gerald’s Game” (2017)
Based on: King’s 1992 novel
Critic score: 91%
What critics said: “Unsurprisingly, the film is [Mike Flanagan’s] most accomplished to date, the result of the years he’s spent giving a damn about his characters and their anguish. He’s so good at it, he even makes it look easy.” —Hollywood Reporter
4. “The Dead Zone” (1983)
Based on: King’s 1979 novel
Critic score: 90%
What critics said: “Director David Cronenberg’s sense of pace is acute, the editing by Ronald Sanders is seamless and suspenseful. And, if nothing else, the movie establishes that chills can be generated without explicit gore and violence.” —People Magazine
3. “Stand By Me” (1986)
Based on: King’s 1982 novella, “The Body”
Critic score: 91%
What critics said: “It stands, sweet and strong, ribald, outrageous and funny, like its heroes themselves — a bit gamy around the edges, perhaps, but pure and fine clear through. It’s one of those treasures absolutely not to be missed.” —The Los Angeles Times
2. “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994)
Based on: King’s 1982 novella
Critic score: 90%
What critics said: “This is an engagingly simple, good-hearted film, with just enough darkness around the edges to give contrast and relief to its glowingly benign view of human nature.” —New York Daily News
1. “Carrie” (1976)
Based on: King’s 1974 novel
Critic score: 94%
What critics said: “More superpowers from Brian De Palma, this time in high school, in a screen version of a Stephen King novel that’s become a horror classic.” —Wall Street Journal
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