Stephen King is one of the most adapted authors, and there are close to 50 feature-length movies based on his novels and short stories. There have been King movies almost as long as there have been King books, with the adaptation of his debut novel, Carrie, arriving two years after its publication. Since then, there have been dozens of adaptations with of various levels of success. King's work makes for such compelling movies, even some that are not part of the horror genre, because they often share the trait of being centered on mostly normal people thrown into horrifying situations.

However, the quality varies a great deal. Some of King's movies stand the test of time as some of the best the horror genre has to offer. There have been Oscar-nominated movies and others that remain entrenched on the best horror movie lists for critics and fans alike. While King also had several TV series and miniseries based on his work, his theatrical releases have remained consistent since he started writing and optioning his work over four decades ago. When it comes to King movies, even the worst releases offer something for fans of the King of Horror.

55 Children Of The Corn (2020)

Book Published In 1977 (Night Shift)

The original Children of the Corn arrived in 1977 and spawned multiple sequels. While the original was not a masterpiece by any means, it still remains one of the most memorable King movies. However, the 2020 remake was put on the shelf after its initial screening and remained unreleased until 2023.

The reason for the delays was likely due to the disappointing finished project, which didn't live up to the King short story or even the original 1977 movie. Children of the Corn received negative critical reviews and was a box office bomb during its limited release before moving to Shudder. Out of all the movies from this franchise, this ranks among the weaker sequels and remains low-quality Stephen King.

54 Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Book Published In 1977 (Night Shift)

Maximum Overdrive is the only movie King directed himself. The film was based on the short story "Trucks" from the Night Shift collection, which shows a world where all machines become sentient and set out to destroy humanity. This includes a semi-truck with a Green Goblin mask on the front and a military-based platform truck with a machine gun.

There is some dark humor, and the movie has a cult following thanks to the actors involved, the iconic imagery (like the Goblin truck), and the ludicrous plotline, although King itted directing this movie wasn't his best moment (via Hollywood's Stephen King).

53 The Mangler​​​ (1995)

Book Published In 1977 (Night Shift)

Tobe Hooper previously directed the popular King miniseries Salem's Lot, but his next adaptation of the author's work was not as successful. Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street) stars as the owner of a laundry press who learns that one of his machines has come to life and started killing people.

Based on the short story of the same name from Night Shift, the movie picked up two direct-to-DVD sequels but mostly sits among the quality of made-for-video horror movies of the 1990s. Even when it was released during the rise of the video rental stores, it wasn't enough to justify more than one watch, and then it was mostly forgotten after that.

52 Dolan’s Cadillac (2009)

Book Published In 1993 (Nightmares & Dreamscapes)

Christian Slater stars as the title mobster in Dolan’s Cadillac, a serviceable but fairly unremarkable adaptation based on King’s short story where a man (Wes Bentley) takes creative revenge on the gangster (Slater) who murdered his wife. The movie was a direct-to-video release and received mostly negative reviews, as a basic revenge story that offers few thrills.

While the cast had the recognizable lead, this was a mostly forgotten Stephen King adaptation that didn't do anything original enough to warrant fans to anything about it, even though there were very few people who actually did see it when it was released.

51 Dreamcatcher (2003)

Book Published In 2001

Dreamcatcher has to be one of the most bizarre attempts at a blockbuster when it comes to King movies. With an all-star cast (Morgan Freeman, Timothy Olyphant, etc.), the movie tries to blend Stand By Me and The Big Chill with Aliens. The book remains one of the least appreciated of King's novels, and the movie was mostly panned upon its release.

It has a long runtime, clocking in at over two hours, its alien effects are disappointing, and it never carries the emotional weight many fans hoped for from the story of friends reuniting years after performing one especially heroic act. The biggest complaints go to the aliens themselves, which were mostly uninspired creations that brought ridicule from most King fans.

50 The Lawnmower Man (1992)

Book Published In 1977 (Night Shift)

The Lawnmower Man remains one of the most hated King movies among fans of the author's books. It has nothing in common with King’s original short story, and King himself successfully sued the studio to remove his name from the movie (via AFI). The short story is about a man hired to mow a family's lawn, and when he finishes, the family is traumatized and the father realizes he hired the wrong man for the job.

It is not King's story in any way, and is barely a good cyberpunk story in the early days of computers.

Instead of the horror story King, wrote, this was a science fiction movie with some very early CGI work, with both Jeff Fahey and Pierce Brosnan delivering good performances. However, the movie is mostly a mediocre cyberpunk take on Frankenstein. It is not King's story in any way, and is barely a good cyberpunk story in the early days of computers.

49 The Dark Tower (2017)

Book Published In 1982 (The Gunslinger)

King’s epic fantasy saga The Dark Tower took over two decades to have a film adaptation, only to receive something that had nothing to do with the popular fantasy book series. While Idris Elba was a great Roland and Matthew McConaughey an interesting Man In Black, fans mostly rebelled against the unfamiliar story. In the end, the movie fell flat and was a critical and commercial disappointment.

The movie itself played true to King's idea that the Dark Tower itself leads to many different worlds, and Roland's quest could continue. However, fans wanted a straight adaptation of the books and not a movie that plays in the same world as the Tower, so this was destined to fail thanks to it not understanding what the readers wanted to see on the big screen.

48 A Good Marriage (2014)

Book Published In 2010 (Full Dark, No Stars)

A Good Marriage is an interesting addition to the realm of Stephen King movies because King himself wrote the screenplay. The movie is based on the short story from Full Dark, No Stars, and stars Joan Allen and Anthony LaPaglia as Darcy and Bob Anderson, a married couple with two kids.

However, when Darcy realizes Bob might be a serial killer, she has to make a tough decision on what to do about it. Unlike many King movies, this isn't a horror movie, but the drama remains horrific nonetheless.

47 Cell (2016)

Book Published In 2006

King's novel Cell was originally supposed to receive a big-budget adaptation from director Eli Roth (Hostel) but it later received a very different version that reunited 1408 stars John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. With a script by King, the movie told the story of a society that became mindless killers thanks to a signal sent out via their cell phones. This was King's response to cellphone culture.

However, both his novel and the movie received negative reviews, and Cell was a massive box office failure, making only $1 million (via The Numbers), despite its high-profile cast. King's zombification of modern-day society fell on deaf ears and it didn't do enough to stand out as a great movie aside from King's name being attacked via the source material.

46 Sometimes They Come Back (1991)

Book Published In 1977 (Night Shift)

Based on the short story from the Stephen King short story collection Night Shift, the movie Sometimes They Come Back follows a teacher named Jim Norman (Tom Matheson) who returns to his hometown of Liberty, Missouri, to take a teaching job there with his wife, Sally, and son, Scott, moving there with him. However, as he teaches his class, he sees strange new students who start to show up in his class, students that he recognizes from many years before.

The movie was made-for-TV and aired on CBS in 1991. It featured Matheson (Animal House) and Brooke Adams (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) in the lead roles, but it was clearly a low-budget affair. The story was about ghostly spirits coming back to continue the bullying they committed years before, trying to take out the "one who got away." The movie received average reviews, mostly thanks to Matheson's performance, but it is a mostly forgotten King adaptation.