Stephen King has been inspiring nightmares since his first novel, Carrie, hit shelves in 1974. Since then, the indisputable “King of Horror” has become a household name, with dozens of his books getting film and television adaptations.
If you’re in the mood for one of King’s bone-chilling stories, check out his films streaming on Netflix right now.
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone
Released in October 2022, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is one of King’s more recent film adaptations. Based on a short story of the same title, the Netflix movie stars Jaeden Martell, Donald Sutherland, and Joe Tippett. Martell plays Craig, a teen who befriends a local billionaire (played by Sutherland) after being hired to do odd jobs around the house. When Craig wins some money from a scratch-off, he buys the latest iPhone for Mr. Harrigan and himself.
Unfortunately, Mr. Harrigan unexpectedly passes away, leaving Craig heartbroken. At the funeral, Craig slips his mentor’s new phone inside the coffin and later leaves a voicemail thanking him for the generous trust fund left in his name. He receives an odd text message from Mr. Harrigan’s phone the following day, which he chalks up to a technical error. The texts don’t stop, though, and Craig soon believes he’s communicating with the dead.
Secret Window
Johnny Depp stars in Secret Window, the 2004 adaptation of King’s novella of the same name published in Four Past Midnight. Depp plays Mort Rainey, a novelist experiencing writer’s block after catching his wife having an affair with his friend. While staying at his remote lakeside cabin in upstate New York, a stranger, played by John Turturro, knocks on his door.
The man accuses Mort of plagiarism, leaving behind a manuscript that appears to be nearly identical to the writer’s. As Mort tries to prove his innocence, he is harassed and threatened by the stranger. Things only worsen after hiring a private investigator to look into the man’s intentions, and Mort uncovers the disturbing truth about his stalker.
1922
Another adaptation of one of King’s novellas, Netflix released 1922 in 2017. The movie starred Thomas Jane as Nebraska farmer Wilfred “Wilf” Leland James. Wilf lived with his wife Arlette (played by Molly Parker) and teenage son Henry (played by Dylan Schmid). When Arlette doesn’t give up her plans to sell the farm and move the family to Omaha, Wilf forces his son to help him kill her by threatening his relationship with his girlfriend, Shannon.
Consumed by guilt, Henry becomes isolated. When Shannon becomes pregnant, the two decide to run away together to avoid her getting sent to a Catholic institution designed to conceal the child’s birth. Left by himself, Wilf begins to lose his mind and gets tormented by a pack of rats. Haunted by his decisions, he starts to see the ghost of his wife and others he has wronged.
Gerald’s Game
Netflix also released Gerald’s Game in 2017, based on King’s 1992 novel of the same name. The movie stars Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood as a married couple on a romantic getaway at an isolated lake house. Looking to things spice, Jessie and Gerald Burlingame introduce handcuffs into the bedroom, leading to a domino effect that results in Gerald’s death.
Still handcuffed to the bed, Jessie is stuck with her husband’s corpse while she struggles to escape. As the hours pass, she suffers from thirst and starts hallucinating. However, when she wakes up to find a disfigured man standing over her, she struggles over whether he’s real.
Stand by Me
Many people don’t know that the coming-of-age movie Stand by Me is based on a 1982 novella by King titled The Body. Coming to Netflix on Sept. 1, this 1986 cult classic stars Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, and Kiefer Sutherland. The movie follows four 12-year-old boys as they venture out to find a local missing boy.
After one of the boys overhears his older brother telling his friends that he found a body, they decide to try and find it themselves. Since the older brother won’t go to the police, as it would link him to a different crime, the kids become determined to be the ones to report the body’s location. Their journey takes them on various misadventures, all for the sake of becoming town heroes.
