Movies
7 Stephen King Adaptations That Deserve a Remake
While there are plenty of uninspired retreads that we’ve seen done better the first time around, many remakes exist in their own separate sphere, living as fascinating and sometimes very fun reinterpretations of their source material. It’s safe to say we’ve all had at least one craving to see some of our favorite directors tackle a remake; either out of a sense that a story deserved better, or just to see where the artistic process takes them.
And for many horror fans who enjoy Stephen King’s works, those remakes we crave have been just about that. I find myself daydreaming pretty often about stories whose adaptations deserve a second (or third, or fourth) go around, so, I figured it was time to compile those daydreams into a proper article. Today we’ll delve into those, along with an idea of which horror filmmakers should direct them and why.
If there are two things that get a nasty rap, its horror remakes and Stephen King adaptations.
While there are plenty of uninspired retreads that we’ve seen done better the first time around, many remakes exist in their own separate sphere, living as fascinating and sometimes very fun reinterpretations of their source material. It’s safe to say we’ve all had at least one craving to see some of our favorite directors tackle a remake; either out of a sense that a story deserved better, or just to see where the artistic process takes them.
And for many horror fans who enjoy Stephen King’s works, those remakes we crave have been just about that. I find myself daydreaming pretty often about stories whose adaptations deserve a second (or third, or fourth) go around, so, I figured it was time to compile those daydreams into a proper article. Today we’ll delve into those, along with an idea of which horror filmmakers should direct them and why.
7 Stephen King Adaptations That Deserve a Remake
7. THE TOMMYKNOCKERS – Jason Eisener
A change of tone is one of the best reasons for a remake. Undoubtedly one of Stephen King’s silliest adaptations, the original Tommyknocker’s miniseries really betrays the disturbing source material. Imagine if you will, a found footage film about a town slowly becoming a collective of genius technopaths who can build anything they dream of—at the cost of slowly having their life forces drained by mysterious alien entities.
Eisener’s work on the V/H/S/2 segment “Slumber Party Alien Abduction”, shows he could make something horrifying out of the Tommyknocker’s Twilight Zone-esque premise without falling headfirst into the bottomless pit of cheese that plagued the miniseries.
6. MISERY – Rose Glass
With Glass’s latest venture being out this month, crime drama Love Lies Bleeding, I was spurred to revisit her debut feature Saint Maud. Five years later, the film has some of the best acting I’ve seen out of a psychological horror ever, and if there’s anyone who should be trusted in depicting one of Stephen King’s most misunderstood villains, it’s Rose Glass.
I would be lying if I didn’t say this choice was driven at least in part by a desire to see Lizzy Caplan reprise the role of Annie Wilkes, given how criminally underrated Castle Rock’s second season was; Caplan’s performance there deserved a big screen focus. Glass’s direction of actress Morfydd Clark in Saint Maud leaves no doubts in my mind she would make a stunning venture deeper into the quiet and disturbing tragedy of Annie Wilkes and Paul Sheldon’s months in the cabin, regardless of who is put in the role.
That being said, it should absolutely be Lizzy Caplan who plays her, and I won’t be taking feedback on this.
5. SILVER BULLET – Brian Duffield
Another adaptation of King’s novella Cycle of the Werewolf is, in my opinion, long overdue. While in recent years truly great werewolf movies like Josh Ruben’s Werewolves Within and Larry Fessenden’s Blackout have supplemented the genre, there’s just not enough.
Cycle of the Werewolf’s first adaptation, the 1985 Gary Busey film Silver Bullet, is fine. It’s entertaining enough as a midnight movie, but only holds up in its special effects and lacks a whole lot of the truly horrifying moments that the book has (as well as its most violent deaths).
A remake helmed by one of the most underrated monster movie directors out there, Brian Duffield, would make an excellent addition to the subgenre, and one that would give Cycle its due. Duffield’s work on the smash hit No One Will Save You brought some of the most frightening grey aliens to ever grace the small screen, and his eye for playing with the darkness to elicit fear is already off the charts, as seen with his excellent 2020 feature Underwater. The woody town of Tarker’s Mill, plagued by its lycanthrope serial killer throughout the seasons, feels like the exact right place to exercise his aesthetic strengths.
4. CUJO – Demián Rugna
I don’t want to reduce the horrors of When Evil Lurks and the skill of its incredibly talented writer-director Demián Rugna to a single scene or a single scare. But the fact is, the film’s most horrifying and dread-inducing moment is perfect evidence of why Rugna could make a new iteration of Cujo just as, if not more bloodcurdling. And the rest of the film just elaborates on that.
The story of a good dog driven to madness by sickness, and the families around him that suffer for it, Cujo is a bleak tale and one that’s every bit as horrifying of a story as it is depressing. The first film changed the ending in a major way, and mostly ignored the oppressive atmosphere for more of a thrilling story that startles, rather than one that’s as emotionally draining. Rugna knows how to craft and direct a story that will leave you feeling as empty as Cujo does. He has an eye for executing nauseatingly scary scenes, and directing chaotic violent moments that shock you completely, so he’s the only man I have in mind that could do the book justice.
3. SLEEPWALKERS – Brandon Cronenberg
If you want weird body horror, mind games, and psychosexual freakshows, you hire a Cronenberg. And who better than Infinity Pool and Possessor’s very own visionary creator to redo one of King’s strangest films yet?
One of the few works on this list that wasn’t originally a book or short story, the script King penned for Sleepwalkers is a head trip and a half: immortal psychic werecats that feed off the life force of virgin girls are feuding with actual cats. Despite its strange plot and many shortcomings dialogue-wise, Sleepwalkers is a cult classic, and nothing can take that away.
That being said, it wouldn’t hurt to modernize Sleepwalkers and get into the demented lore of the weird mother-son duo that is Charles and Mary Brady. Alice Krige and Brian Krause’s great acting and creepy dynamic in the 1992 film drive much of the plot’s intrigue. A modern character study of these two immortals, predatory beings once worshipped as gods and now reduced to simple murderers, would make for an intriguing story without sacrificing its odd and over-the-top ideas.
2. CARRIE – Gigi Saul Guerrero
One of my personal favorite King stories, it always bothered me that we haven’t gotten a Carrie adaptation accurate to the formatting of the story. Not the characterization or emotion of Carrie White, since Brian DePalma’s 1976 and Bryan Fuller’s 2002 adaptations knock that out of the park, but rather how we get to learn about the destruction of Chamberlain and the young girl responsible.
The legendary Stephen King novel is a series of firsthand accounts and witnesses to Carrie White’s rampage, scattered through journal entries, autobiographies, court testimony, and plain old narration. Carrie feels much more like a walking natural disaster that decimates the town. I believe a movie depicting the small town’s destruction as a sort of horrific mystery that has to be pieced together and understood would make for a thrilling adaptation.
Enter Gigi Saul Guerrero, who would knock this out of the park. Guerrero’s work on one of the best V/H/S segments of all time, “God of Death”, shows she more than has the chops to depict the living wildfire that is Carrie White and her town-leveling psychic abilities. Her work in such a brief amount of time shows she could easily craft some incredibly horrifying depictions of being subject to the wrath of a young scorned woman.
1. MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE – Damien Leone
Imagine it. Absolute car-nage.
Alright, now that I got that pun out of my system, the heart of the matter is that Damien Leone is an artisan when it comes to gore maximalism; we have two Terrifier films to prove that already. And while some might not appreciate his lack of subtlety, the man has what it takes to do over the top and grotesque insanely well.
On the same note, King’s original short story Trucks is fairly over the top; it’s effectively a robot apocalypse where the Terminators have been replaced with Ford F-150s and U-Haul vans that only want to tow your corpse around as a trophy. The two movie adaptations, one of the same name and the other being the infamous Maximum Overdrive are funny, but they lack much of the oomph to make the cars feel like threats. They just haven’t depicted the concept of getting horribly murdered by living cars brutally enough, and all the disgusting special effects that could come out of that.
So I say we give Damien Leone whatever he wants budget wise, and let him deliver on an exploitation movie with gruesome, aggressive killer cars absolutely decimating humans in the worst ways possible. Think Death Proof, but with kills that would make Tarantino blush.
Let he who doesn’t want to see a Honda Accord rip someone apart cast the first stone.
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Do you have any thoughts on adaptations that should be made, or just the ones that didn’t stick the landing the first time? Let us know on Twitter or Instagram! As always, stay tuned for more articles on all things horror in movies, television, and more!
I was late to the Radio Silence party. However, I do not let that stop me from being one of the loudest people at the function now. I randomly decided to see Ready or Not in theaters one afternoon in 2019 and walked out a better person for it. The movie introduced me to the work of a team that would become some of my favorite current filmmakers. It also confirmed that getting married is the worst thing one can do. That felt very validating as someone who doesn’t buy into the needing to be married to be complete narrative.
Ready or Not is about a fucked up family with a fucked up tradition. The unassuming Grace (Samara Weaving) thinks her new in-laws are a bit weird. However, she’s blinded by love on her wedding day. She would never suspect that her groom, Alex (Mark O’Brien), would lead her into a deadly wedding night. So, she heads downstairs to play a game with the family, not knowing that they will be hunting her this evening. This is one of the many ways I am different from Grace. I watch enough of the news to know the husband should be the prime suspect, and I have been around long enough to know men are the worst. I also have a commitment phobia, so the idea of walking down the aisle gives me anxiety.
Grace Under Fire
Ready or Not is a horror comedy set on a wealthy family’s estate that got overshadowed by Knives Out. I have gone on record multiple times saying it’s the better movie. Sadly, because it has fewer actors who are household names, people are not ready to have that conversation. However, I’m taking up space this month to talk about catharsis, so let me get back on track. One of the many ways this movie is better than the latter is because of that sweet catharsis awaiting us at the end.
This movie puts Grace through it and then some. Weaving easily makes her one of the easiest final girls to root for over a decade too. From finding out the man she loves has betrayed her, to having to fight off the in-laws trying to kill her, as she is suddenly forced to fight to survive her wedding night. No one can say that Grace doesn’t earn that cigarette at the end of the film. As she sits on the stairs covered in the blood of what was supposed to be her new family, she is a relatable icon. As the unseen cop asks what happened to her, she simply says, “In-laws.” It’s a quick laugh before the credits roll, and “Love Me Tender” by Stereo Jane makes us dance and giggle in our seats.
Ready or Not Proves That Maybe She’s Better Off Alone
It is also a moment in which Grace is one of many women who survives marriage. She comes out of the other side beaten but not broken. Grace finally put herself, and her needs first, and can breathe again in a way she hasn’t since saying I do. She fought kids, her parents-in-law, and even her husband to escape with her life. She refused to be a victim, and with that cigarette, she is finally free and safe. Grace is back to being single, and that’s clearly for the best.
This Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy script is funny on the surface, even before you start digging into the subtext. The fact that Ready or Not is a movie where the happy ending is a woman being left alone is not wasted on me, though. While Grace thought being married would make her happy, she now has physical and emotional wounds to remind her that it’s okay to be alone.
One of the things I love about this current era of Radio Silence films is that the women in these projects are not the perfect victims. Whether it’s Ready or Not, Abigail, or Scream (2022), or Scream VI, the girls are fighting. They want to live, they are smart and resourceful, and they know that no one is coming to help them. That’s why I get excited whenever I see Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s names appear next to a Guy Busick co-written script. Those three have cracked the code to give us women protagonists that are badasses, and often more dangerous than their would-be killers when push comes to shove.
Ready or Not Proves That Commitment is Scarier Than Death
So, watching Grace run around this creepy family’s estate in her wedding dress is a vision. It’s also very much the opposite of what we expect when we see a bride. Wedding days are supposed to be champagne, friends, family, and trying to buy into the societal notion that being married is what we’re supposed to aspire to as AFABs. They start programming us pretty early that we have to learn to cook to feed future husbands and children.
The traditions of being given away by our fathers, and taking our husbands’ last name, are outdated patriarchal nonsense. Let’s not even get started on how some guys still ask for a woman’s father’s permission to propose. These practices tell us that we are not real people so much as pawns men pass off to each other. These are things that cause me to hyperventilate a little when people try to talk to me about settling down.
Marriage Ain’t For Everybody
I have a lot of beef with marriage propaganda. That’s why Ready or Not speaks to me on a bunch of levels that I find surprising and fresh. Most movies would have forced Grace and Alex to make up at the end to continue selling the idea that heterosexual romance is always the answer. Even in horror, the concept that “love will save the day” is shoved at us (glares at The Conjuring Universe). So, it’s cool to see a movie that understands women can be enough on their own. We don’t need a man to complete us, and most of the time, men do lead to more problems. While I am no longer a part-time smoker, I find myself inhaling and exhaling as Grace takes that puff at the end of the film. As a woman who loves being alone, it’s awesome to be seen this way.
The Cigarette of Singledom
We don’t need movies to validate our life choices. However, it’s nice to be acknowledged every so often. If for no other reason than to break up the routine. I’m so tired of seeing movies that feel like a guy and a girl making it work, no matter the odds, is admirable. Sometimes people are better when they separate, and sometimes divorce saves lives. So, I salute Grace and her cathartic cigarette at the end of her bloody ordeal.
I cannot wait to see what single shenanigans she gets into in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. I personally hope she inherited that money from the dead in-laws who tried her. She deserves to live her best single girl life on a beach somewhere. Grace’s marriage was a short one, but she learned a lot. She survived it, came out the other side stronger, richer, and knowing that marriage isn’t for everybody.
My New Year’s resolution is to spend more time watching my favorite app. Luckily, Shudder is not taking it easy on us this holiday season, so I may meet my quota this January. The streamer is bringing in the new year with quite a few bangers. We have classics from icons, a new title from the first family of indie horror, and a couple of lesser-known films that have finally found a home. So, I am obviously living for this month’s programming and think most of you will too. I have picked the five films that I believe deserve our collective attention the most. Get into each of them and start your 2026 off on the right foot.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
Carrie (1976)
A sheltered teen finally unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated for the last time. Carrie is the reason I thought proms might be cool when I was a kid. This Brian De Palma adaptation is one of my favorite Stephen King adaptations. It is also an important title in the good-for-her subgenre. I cannot help rooting for Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) when I watch her snap at this prom and then head home to accidentally deal with her mom. The only tragedy of this evening is that Carrie had to die, too. I said what I said, and I will be hitting play again while it is on Shudder. This recommendation goes out to the other recovering sheltered girls who would be the problem if they had powers. I see you because I am you.
You can watch Carrie on January 1st.
Marshmallow (2025)
A shy 12-year-old gets sent to summer camp and finds himself in a living nightmare. While Marshmallow did not land for me, I know plenty of people who love it. Which makes this the perfect addition to the Shudder catalogue. I am actually excited to see more folks fall in love with this movie when it hits the streamer. If nothing else, it will help a few folks cross off another 2025 title if they are still playing catch-up with last year’s movies. It also gets cool points from me for not taking the easy route with the mystery it built. I hope you all dig it more than I did, and tell your friends about it. Perhaps you could even encourage them to sign up for the app.
You can watch Marshmallow on January 1st.
Chain Reactions (2024)
Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre cemented his horror legacy over fifty years ago. So, it is long overdue for a documentary where horror royalty can discuss its impact on them and their careers. I have been waiting for a couple of years to hear Karyn Kusama and Takashi Miike talk about Hooper’s work and how he inspired them. So, I am super geeked that Shudder is finally giving me the chance to see this film. The streamer is also helping the nerds out by adding The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 (1986) this month. If you are also an overachieving couch potato, I will see you at the finish line next week.
You can watch Chain Reactions on January 9th.
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
An insurance investigator discovers the impact a horror writer’s books have on people. I love chaos, and John Carpenter chaos happens to be one of my favorite kinds of chaos. While we talk about The Thing and Halloween all the time, this maestro has given us plenty of horror to celebrate. In the Mouth of Madness is very much one of those titles vying for a top spot among the best of his filmography. To sweeten the batshit pot, this movie features Sam Neill. You know that he only shows up in our genre if the movie is going to be legendary. You cannot tell me this is not a Shudder priority this month.
You can watch In the Mouth of Madness on January 10th.
Mother of Flies (2025)
A terminally ill young woman and her dad head to the woods to seek out a recluse who claims she can cure her cancer. The Adams Family has been holding court on Shudder for years, so it feels right that Mother of Flies is a Shudder Original. More importantly, this fest favorite has one of the best performances of 2025. Which makes it a great time for people to finally get to see it and get in line to give Toby Poser her flowers. Whatever you think your favorite Poser role is, it is about to change when you see her as Solveig. I am being serious when I say that this movie might be the first family of indie horror at their best.
You can watch Mother of Flies on January 23rd.
New year, but same Shudder. I would not want to go into 2026 any other way, personally. I hope these horrific recommendations bring you the good kind of anxiety. Or at least distract you from the state of the world for a bit.
‘Ready or Not’ and the Cathartic Cigarette of a Relatable Final Girl
‘Carrie’ Review: A Look At Two Adaptations
The Best Horror You Can Stream on Shudder in January 2026
The Best Horror You Can Stream on Netflix in January 2026
‘The Taking of Deborah Logan’ Review: An Overlooked Gem
‘Dry January’ Review: The Perfect Short Film for a Long Month
‘Lair of the White Worm’ Review: A Cult Folk Horror Classic
‘Snakes on a Plane’: A First-Time Watch Review
The Horror Press Podcast: Episode 53 ‘Disclosure Day’ and AI
‘The Snake Woman’ Review: Politics and Schlock in British Horror
‘The People Under the Stairs’ Review: A Brilliantly Bizarre Horror Classic
Slappy Was the Blueprint: How the Dummy from Goosebumps Became A Horror Icon
‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ and The Story of William Afton Explained
Glen and Glenda: Don Mancini’s Reverence for Queerness in ‘Seed of Chucky’ (2004)
‘Truth or Dare’: Who Did it Best?
V/H/S Franchise Ranked, Best to Worst
Everything You Need to Know About Jason Voorhees
The 11 Most Disturbing Horror Movies Ever, According to an Actual Horror Fan
[REVIEW] ‘Cherry Falls’ (1999) Brittany Murphy Shines in This Cult Classic Slasher
