Every Stephen King Movie On Prime Video, Ranked

Published Oct 31, 2026, 11:20 AM EDT

Sky Blanton is a Movie Contributor at ScreenRant with professional experience covering movies, television, and pop culture. Her published work spans news, interviews, features, and opinion pieces, with a focus on film, franchise storytelling, and the entertainment industry.

She earned her bachelor's degree in Communications with a concentration in Professional Writing and a minor in Business Writing from Southern New Hampshire University.

Stephen King has made readers afraid of clowns, dogs, hotel rooms, and whatever might be waiting in the basement. Some of his scariest characters are ordinary people, though. A cruel parent or a neighbor with something to hide can be enough. Across his novels and short stories, he’s written about addiction, childhood friendships, grief, and people trying to survive a terrible decision (via Simon & Schuster). Readers also know to expect trouble whenever a story takes them back to Castle Rock or Derry, the Maine towns where he’s set some of his best-known books.

That gives filmmakers plenty to work with, though having King’s name attached certainly doesn’t guarantee a good movie. Some adaptations find room for the people beneath the scares; others seem more interested in getting to the next death. There are also films that change huge parts of his stories and work anyway, alongside faithful adaptations that are much less enjoyable than the books. Prime Video has enough of both that it helps to know which ones are worth your time.

9 Cell (2016)

John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson facing a zombie apocalypse together is a good enough reason to give Cell a look. Cusack plays Clay, a father searching for his son after a cellphone signal turns its users into violent attackers.

A chef chasing Clay through the airport with a knife is a pretty good start. Later, the survivors find a field full of sleeping infected people and decide to burn them with a fuel truck. Those nasty scenes are the main reason to watch, along with Cusack and Jackson working together again. It’s an uneven movie, but King fans may enjoy seeing just how ugly his cellphone apocalypse gets.

8 Maxiumum Overdrive (1986)

Maximum Overdrive has a killer vending machine, an AC/DC soundtrack, and Emilio Estevez trapped at a truck stop by murderous trucks. It’s Stephen King’s only film as director, based on his short story “Trucks,” with plenty of wrecked cars and people getting run over.

The soda machine scene is hilarious, and the Green Goblin truck is a great horror villain. King lets the attacks get bloody without losing the joke of people being murdered by their own machines. A few stiff lines are easy to forgive when the killer trucks are this much fun.

7 Children Of The Corn (1984)

Children of the Corn sends Linda Hamilton and Peter Horton into a Nebraska town where the children have murdered the adults. John Franklin plays Isaac, the child preacher ordering the killings in the name of a deity called “He Who Walks Behind the Rows.”

Courtney Gains shouting “Outlander! We have your woman!” is a stand out moment. As Malachai, he’s so pleased with his authority that even Isaac eventually ends up on the sacrificial cross. Franklin’s shrill threats and Gains’s bullying are much more entertaining than the dated effects used for their cornfield god. These two are absolutely the reason to revisit the original.

6 Carrie (2013)

Julianne Moore nearly steals Carrie from Chloë Grace Moretz. She plays Margaret White, who punishes her daughter for getting her period and objects to a prom dress as though Carrie has announced plans to rob a bank. Watching Carrie use her telekinesis to shut her mother in the prayer closet is a relief.

Moretz and Ansel Elgort are charming together at prom, especially when Tommy gets Carrie to relax and dance with him. It’s enough to make you wish the movie could end there. You know what’s coming and still want Carrie to enjoy herself.

5 Creepshow 2 (1987)

Creepshow 2 tells three horror stories, with George A. Romero adapting Stephen King’s work for the screenplay. The best is “The Raft,” about four friends trapped on a swimming platform by a flesh-eating oil slick. The shore is close enough to see, but getting there means entering the water. Then someone gets pulled through the boards.

“The Hitchhiker” follows a hit-and-run driver whose victim keeps returning, however many times she runs him over. It’s funnier, especially his repeated thanks for the ride, but “The Raft” is the one that makes this uneven anthology absolutely worth watching.

4 The Running Man (2025)

Glen Powell is angrier and scruffier than usual in The Running Man, and it suits him. He plays Ben Richards, who enters a televised manhunt to pay for his sick daughter’s treatment. Surviving means evading professional killers and ordinary viewers willing to report him for a reward.

Josh Brolin is fun to hate as the executive who recruits Ben, while Colman Domingo looks delighted to be hosting the bloodshed. Powell gets to be furious with both of them, and his refusal to play the grateful contestant is worth cheering for. The chases are exciting, but watching Ben insult the people running the show is one of the best parts.

3 The Dark Half (1993)

Timothy Hutton gets to play a mild-mannered novelist and the murderous brute he invented in The Dark Half. Thad Beaumont writes violent thrillers as George Stark, then stages a funeral for the pen name when his secret comes out. Stark objects by becoming real and killing people.

Hutton’s gravelly voice and heavy walk make Stark seem like a different actor, especially once his skin starts rotting. He’s a terrific villain for Romero, who lets him get uglier with every appearance. The sparrows tearing into him in the finale are disgusting, but in the best way. That’s worth remembering whenever Romero gets discussed solely as a zombie-leaning director.

2 The Mist (2007)

The Mist traps Thomas Jane and his son in a supermarket while enormous creatures prowl outside. Staying indoors seems sensible until Marcia Gay Harden’s Mrs. Carmody starts convincing the shoppers that God wants a sacrifice.

Harden is so infuriating that a giant tentacle reaching under the loading door almost feels like the easier problem. Frank Darabont gets plenty of horror out of people arguing over what to do, especially once Carmody gains followers. The ending is devastating, and best left unspoiled. Few King adaptations give you so much to argue about after the credits.

1 Carrie (1976)

The original 1976 adaptation of Carrie takes first place because none of the later versions quite match Sissy Spacek. She seems almost afraid to believe Tommy wants to take her to prom, which makes watching her finally enjoy herself, again, extremely heartbreaking. You know what’s coming, but you still want her to have this one good night.

Piper Laurie is just as good as Margaret, whose certainty that she’s protecting Carrie makes her religious threats frightening. Both earned Oscar nominations. The remakes have their moments, but Spacek’s face after the blood falls is still the image they’re competing with. Brian De Palma makes the prom massacre one of the most upsetting scenes in any Stephen King adaptation by letting Carrie enjoy herself first.