The Supernatural Horror Movie Stephen King Called the Best of All Time Is Officially Streaming for Free

Published Nov 11, 2026, 11:59 PM EST

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Iconic author Stephen King has no shortage of opinions on pretty much anything, some more controversial than others. But it's his opinions on pop culture — television shows, movies, books, and so on — that tend to have more weight, even if they don't always jibe with popular opinion. Still, when Stephen King speaks on such topics, it’s best to take heed. And one great resource for his top picks is a 2017 interview with BFI, where King listed off his ten favorite films. One entry on that list earned King's praise as the best supernatural horror of all time, and it's available now to stream, for free, on Tubi: 1980's The Changeling.

As King said in the interview: "For supernatural horror, I like Peter Medak’s film The Changeling, starring George C. Scott in perhaps his last great screen role. There are no monsters bursting from chests; just a child’s ball bouncing down a flight of stairs was enough to scare the daylights out of me."

A Vengeful Spirit Seeks Justice in 'The Changeling'

Image via Pan-Canadian Film Distributors

Widowed composer John Russell (Scott) finds himself in Seattle, after a cross-country move designed to put distance between himself and New York, where he witnessed his wife and daughter get struck and killed by an oncoming semi. He rents an old mansion from Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere), agent of a local historical society. The house has been vacant for twelve years, she assures him, only that may not be entirely true. Shortly after moving in, John becomes subject to strange occurrences: loud banging; water taps turned on; a shattering window that reveals the existence of a hidden attic; and the discovery of a music box that plays the same tune he played on the piano the night before. Most disturbingly, he sees the visage of a drowned boy in a bathtub.

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Horror/Quizzes/Survival Odds

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Survival TestSP · Do Not Rewind

Collider QuizWhich Horror Villain
Could You Survive?8 Questions · 5 VillainsFive villains. Five completely different ways this ends badly if you are not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.The Lineup

Jason Voorhees

Michael Myers

Freddy Krueger

Pennywise

Chucky

Test Your Survival

SP 00:02:14Tape 01 / 08

Question 01INSTINCT

01Something feels wrong. You can't explain it, you just know. What do you do?First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act exit.

ALeave immediately. I don't need to understand a threat to respect it.BStay quiet and observe. If I can see it, I can understand it. If I can understand it, I can avoid it.CStay awake. Whatever this is, I am not going to sleep until I feel safe again.DConfront it directly. Fear grows in the dark, and I'd rather know what I'm dealing with.ECheck everything, trust nothing. The threat might be closer than I think, and smaller.

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Next Question

SP 00:07:41Tape 02 / 08

Question 02ENVIRONMENT

02Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong?Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.

ASomewhere remote: a cabin, a campsite, off the grid and away from people.BA quiet suburban neighborhood where nothing ever happens. Except tonight.CIn my own head, the most dangerous place of all, depending on what's already in there.DWherever children are, because something about this place attracts the worst things.ESomewhere ordinary: a house, a toy store, a place where the last thing you'd expect is a threat.

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Next Question

SP 00:13:09Tape 03 / 08

Question 03STRENGTH

03What is your most reliable survival asset?Every survivor has a quality the villain didn't account for. What's yours?

APhysical fitness. I can run, I can swim, I can outlast something that relies on brute persistence.BSpatial awareness. I always know the exits, the hiding spots, the fastest route out.CPsychological resilience. I've faced my worst fears before. They don't have the same power over me.DEmotional steadiness. I don't panic. Panic is what gets you caught.ESkepticism. I don't underestimate threats because of how they look. Size is irrelevant.

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Next Question

SP 00:19:52Tape 04 / 08

Question 04FEAR

04What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through?Knowing your weakness is the first step to not being undone by it.

AThe unstoppable. Something that will not stop, cannot be reasoned with, and is always getting closer.BThe invisible. A threat I can feel but can't locate, watching from somewhere I can't see.CThe psychological. Something that uses my own mind and memories against me.DThe unknowable. Something ancient and shapeless that feeds on the fear itself.EThe mundane. A threat so ordinary-looking that no one will believe me until it's too late.

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Next Question

SP 00:26:30Tape 05 / 08

Question 05GROUP

05You're with a group when things start going wrong. What's your role?Horror movies are unsentimental about who survives group situations and who doesn't.

AThe one who says "we need to leave" first, and means it, even when no one listens.BThe one who stays quiet, watches the others, and figures out the pattern before anyone else does.CThe one who holds the group together when panic sets in, because someone has to.DThe one who asks the questions nobody wants to ask, because ignoring them never ends well.EThe one who takes the threat seriously when everyone else is laughing it off.

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Next Question

SP 00:34:08Tape 06 / 08

Question 06MISTAKE

06What's the horror movie mistake you're most likely to make?Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.

AGoing back for someone. I know I shouldn't, but I can't leave them behind.BAssuming I'm safe once I've found a hiding spot. That's when it finds me.CFalling asleep when I absolutely cannot afford to. Exhaustion is its own enemy.DLetting my curiosity override my instincts. I always need to understand what I'm dealing with.EDismissing the threat because of how it looks. That's exactly what it wants.

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Next Question

SP 00:41:37Tape 07 / 08

Question 07ADVANTAGE

07What's your best defense against something that can't be stopped by conventional means?Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.

AThe environment itself. I use the terrain, the water, the geography against it.BPatience. I wait, I watch, and I move at the one moment it doesn't expect.CLucidity. If I can stay in control of my own mind, it loses its biggest advantage.DCourage. Facing it directly, refusing to run, taking away the fear it feeds on.EImprovisation. I use whatever's at hand, however unconventional. Creativity over brute force.

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Next Question

SP 00:49:55Tape 08 / 08

Question 08FINAL SCENE

08It's the final scene. You're the last one standing. How did you make it?The final survivor always has a reason. What's yours?

AI kept moving. I never stopped, never hid for too long, never let it corner me.BI figured out the pattern before anyone else did, and I used it against the thing following it.CI stayed awake, stayed lucid, and refused to give it the one thing it needed most.DI stopped being afraid of it. And the moment I did, everything changed.EI took it seriously from the start, and I never once made the mistake of underestimating it.

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Reveal My Villain

Survival Odds CalculatedYour Best Chance Is Against

Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you have a real fighting chance against. Everyone else: good luck.

Friday the 13thJason VoorheesCamp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th, 1980Relentless, but he never once changes the plan.

Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable, and that is the gap you would exploit.Why You Last Longer

• He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn't strategize, doesn't adapt, doesn't outsmart. He simply pursues.
• Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most people gives you a genuine edge.
• The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
• You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.

From The Collider File

• Crystal Lake, the Peacock prequel series, dropped all eight episodes on October 15, 2026.
• It ended a 17-year gap, the longest the franchise has ever gone without a new entry.

Keeps MovingReads TerrainCrystal Lake

HalloweenMichael MyersHaddonfield, Illinois · Halloween, 1978He is already in the frame. You just have to look.

Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect, until it's too late for anyone who isn't paying close enough attention.Why You Last Longer

• But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
• Michael's power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia, the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
• Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
• You are not a target waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong, and acts on it.

From The Collider File

• John Carpenter is producing a new Halloween film with Blumhouse and Miramax.
• The 1978 mask was a store-bought Captain Kirk mask, widened at the eyes and painted white.

Checks ExitsNotices FirstHaddonfield

A Nightmare on Elm StreetFreddy KruegerElm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984He needs you rattled. You are hard to rattle.

Freddy wins by getting inside your head, using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilized.Why You Last Longer

• You are harder to destabilize than most. You've faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven't looked away.
• The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
• Freddy's greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
• Your psychological resilience, the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable, is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.

From The Collider File

• Paramount set a new A Nightmare on Elm Street in motion in July 2026, with the Wes Craven estate involved.
• Craven built the original on newspaper reports of people so afraid of their own nightmares that they refused to fall asleep.

Stays LucidFaces ItElm Street

ItPennywiseDerry, Maine · It, 1990It eats fear. You are not serving any.

Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on fear, but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who truly stops being afraid of it.Why You Last Longer

• The Losers Club didn't survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
• You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
• That directness, the refusal to let fear fester in the dark, is Pennywise's worst nightmare.
• It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.

From The Collider File

• HBO renewed It: Welcome to Derry for a second season, with Bill Skarsgard back under the makeup.
• The showrunners have said season two reaches further back, to younger versions of the first season's characters.

Asks Out LoudUnrattledDerry

Child's PlayChuckyChicago · Child's Play, 1988Everybody laughs. You are not laughing.

Chucky's greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it's already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it really is.Why You Last Longer

• You don't have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present, and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
• Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
• Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate skepticism, rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd, is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
• Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.

From The Collider File

• Don Mancini is writing the next Chucky film and plans to direct it himself, aimed back at the scarier end.
• Brad Dourif has voiced the doll since 1988 and has said he has no plans to stop.

Takes It SeriouslyFast ResponseChicago

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John and Claire do a search on the mansion's history, and chalk up the disturbances to the spirit of a young girl, who died on the grounds in 1909. He brings in a husband-and-wife team of mediums to hold a seance, which is recorded on audio tape. The seance is eventful, to say the least, but over the course of it, they find out who the spirit is: not a girl, but Joseph Carmichael. Who is Joseph Carmichael? John uncovers a horrible truth: Joseph was a crippled, sickly six-year-old, murdered in 1906 by his father. Joseph — and his father, by extension — would inherit an enormous fortune upon turning 21, an age he was unlikely to reach. So, in order to gain the inheritance, he replaced Joseph with a local orphan – the "changeling" – and claimed that his maladies had been cured by an extended stay in Europe.

Now determined to bring peace to Joseph, John digs deeper. Literally, by digging a hole on property once owned by the Carmichael family, where he uncovers the skeleton of Joseph, along with an incriminating christening medal buried along with him. John confronts "Joseph Carmichael," now a U.S. Senator, with the revelation, only for the senator, caught off guard by seeing the medal (identical to the one his adoptive father gave him), to send Police Captain DeWitt (John Colicos) to John's home. DeWitt attempts to intimidate John into relinquishing the medal, but is forced to leave and obtain a search warrant after John refuses to let him in. Only DeWitt never makes it back, with his vehicle mysteriously overturning en route, killing him. It's clear that Joseph won't give up until he gets justice... but can John find it for him?

Stephen King Is Right, and Wrong, About 'The Changeling'

Stephen King is right, and wrong, about The Changeling. It is an unconventional, excellent, and gripping supernatural horror, but it also stands as a brilliant, detective-style thriller, with an emotional depth that is a rarity in either.

As a horror, the film makes use of its eerie, secluded mansion setting, where the disturbances seem almost expected. It's largely devoid of jump scares and gore, instead building the horror through unsettling moments and clever camera angles — though the red rubber ball falling down the stairs, landing at John's feet, or the old, dusty wheelchair that comes to life and chases Claire down the stairs are two of the more prominent examples of the former.

And, in a beautiful, yet disquieting sequence, the camera shifts to the point of view of Joseph, looking down on the seance from above and coming down to make his presence known, a perfect example of the creative eye of director Peter Medak. As a thriller, John and Claire's work in uncovering the hidden secrets linked to Joseph's death is engaging, a true mystery with an unexpected twist.

But it's that emotional depth that sets The Changeling apart. John has no attachment to the mansion. He's leasing it, and no one would blame him for packing his bags and leaving; it's even implied that many before him have done the same. Only he's still grieving the loss of his wife and daughter, so he recognizes something in Joseph's actions, a plea for help, and finds a kindred spirit – no pun intended – whose agony over his untimely death melds with John's grief. Ultimately, Joseph finds the justice he was looking for; and in bringing justice to him, John, in one of Scott's best performances, finds a reason to live. It's that justice, though, that leads to a bigger question: should Senator Carmichael, who knew nothing of the elder Carmichael's machinations, have to pay for the father's sins? The fact that (SPOILER) he ultimately does might just be the most horrifying thing about The Changeling. That, and the possibility that it's based on a true story.