10 Best Stephen King Movie Adaptations

3. The Shining

If this list were ranking King adaptations on faithfulness to the original text, then Stanley Kubrick's classic horror would be right at the bottom of the pile, and even though King has spoken at great length about not being too fond of the film, as a pure cinematic experience, it's virtually unrivaled in the genre.

Jack Nicholson gives an iconic performance as literally and figuratively haunted writer Jack Torrance, while as his wife and son respectively, Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd aren't much far behind.

Kubrick's chilly direction was a perfect match for King's core concept, no matter how much he diverged from the details, and it's packed with so much in every frame that fans are still figuring out quite what everything means, or might mean at least, almost 40 years later.