Stephen King’s top 10 films: from 70s classics to surprising favorites.
Horror author Stephen King has unveiled his ten favorite films of all time and deliberately left his own film adaptations. The 77-year-old bestseller author posted his list in no specific order on X (formerly Twitter). More on this.
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Stephen King’s film taste: focus on the 1970s
Kings reflects his selection in the 1970s: six of the ten films date from this decade. The list of William Friedkin’s thriller “Breathless with fear” (1977), a commercial flop, which is considered an underestimated masterpiece today. Classics such as Francis Ford Coppolas “Der Pate II” (1974) and Sam Peckinpah’s crime thriller “Getaway” (1972) with Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw.
Surprising favorites away from the horror genre
Surprisingly, Stephen King’s love for Harold Ramis’ comedy “And every day greets the marmot” (1993), a time travel ROM com classic with Bill Murray and Andie Macdowell, who also inspired many later films about repeating days. Also on the list: Billy Wilders film Noir “Ms. Without Conscience” (1944), John Huston’s Neo-Western “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948) and the war drama “Casablanca” (1942) with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
Spielberg is represented twice: with the original summer blockbuster “The White Hai” (1975) and the sci-fi epic “uncanny encounter of the Third Art” (1977). Martin Scorseses “Hexkessel” (1973) rounds off the top 10.
Stephen King excludes his own films
The 77-year-old emphasizes that he deliberately did not take four outstanding adaptations of his own works into account: “Misery”, “Stand by Me”, “The convicted” and “The Green Mile”.
Also “Shining”, Kubrick’s iconic implementation of his novel, is missing, since King strongly criticized the film adaptation: “Like a large, beautiful Cadillac without engine,” he commented in an interview with “Deadline.”
Stephen King’s top 10 films at a glance:
Four new Stephen-King films 2025
“The Long Walk-The Death March” is one of four large King films that can be seen in cinemas from September 11, 2025. But that’s not all.
Furthermore, “The Life of Chuck” has already started with Tom Hiddleston and Chiwetel EjioFor, Osgood Perkins’ horror film “The Monkey” was already a hit in spring 2025, and Edgar Wrights remake of “The Running Man” will be released on the German canvas on November 7th.