Warning: Mentions Suicide.
Over the past few years, the king of horror, Stephen King, has given his stamp of approval to a few horror films and TV series. Gone are the days of King's harsh critiques, mostly reserved for the adaptations of his own work, as the horror author has been pretty kind toward other works of horror. For example, in 1980, King was adamant about how terrible he thought Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining was. King compared the film to a beautiful car with no engine and called Kubrick's version of The Shining's Wendy misogynistic. He hated the film so much that he readapted his book into a mini-series in 1997.
Luckily, King has been kinder to other filmmakers who have adapted his work. He was very supportive of Andy Muschietti's 2017 adaptation of IT and even praised the new adaptation of The Boogeyman. However, it isn't solely the movies based on his work that he praises. King has also been a big fan of some other recent horror works. In 2018, King called Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House "a work of genius." His praise continues as new horror films and TV shows premiere, and here are 10 recent works that King has adored.
10 Smile
Smile seemed like an odd concept where the main character was haunted by an entity possessing others, causing a horrific smile to spread across their face before taking their own life. However, the film was actually a metaphor for unhealed trauma. Despite having only a 77 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, King loved the movie and particularly enjoyed Sosie Bacon's performance as Rose.
9 Midnight Mass
The Netflix series Midnight Mass premiered in September 2021 and blew King away. The dark series follows Riley Flynn's return home after spending four years in prison, only to be met by Father Paul Hill attempting to revitalize the town's faith in religion while mysterious events occur, like the mauling of cats or one character's miscarriage. King called the series a "beautifully photographed terror tale."
Available To Stream On Netflix
8 X
Ti West's X took the world by storm in 2022 and played a crucial role in resurrecting horror films from the dead, bringing pop culture into a new horror renaissance that hasn't been seen since the 2000s. King was as enthusiastic about X as the many fans who spread blue eyeshadow over their eyes and dressed as Maxine Minx for Halloween. The author called West's film scary, smart, and entertaining.
Available To Stream On Apple TV
7 Malignant
The 2021 horror film Malignant is as gory and disturbing as any of King's works, which might be why he loved it so much. The film follows Madison Lake-Mitchell, who learns that her parasitic twin has been controlling her, causing her to murder and have strange visions. The plot is certainly strange, but the king of horror thought it was "brilliant."
Available To Stream On Netflix
6 From
From centers on a town where residents can not leave once they enter and are haunted by nocturnal creatures. The plot is pretty similar to the 2015 Matt Dillon and Juliette Lewis series Wayward Pines, which King was also a fan of. King praised From's concept, calling it "beautifully handled."
5 The Black Phone
The Black Phone follows a young boy named Finney, who has been kidnapped by a killer called The Grabber. Finney finds a phone that allows him to communicate with The Grabber's past victims so they can help Finney survive. King might be biased in his praise for the film as it was based on his son Joe Hill's short story of the same name. However, as his reaction to The Shining shows, he doesn't just love things because he or his family members inspired them. King loved the film adaptation and compared it to Stand By Me, based on his novella The Body, if it were set in Hell.
Available To Stream On HBO Max
4 Evil Dead Rise
King loved the fifth installment of the Evil Dead film series, Evil Dead Rise. The film follows the possession of two sisters, and it got King's stamp of approval due to its gruesome and bloody nature. If there's one thing King loves in a horror film, it's gore. King especially enjoyed the chainsaw scene.
3 The Rig
The Rig is more supernatural than some other horror series King has praised, but he still loved it as much as the others. The Amazon Prime series follows a group of workers at an oil rig preparing to return to the mainland when a mysterious fog takes over, preventing them from leaving. A scientist on board soon learns an ancient parasite is responsible for the infections occurring in the workers. King's response was pretty simple, stating he "liked it very much." Still, any praise from King is an honor.
Available To Buy/Rent On Amazon
2 Cabinet Of Curiosities
The Oscar-winning director Guillermo Del Toro doesn't need anyone's validation to know how talented he is. Still, it's nice to hear King is a fan of his work, and with Del Toro wanting to adapt Pet Semetary, a Del Toro and King collab isn't out of the question and would be an epic crossover for horror fans. Del Toro's Netflix series Cabinet of Curiosities premiered in October 2022, and King was a huge fan. The author called the anthology series "beautiful to look at" and recommended that everyone opens Del Toro's cabinet.
1 Terrifier 2
Damien Leone's slasher film Terrifier premiered in 2016 following a Pennywise-like villain named Art The Clown stalking three women and attempting to kill them on Halloween. Six years later, Leone premiered its sequel, bringing the clown back to life. This time it went after a teenage girl named Sienna Shaw and her younger brother Jonathan. The film has an audience score of 80% percent on Rotten Tomatoes, which is 28 percent higher than the audience score for the first film. King is one audience member who would agree with Terrifier 2's fairly high Rotten Tomato score.
The author tweeted about the slasher film upon release, and while he didn't say much, he suggested he enjoyed the film writing, "grossin' you out old-school." Apparently, King enjoyed the grotesque nature of Terrifier 2 and liked that it called back to older slasher films that weren't afraid to gross out their audience members with gory scenes. Stephen King may not like every horror movie, especially not Kubrick's The Shining, but he has enjoyed quite a few in recent years.