After a conversation I had today I wanted to put a list of some of my favorite movies based on Stephen King Novels out there to scare, inspire or entertain your kids who probably weren’t alive when they first came out! Fun Making the list!
Salem’s Lot
Author Ben Mears returns to ‘Salem’s Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead. Vampires in Maine what could be scarier than that?
Stand by Me
This film is a fantastic coming of age story about a group of four strange mismatched friends from junior high who try to track down a missing boy, presumed dead, by following some train tracks. Meanwhile they learn about each other and themselves, and end up all changing forever because of that several day journey. This is a very touching film with some sadness, and shows that Stephen King is not “just a horror writer.” This movie is based on the King novella “The Body.”
The Green Mile 
Some may argue that this is the best movie, and they may have a point, but the fact that there are enough great movies based on Stephen King works that a film this good (rated on the top 250 movies ever on IMDB) could arguably not be in the top five just shows that there are some gems out there. Not only is Tom Hanks great in this film, but this touching movie (a not heavily hidden allegory of the Jesus story) follows the film and is a fantastic watch that generally follows the books very carefully.
It
This three hour and change movie is a two part movie, with Pennywise the Clown perhaps one of the most disturbing horror villains in movie history. I personally point to him (and watching this movie at the age of ten) as explaining my life long fear/hatred of clowns. This movie is often judged as the first half being excellent and the second half mediocre, in part because of a changed ending. In fairness, the book’s ending would be next to impossible to fully convert into a movie format, but all in all, this movie is still a great view, and the first half is excellent. You might want to skip this one if you have a phobia of clowns.
Shawshank Redemption
This movie is one of only three from the IMDB website that has a rating of over 9.0 (out of 10), and is rated as the second best movie of all time on that website, and for very good reason. This amazing movie is based on the equally amazing novella about a banker who is wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and is sent to a sadistic prison where the guards and warden are both corrupt. The acting is incredible, the storyline is amazing, and everything about this movie works. Not only is this the best movie ever adapted from a Stephen King work, but many cinema fans agree that it was one of the better movies ever made.
Pet Cemetary-
This work was also one of Stephen King’s finest horror novels. There is a haunted pet cemetery, spelled cutely with an ‘S,’ where everything buried comes back from the dead, but comes back twisted and evil. This is a great film where the tragic loss of a child proves too much temptation, and what comes back is terrifying and evil beyond belief. The ending of this film is absolutely fantastic, and one of the best endings of a King movie.
Misery-
This was one of the best horror novels written by Stephen King, and the best movie based on a horror work. Annie Wilkes, the number one fan, is the worst nightmare of every celebrity, or every individual who has ever been stalked. An author gets in an accident, but is “rescued” by an obsessive fan, who ends up killing anyone who snoops around and creates the word “hobbling.” Anyone who saw the movie just winced at the mention of that word. Kathy Bates is exceptional as Annie Wilkes, and one of the most convincing movie psychopaths of all time.
Children of the Corn-
Children of the Corn was based on a short story by Stephen King (and all six of the terrible sequels were based on movie studios trying to stretch it for a cheap buck). “Outlander! Outlander! We have your woman!” This classic line and scene helps define the movie, where a child prophet has convinced every child to murder all the adults in town, as they worship “He who walks behind the rows.” Talk about the wrong town to break down in! This is a very solid horror flick, with some really genuinely creepy moments.
