The Amazon Prime Shows And Movies Stephen King Loved In 2020
Even the master of horror isn't immune to the quarantine stream. Throughout 2020, Stephen King has been tweeting about the Amazon Prime shows and movies that he's been watching while holed up at home. And it turns out, the prolific author has found lots to love about some of the streamer's most underrated offerings.
At this point, Amazon Prime is best known for a high-profile blend of genre hits and awards darlings, including The Boys, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Fleabag. The platform's offerings don't end there, though, as King has been pointing out to his Twitter followers. From a severely underrated Italian import to a horror movie that's now received the coveted King seal of approval, the author has recommended three series and one film to his fans.
Ready to stream like King? Read on for the author's top picks from Amazon Prime's vast library.
King praised Hanna season 2 as "excellent"
Based on director Joe Wright's 2011 film, Hanna stars Esme Creed-Miles as a young woman raised off the grid by her surrogate father, Erik (Joel Kinnaman), to avoid detection by the CIA. Hanna's birth mother was part of a top secret government project designed to create super soldiers, and after her death, the young girl has only Erik to teach her about survival. The first season follows Hanna as she leaves behind her sheltered life in the woods and is forced to go on the run to avoid CIA operative Marissa Wiegler (Mireille Enos), who is determined to bring her in.
The second season ramps up the action as Hanna takes in another girl like herself, and embarks on a journey to bring down the program that turned her into a soldier against her will. Fans who enjoyed the first season of Hanna have only gotten more enthusiastic as the series goes on, and one of those fans is Stephen King. The author wrote, "Season 1 of HANNA was very good. Season 2 is excellent. A few (very few) plot holes, but the story roars right through them."
Clearly, the author isn't the only one who can't get enough of this show. In July 2020, Amazon announced that Hanna will return for a third season.
The Titus Welliver series Bosch received high praise from King
Bosch is one of Amazon Prime's longest running series. The crime drama starring Titus Welliver was actually part of the streamer's original strategy of letting viewers decide which pilots would go to series. Clearly, in the case of Bosch, the process worked — the beleaguered Los Angeles Police detective is still solving crimes seven seasons later.
In May 2020, King served up high praise for the series, tweeting, "There's nothing better than BOSCH (Amazon Prime). The story is engrossing, the cast—led my [sic] Titus Welliver—is superb, and nobody is phoning it in. One of the best shows now on TV." Based on a series of books by Michael Connelly, the show follows Harry Bosch as he investigates a series of disturbing cases, including a potential serial killer, the death of a Hollywood producer, and the murder of a close family member.
In February 2020, Deadline reported that the series had been renewed for a seventh and final season, which gives viewers plenty of time to catch up on every dark and twisty case Bosch has solved in the meantime.
Underrated drama ZeroZeroZero grabbed King's attention right from the start
Released in February 2020, ZeroZeroZero didn't garner much buzz, but the Italian crime drama certainly caught the attention of Stephen King. The intense series tracks a shipment of cocaine from Monterrey, Mexico to Gioia Tauro, Italy, while also exploring the lives of the smugglers, the buyer, and the family in charge of the shipment company making sure the drugs arrive at their final destination. Despite not making much of an impression on American audiences, the author hailed the project as "epic."
"ZERO ZERO ZERO (Amazon): Hard to believe I will see anything this year that's better than this. Bone-shaking, chilling, terrifying, epic. Dane DeHaan and Andrea Riseborough are incandescent," King tweeted. The show currently holds an impressive 89 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, suggesting that those who did tune into this import found lots to love about it.
Dave Franco's horror movie The Rental impressed horror maestro King
No one does horror like King, so when he endorses a scary movie, it's a big deal. In August 2020, he gave Dave Franco's creepy The Rental a big thumbs up. The author tweeted, "I liked Dave Franco's THE RENTAL (Amazon Prime) very much. We've seen this horror trope before, what Joe Bob Briggs once called 'Spam in a cabin,' but this features an actual plot, drawn wire-tight. Has a John D. MacDonald feel."
MacDonald is an acclaimed thriller writer known for ratcheting up the tension in novels like Cape Fear (also published under the title The Executioners) and The Last One Left. Franco didn't respond to King's tweet, but that can only be because he's awestruck by not only having his cabin-in-the-woods scary movie praised by King, but also compared to the works of one of the 20th century's most influential thriller writers.
While it's best to go into The Rental knowing as little as possible, curious viewers should be aware the movie stars Alison Brie and Dan Stevens as a couple who suspect that they and their friends are being spied on by the owner of their idyllic vacation rental. As King teased, it's a wild ride with a taut plot that will keep you guessing until the end.
Now that you've been armed with King's recommendations, there should be no doubt about what you should stream on Amazon Video next.