Every Stephen King Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Charting the highs and lows of the King Cinematic Universe, from The Shawshank Redemption to Cujo.

By Aidan Whatman /

Over the years, the work of Stephen King - from the short stories to the bestselling novels - has been adapted for the screen so many times it can be easy to forget just how many movies and TV shows his imagination has given us. 

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Since his debut novel "Carrie" was published in 1974, King's work has dominated the world of big screen horror - with a handful of meaningful dramas and one dystopic sci-fi flick thrown in for good measure - spawning a wave of franchises, pop culture landmarks, and massive box office hits. 

But just how many of these films are any good? How many should we lock away forever? And how many brilliant ones passed the masses by?

With these questions in mind, from classic Kubrickian nightmares to tales of various haunted hotels, killer clowns, obsessed kidnappers and possessed cars, here are all 50 Stephen King movie adaptations ranked from worst to best. 

Note: For brevity's sake, this list will not include direct-to-DVD movies, television movies, original movies with no source material, or sequels. Only films based on Stephen King's work that received a theatrical release are ranked.

50. The Lawnmower Man (1992)

A film so bad that Stephen King sued to keep his name out of the title - and won a sum of money for "damages" when his name slipped into the DVD release - The Lawnmower Man is something you have to see to believe, but even then you're best steering clear unless you're a King movie completist. 

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With hilariously awful special effects and offensive portrayals of intellectual disability, The Lawnmower Man follows a scientist (Pierce Brosnan, for some reason) who accidentally turns a lonely gardener into a digital menace with superhuman powers. It's as wild as it sounds, but never more than a misfiring headscratcher. 

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