Random Films Stephen King Has Awarded His Personal Stamp Of Approval (27 items)

(#3) It
- Jaeden Martell, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hamilton, Jake Sim, Logan Thompson, Owen Teague, Jackson Robert Scott, Stephen Bogaert, Stuart Hughes, Geoffrey Pounsett, Pip Dwyer, Molly Atkinson, Steven Williams, Elizabeth Saunders, Megan Charpentier, Joe Bostick, Ari Cohen, Anthony Ulc, Javier Botet, Katie Lunman
King has appreciated a few movies adapted from his books. For example, he enjoyed 2017's It, which tells the story of a ragtag group of kids who take on the monstrous clown terrorizing them. The author praised the film:

I had hopes, but I was not prepared for how good it really was. It's something that's different, and at the same time, it's something that audiences are gonna relate to. They're gonna like the characters. To me, it's all about character. If you like the characters... if you care... the scares generally work... I went back and saw it a second time, and I felt I was seeing things the second time through that I missed the first time.

2017's It remake grossed more than $700 million and was a critical darling.
(#13) The Ruins
- Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Laura Ramsey, Shawn Ashmore, Joe Anderson, Dimitri Baveas, Jesse Ramirez, Luis Ramos
A trip to an archaeological dig takes a dark turn in 2008's The Ruins. Many audience members and critics did not enjoy their visit to The Ruins, but King did. In Danse Macabre, he wrote:

The Scott B. Smith-scripted adaptation of his novel isn't quite as creepy as the book, but the sense of dismay and disquiet grows as the viewer begins to sense that no one's going to get away. With its cast of mostly unknowns, this would play well on a double bill with [Zack] Snyder's Dawn [of the Dead] remake.
(#16) Halloween
- Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, Tyler Mane, Danny Trejo, Danielle Harris, Sheri Moon Zombie, William Forsythe, Dee Wallace, Kristina Klebe, Jenny Gregg Stewart, Brad Dourif, Udo Kier, Daeg Faerch, Ken Foree, Hanna Hall, Pat Skipper, Lew Temple, Richard Lynch
In Danse Macabre, King briefly mentioned his appreciation for Rob Zombie's 2007 take on the seminal horror movie, Halloween, in which a masked killer named Michael Myers slays almost everyone who crosses his path. King called the Zombie/Myers collaboration "inspired" and the film an "excellent reimagining of Halloween."

Rob Zombie's Halloween was a critical failure, though audiences couldn't get enough of Michael Myers.
(#24) Night of the Demon
- Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Athene Seyler, Reginald Beckwith
Night of the Demon finds a psychologist delving into homicides committed by a satanic cult. The film - known as Curse of the Demon in its trimmed-down version - has a rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

King said of the 1957 British horror classic, "Although it's old school, I love Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon, a pretty wonderful adaptation of M.R. James' story, 'Casting the Runes'... The horror here is pretty understated, until the very end."
(#21) The Witch
- Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, Lucas Dawson, Bathsheba Garnett, Sarah Stephens, Julian Richings, Wahab Chaudhry
The 2015 film The Witch, a supernatural period piece, chronicles the strange goings-on in a Puritan family that comes face to face with the evil that lives in the surrounding forest. King took to Twitter to recommend the film: "The Witch scared the hell out of me. And it's a real movie, tense and thought-provoking as well as visceral."

Audiences and critics largely agreed with King's verdict on The Witch.
(#8) The Last House on the Left
- Sandra Cassel, Lucy Grantham, David Hess, F.J. Lincoln, Jeramie Rain, Marc Sheffler, Gaylord St. James, Cynthia Carr, Ada Washington, Marshall Anker, Martin Kove, Ray Edwards
Another remake King raved about was The Last House on the Left, a 2009 reimagining of Wes Craven's 1972 film. In the remake, directed by Dennis Iliadis, a couple torments several strangers who take shelter in their home during a storm. King called it "easily the most brilliant remake of the decade" and added:

The Dennis Iliadis version is to the original what a mature artist's painting is to the drawing of a child who shows some gleams of talent. From the opening shot - a dream-glide through the nighttime woods - the cinematography of Sharone Meir is a work of beauty and a study in contrasts... The 2009 Last House is the most brutal and uncompromising film to play American movie theaters since Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.

While critics generally disliked The Last House on the Left, audiences did not feel the same.