Horror icon Stephen King has revealed his 10 favourite movies on X (formerly Twitter).
The prolific author has seen many of his works adapted over the years. When accounting for films, TV shows, and miniseries, his stories have been brought to the big and small screens well over 100 times.
Some of the most popular horror films of all time have been based on his books, including 1976’s Carrie, the two part adaptation of IT (2017-19), and Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 version of The Shining (which differed greatly from the book and was not approved of by King).
On Monday (September 8), the writer revealed his 10 favourite movies “in no particular order”. He excluded Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and Stand By Me from contention given they were based on his work.
My 10 favorite movies (excluding MISERY, SHAWSHANK, GREEN MILE, STAND BY ME). In no particular order:
SORCERER
GODFATHER 2
THE GETAWAY
GROUNDHOG DAY
CASABLANCA
TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE
JAWS
MEAN STREETS
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE 3rd KIND
DOUBLE INDEMNITY— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 8, 2025
The list included 1977 action-thriller Sorcerer, The Godfather Part II, Steve McQueen thriller The Getaway, ‘90s comedy Groundhog Day, wartime classic Casablanca, 1948 neo-noir The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, Steven Spielberg films Jaws and Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, and 1944 film noir Double Indemnity.
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Notable patterns in the list include half of the films coming from the 1970s, and no horror movies other than perhaps Jaws, which is technically a thriller albeit with famously scary sequences. Bill Murray comedy Groundhog Day may also be a surprise given King’s fondness for telling darker tales.
The writer, whose story The Long Walk has been made into a movie released this week, recently took aim at the superhero genre, saying: “If you look at these superhero movies, you’ll see…some supervillain who’s destroying whole city blocks but you never see any blood. And man, that’s wrong. It’s almost, like, pornographic.”
He would also turn his attention to music in a recent Reddit AMA, offering a past and present playlist for The Long Walk, and revealing he “never liked” Black Sabbath.
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