Top 20 Scary Moments From Stephen King Movies

“The Shining” (1980)
There are certain iconic visuals in movie history, and Jack’s deranged face peering through the broken door is certainly one of them. This comes at the climax of the film, when Jack Torrance has descended fully into madness brought on by isolation, addiction[a], and lots and lots of ghosts. He batters down the bathroom door with an ax while his poor wife cowers inside, and when he peers through the opening, he unleashes one of the best quotes in all of cinema. It’s a frightening sequence, not just on a visceral level, but an emotional one. Families are meant to protect each other, yet here the otherwise loving husband and father wants nothing more than their blood.

“It Chapter Two” (2019)
With a budget of $80 million, “It Chapter Two” was allowed to go big. Both figuratively and literally. In one of the movie’s flashback sequences, young Richie Tozier takes a seat on a bench. Our guards are immediately lowered thanks to the bright daylight and the wide open public space. Scary things don’t happen with that combination, right? Very, very wrong. Richie notices that the giant Paul Bunyan statue is curiously missing, and when he turns, he is greeted by the sentient decoration screaming right in his face. It’s a powerful jump scare, and it’s followed by one of the film’s most ambitious frights. That mouth is the thing of nightmares.

“Christine” (1983)
The great thing about Stephen King is that he can make even the goofiest ideas work - like that of a possessed car. King is actually not a fan of this film, but it got good reviews and is now considered a cult classic, and it’s largely thanks to fun sequences like this. Moochie sees the red Plymouth Fury at the end of an alley, and it proceeds to stalk him like a hungry predator. Then it pounces, and the chase is on. It’s a memorable sequence that contains great tension, a fun score, and some imaginative photography. And that’s to say nothing of the amazing ending, in which Christine squeezes herself through a small opening to finally get her prey.

“The Mist” (2007)
Spiders are a big nope. Things erupting out of human bodies are also a big nope. Combine the two and you have a scene that lives in infamy. David and a small group leave the safety of the supermarket and go next door to the pharmacy, hoping to acquire some much needed medical supplies. Well, they get a lot more than they bargained for. Inside the pharmacy are numerous humans trapped in giant spider webs. That alone is scary enough, but things take an even darker turn when one of the victims starts to shake and squirm. The visuals speak for themselves, and let’s just say, there are much better ways to go than this.

“Doctor Sleep” (2019)
A surprisingly worthy sequel to “The Shining,” “Doctor Sleep” follows a now-grown Danny Torrance as he fights a cult known as the True Knot. This is a group of vampires who feed on a psychic essence known as “steam,” which is released when someone with the shining is murdered. In the movie’s most uncomfortable sequence, we see Rose the Hat feed this steam to Snakebite Andi in some kind of bizarre and somewhat sensual orientation. The very idea of feeding someone a human soul is highly disturbing, and Rebecca Ferguson sells it with enjoyable authority.

“It” (2017)
The 2017 adaptation of King’s beloved masterpiece borrowed the general concept of the story but crafted its own unique scares involving Pennywise. One of the better ideas was the projector scene, which is a great combination of idea and execution. The kids look at a map of Derry’s sewer system, but the projector soon takes on a life of its own and cycles through a number of increasingly-creepy photos. Pennywise appears in place of a red-haired woman, and he soon bursts through the screen to chase the kids around the garage. It’s an effective jump scare, brought about through great visual effects, a fun idea, and some fantastic lighting. Each flash to black brought us one step closer to a heart attack.

“Pet Sematary” (1989)
Jud Crandall tells us that “sometimes dead is better.” Now we know what he means. The titular “pet sematary” is a magical place in which dead beings are brought back to life as zombie-like creatures. In one of the most haunting scenes in the Stephen King canon, Gage is run over by a truck, prompting his father Louis to bury him in the cemetery. Gage returns as a murderous figure, killing both Jud and his mother Rachel. Everything about this is troubling; the very idea of a zombie toddler is scary enough, but King takes it one step further by having him wield a scalpel and commit matricide. King claims that “Pet Sematary” is his scariest novel, and yeah, we can see why!

“Gerald’s Game” (2017)
Director Mike Flanagan took a shot at “Gerald’s Game,” a little-known Stephen King novel published in 1992. Carla Gugino stars as Jessie Burlingame, who is left handcuffed to a bed when her husband dies of a heart attack. The movie is part survival thriller, part psychological horror, and it’s mixed with one of the gnarliest things we’ve ever seen in a King movie. Finally at her wit’s end, Jessie escapes from the handcuffs with the help of some sharp glass and lots of, shall we say, peeling. It is absolutely disgusting, brutal in its realism and use of convincing practical effects. The whole thing makes us shudder like you wouldn’t believe.

“Creepshow” (1982)
What some people may not know is that Stephen King wrote the screenplay of “Creepshow,” and it served as his professional screenwriting debut. He teamed up with the legendary George A. Romero for an anthology of stories that harken back to classic horror comics of the 1950s. One segment is called “They’re Creeping Up on You!,” and it follows everyone’s favorite creepy-crawly - the cockroach. Pratt tries to escape the multiplying critters in a sealed panic room, but he finds - to his horror and ours - that they are already inside. It’s terrifically effective, especially if you have an aversion to bugs. Which, you know, who doesn’t?

“It Chapter Two” (2019)
As most adults do when they visit their old stomping grounds, Beverly visits her childhood home and finds a sweet old lady named Mrs. Kersh living inside. Well, not really. Surprise surprise, this is not actually Mrs. Kersh, but some kind of witch-like monster. Joan Gregson is utterly spectacular in the role, her odd mannerisms and distant, predatory eyes informing us that something is terribly wrong in the old Marsh house. Director Andy Muschietti then gets creative with the scene, using deep shadow to hide Kersh in a doorway and distorting her voice before hitting us with a fun jump scare. That is one witch we do not want to mess with.

“The Mist” (2007)
Being a protagonist in Stephen King’s horror stories is difficult enough, but let’s take a moment to feel for the secondary characters, who really have it rough. As an unnatural mist rolls over a small town, grocery store bag boy Norm rises to the challenge, bravely volunteering to venture outside and unblock a generator exhaust pipe. Needless to say, he doesn’t get very far. What makes the scene so agonizing is how long it takes for Norm to be dragged into the mist - kicking and screaming to the bitter end.

“The Green Mile” (1999)
“The Green Mile” isn’t a horror movie, but it still has its fair share of chilling moments, thanks in large part to sadistic prison officer Percy Wetmore. When Percy sabotages inmate Eduard Delacroix’s execution, we all know what’s about to happen when the switch is thrown. But that doesn’t make it any easier. For over two and a half minutes, the helpless Delacroix convulses as electric currents shoot through him. As the people watching swarm the exit, only to find the doors chained shut, it’s hard not to feel trapped with them - forced to watch as Delacroix’s head explodes in blue flame.

“Children of the Corn” (1984)
For the locals at the diner in sleepy farming town Gatlin, Nebraska, it seems like a normal day. But something wicked this way comes . . . There’s something particularly disturbing about creepy children. And Isaac Chroner, the twelve-year old who convinces the children of Gatlin to murder their parents as human sacrifices to a demon in the cornfields, is pretty damn creepy. As Job, one of the few good kids in the town, looks on, the adults who aren’t poisoned first are cut to pieces by knives, farm tools, and of course a meat slicer.

“Salem’s Lot” (1979)
According to Stephen King’s novels, Maine is a lot more than The Pine Tree State. It’s also the playground of vampires, demons, and invading aliens. When Ralph Glick is kidnapped and turned into a vampire in “Salem’s Lot”, he returns home like a good kid - to feast on his brother Danny. As Ralph floats outside the window in billowing fog, an entranced Danny is glad to see him again, and opens the window to let his little brother in . . . not realizing he’s about to join the ranks of the undead.

“1408” (2007)
Professional skeptic Mike Enslin believes everything has a logical explanation. But when he’s trapped in a haunted hotel room, he realizes he’s in over his head. Luckily, a man in the window opposite sees him gesturing for help . . . But as the stranger mirrors his movements, Enslin realizes that the other man is himself. He’s completely trapped, alone in a world he can’t understand - at the mercy of the same supernatural forces he’s spent his lifetime debunking. And what’s worse, there’s someone right behind him.

“Cujo” (1983)
Cujo is a friendly St. Bernard. Until the bite of a rabid bat turns him into a raging monster. Trapped in her car in the baking hot sun with her frightened son Tad, Donna steps out to see if it’s safe to leave. We’ll go ahead and ruin the surprise right now: it’s not. Cujo mauls Donna’s arm, then launches himself into the car on top of her as her son screams in terror. Managing to beat the animal back, Donna is left wounded and, much like the audience, trembling in her seat.

“Carrie” (1976)
It might be because we empathize with Carrie so much that she also terrifies us. We’ve seen the trauma she’s been through, and felt the anger building inside her . . . Her humiliation at prom is the last straw. As the bullied and blood-soaked Carrie unleashes her vengeance on the school, students and staff flee for the doors. But there’s no escape from Carrie’s frenzied telekinetic rage. Seeing Carrie reveal her supernatural powers to the world is a hair-raising, skin-tingling kind of moment, and the gut-wrenching moment sympathy turns into horror makes this scene as memorable as it is disturbing.

“The Shining” (1980)
There’s something off about the isolated Overlook Hotel. Maybe it’s all the ghosts in the Gold Room. Or Danny’s vision of blood pouring from the elevator. But the Grady sisters probably also have something to do with it. As Danny rides his bike through the empty corridors, he suddenly encounters two girls standing eerily still. A vision reveals the awful truth: the girls are dead, hacked to death with an axe by their own father. The reassurances of Danny’s imaginary friend Tony don’t really make the scene any less creepy.

“Misery” (1990)
In many of these moments, it’s the sense of utter helplessness that’s really unnerving. In “Misery”, romance novelist Paul Sheldon becomes the prisoner of obsessed fan Annie Wilkes. There’s something about the nurse’s calm, professional tone as she prepares to break his ankles that’s especially chilling. Strapped to the bed, he can only strain futilely as the block is laid and Annie raises the sledgehammer. The scene originally called for Paul’s whole foot to be chopped off, but the crunch of those broken ankles might be even worse.

“It” (2017)
There are plenty of scares in both the original miniseries, and the movie adaptation of “It”. Georgie’s apparent return from the dead was the stuff of nightmares, and that headless body walking down the stairs is certainly enough to chill the blood. But there’s something horribly real about Georgie’s first encounter with stranger danger as he walks the streets alone. As he peers into a drain after his paper boat, Georgie meets the not so-friendly neighborhood clown, who strikes up a playful conversation . . . then bites off the boy’s arm.


Are there any other scenes that scared you? Let us know in the comments below!








[a]i personally think the word addiction is fine in this context - rebecca