The 10 Most Rewatchable Stephen King Movies

There are dozens of Stephen King movies out in the world, with more arriving all the time. Some are massive hits, others under the radar success stories, and still others outright duds. The King of Horror's been publishing books for more than 50 years, and the result is a massive film library next to the one in print.

Among all of these films, there are several which prove so entertaining you can keep coming back to them again and again without ever getting tired of their frightening, and even heartwarming, moments. These are the movies that best capture the depth and density of King's novels, bringing them to the screen in a way that can surprise us even if we've read the books, and pack so much detail into frame that we just want to keep getting lost in these worlds.

So, from terrifying early successes to recent horror hits, these are the 10 most rewatchable Stephen King movies out there.

"Carrie" was the first major adaptation of Stephen King's work, and five decades later, it remains one of the best King movies ever made. Brian De Palma's acclaimed film tells the story of Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), a shy, awkward teenager from an ultra-religious household who develops increasingly powerful telekinetic abilities. While her mother (Piper Laurie) believes it's the work of the devil, Carrie's classmates (including John Travolta and Nancy Allen) decide to stage a horrific prank on her at their prom. When she's pushed to her limits, Carrie sets out for revenge.

So, what makes this film so rewatchable? Well, it probably starts with the cast, led by Spacek and highlighted by amazing performances from Laurie, Allen, and Amy Irving as Carrie's more sympathetic classmate, Sue Snell. Then there's De Palma's dynamic, thrilling direction, which takes the film from high school drama to operatic bloodbath without ever losing focus. It's just exciting to watch him piece it all together. But the biggest factor in Carrie's appeal for rewatching? It's still, after all this time, one of King's most relatable stories. Everyone remembers when they felt out of place as a teenager, and everyone can simultaneously relate to and be horrified by Carrie's rampage. It still feels universal, and universally appealing.

Though Stephen King himself has famously and repeatedly expressed his displeasure with director Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of his third novel, the impact of "The Shining" is undeniable. Of all the films based on King's work, it seems to cast the longest shadow, and its fans remain fascinated by its atmosphere, scares, and details.

Like the novel on which it's based, Kubrick's film tells the story of the Torrance family, including father Jack (Jack Nicholson), mother Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and son Danny (Danny Lloyd). After a rough patch driven by Jack's alcoholism, the family moves into the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado mountains to serve as caretakers while it's closed down for the winter. But when strange things start to happen, Danny's innate psychic abilities and Jack's looming madness unleash something terrifying within the hotel's snowbound walls.

"The Shining" is rewatchable for many reasons, beginning with its phenomenal grasp of tone. Through gliding cameras, carefully chosen music, and the sheer scale of the Overlook itself, Kubrick creates a mood of simmering dread that never goes away, and populates that mood with unforgettable faces and moments. The performances are incredible, the scares are unforgettable, and it's a phenomenal work of horror. But that's not all. Over the years, "The Shining" fans have analyzed every frame, developing critical and conspiracy theories about the film that change everything, so much so that an entire documentary, "Room 237," emerged from their ideas. It's one of those movies that lets you get lost in every single frame.

One of Stephen King's first ventures directly into feature film territory (rather than adaptation) was "Creepshow," a team-up with legendary "Night of the Living Dead" director George A. Romero. Inspired by the horror comics of his youth and the blend of horror and macabre comedy that often came through in his own writing, King set out to recapture some of that madcap comic book energy on film, and with Romero's help, he pulled it off.

Featuring an all-star cast that includes Leslie Nielsen, Adrienne Barbeau, Ted Danson, and even King himself, "Creepshow" features five main stories and one frame story, complete with animated interludes, to make up one endlessly rewatchable horror anthology. Some of the stories are funny, some are terrifying, some are just plain weird, but they all create the feeling that you're watching a horror comic book unfurl in real life. What makes it so rewatchable? Well, apart from the cast of legends and the super quotable lines, it's really a horror movie that has something for everyone, and your favorite segment in the film might change every single time you see it.

The first of two Stephen King adaptations spearheaded by director Rob Reiner, "Stand by Me" was for many moviegoers the first introduction to King's softer side. Though he's primarily a horror writer, King has often delivered emotional dramas on the page, and Reiner's adaptation of his story "The Body" cemented it as one of the best coming-of-age dramas of its era.

Set in the late 1950s, the film follows a group of friends (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell) as they set out into the woods in search of a dead body they heard was still lying somewhere out there. Along the way, they encounter bullies, dangerous train tracks, the horrors of nature, and more, all as they bond together for life and learn lessons they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives.

"Stand By Me" belongs in a select collection of warmer, fuzzier Stephen King movies, which makes it an automatic comfort watch for many fans, especially those who grew up with the film and its young cast as many of them dominated film and TV in the 1980s and 1990s. It remains one of the best King stories ever committed to film, and on top of everything else, it's endlessly quotable.

Stephen King's sole feature film as a director, "Maximum Overdrive" has long been immortalized as one of the worst movies of the 1980s. There's a reason King never returned to directing movies after making it, but over time, the film's over-the-top tone and wild premise have made it a cult classic, and a very rewatchable midnight movie.

Set in and around a truck stop in the middle of nowhere, the film explores what happens when machines, particularly cars and trucks, become self-aware and turn against their masters. Trapped in the truck stop and surrounded by killer tractor trailers, a band of survivors led by a scrappy short order cook (Emilio Estevez) will do whatever it takes to survive.

King's directing certainly betrays a lot of amateurish tendencies. The film's not particularly polished, the dialogue is often stilted, and the film's premise of rebellious machines has a few holes in it here and there. But beyond all of that, "Maximum Overdrive" is quite simply a very entertaining, very weird action-horror movie with a lot of memorable moments. It's grown beyond its so bad it's good reputation to become something beloved among King completists, and when you rewatch it, it's easy to see why.

There's major talent involved in every film on this list, but there has perhaps never been a greater assemblage of talent in one Stephen King movie than there was in "Misery." The second King adaptation from director Rob Reiner, the film was written by the great William Goldman ("The Princess Bride," "Marathon Man"), and stars two actors at the top of their game in a first-rate thriller.

"Misery" is about Paul Sheldon (James Caan), a writer who's just killed off his beloved romance character in a bid to move on with his career. But when a car accident leaves him near death, Paul awakes not in a hospital, but in a lonely cabin where his biggest fan, nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), pledges to take great care of him. But Annie's not just any fan. She's furious at Paul for killing off her favorite character, and if he's going to survive, he'll have to write the story Annie wants, whether he likes it or not.

Any discussion of the best Stephen King movies of all time has to include "Misery." Bates won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Annie, and her chemistry with Caan is simply off the charts. Most of the film is about two people trapped together, with one of them trying to simply escape with his life, and the tension is so thick it's all-consuming. It's one of those films you can get lost in, no matter how intimately you know the ending.

This list is not ranked by rewatchability, but if it was, there's a good chance "The Shawshank Redemption" would be right at the top. Adapted by Frank Darabont from Stephen King's novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption," it's a remarkable drama with a warm, uplifting tone, and that's earned it no shortage of fans over the years.

"Shawshank" is named for the prison where the story takes place. Narrated by longtime inmate Red (Morgan Freeman), the film follows Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a new inmate at Shawshank who professes his innocence in the murder of his wife, but does his best to maintain hope throughout his prison ordeal. As Andy and Red become friends, the film settles into an ensemble story about a group of men simply trying to survive as their humanity is choked out by their jailers, and carefully tracks Andy as he plans to win back his freedom at any cost.

The film's cast, which also includes Clancy Brown, William Salder, and Bob Gunton, forms a terrific ensemble of unforgettable characters that you just simply want to spend more time with, which automatically puts the film in rewatch territory. More importantly, though, it's a film about never giving up hope, no matter the consequences and no matter how long it takes to see that hope through. That makes it a vibrant, timeless film, and one that you'll want to go back to again and again.

Frank Darabont's "The Mist," adapting Stephen King's novella of the same name, is everything "Shawshank" is not. Though they're both about people trapped in one place — a prison in one story, a supermarket in another — "The Mist" is as dark and menacing as "Shawshank" is bright and uplifting, but it's no less rewatchable.

"The Mist" is set in a small Maine town where, in the wake of a massive storm, a strange mist settles over the community. Artist David Drayton (Thomas Jane) is in the supermarket with his son when the mist reaches them, and all of the shoppers quickly realize that they can't simply leave. Because the mist is more than just dark, vaporous clouds across the parking lot. It's full of monsters, and what starts as an inconvenience becomes an all-out battle for survival.

While it's not exactly a happy watch, "The Mist" works because of its massive ensemble, which also includes Marcia Gay Harden, Andre Braugher, and Toby Jones. Each member of this band of supermarket survivors has their own ideas, their own fears, their own limits, and it's thrilling to watch the dynamic between them and find something new each time. Plus, if you're a fan of really effective horror setpieces, this movie has them in spades, right up to the infamous ending.

While the 1990 miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's epic "It" might still leave most children traumatized, director Andy Muschietti's two-part film adaptation has garnered more than its share of fans so far in its lifespan. There are a lot of reasons for that, and a key one is just how epic the two films feel.

Like King's novel, the story follows a group of friends in the self-named "Losers Club" as they battle with an ancient, shapeshifting entity they recognize as a clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård). The story covers two parts of the struggle, nearly 30 years apart. In King's novel, the two eras are the 1950s and the 1980s. In Muschietti's films, they're the 1980s and the 2010s.

What makes them so rewatchable? Well, the 1980s nostalgia of the first film doesn't hurt, and neither does Skarsgård, who became a full-blown pop culture icon as Pennywise. Throw in the wider all-star cast which includes Finn Wolfhard, Bill Hader, James McAvoy, and Jessica Chastain, and it's easy to keep coming back. More than all of that, though, this is a King adaptation that feels as packed with detail as the source material, and that makes it ripe for constant re-examination.

Osgood Perkins' film adaptation of Stephen King's short story of the same name is a loose one, to say the least. Both stories are about a cursed toy monkey terrorizing a family, but King's version is dark, emotional, and brimming with dread. Perkins' film honors a lot of that, but adds the remarkable contrast of humor and over-the-top gore, making for a very fun time at the movies.

In the film version, the monkey torments twin brothers Hal and Bill (Theo James), who first discovered it as children, then disposed of it after a string of accidental, graphic deaths. In the present day, the brothers are estranged, until Hal gets a call from Bill, telling him the monkey's out there again, and this time it wants to finish with them.

In both past and present parts of the story, Perkins infuses everything with a surreal, madcap humor, staging the death scenes as elaborate Rube Goldberg devices with the glee of a child opening a toybox. He even makes an appearance as an actor in the film, adding to the humor. The film's tone is simply a delight, and its emphasis on wild death scenes makes it a great film to watch with horror-loving friends.