Misery (1990)
Directed by Rob Reiner
Best remembered for its horrific use of a sledgehammer on a pair of ankles, which will no doubt sear into your brain after watching, this psychological cat-and-mouse thriller delivers its fair share of the macabre. Director Rob Reiner returns for another Stephen King adaptation, after much success with Stand By Me, with Misery, the story of a bestselling novelist held hostage by his overly enthusiastic fan, who, let’s just say, isn’t all there. Kathy Bates won a well-deserved Academy Award for her portrayal of Annie Wilkes, a psychotic fan who will stop at nothing to keep her hero in bed and writing a novel just for her. James Caan, in one of his most sympathetic characters, plays the writer who must literally write to stay alive. Never has a film where the main character is essentially immobilized for the majority of its running time been this exciting or nerve-wracking.

Carrie (1976)
Directed by Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma turned Stephen King’s first novel into the frightening and psychologically disturbing ‘80s horror classic, Carrie. Sissy Spacek plays the eponymous character, an awkward high school teenager with telekinetic powers, who endures both physical and emotional abuse from her classmates and her Bible-thumping mother (Piper Laurie), until she snaps and seeks vengeance. Essentially a simmering character study until its violent final act, Carrie contains too many classic scenes to name, but it is both Spacek’s and Laurie’s performances that holds the film together. Consequently, both Spacek and Laurie received Academy Award nominations for their work. Despite not being as frightening as it was when initially released, Carrie endures as an intelligent and disturbing film that manages to contain terrific opening and closing sequences.

The Shining (1980)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Known more as being a Stanley Kubrick masterpiece and less a Stephen King adaptation, The Shining was shunned by King for straying too far from his original novel. King consequently disavowed the film to such an extent that he went on to produce his own adaptation as a made-for-television miniseries in 1997, which compared to Kubrick’s original, is shamefully incompetent. As for the classic horror film, it continues to get better with repeat viewings. Battling writer’s block, Jack Torrance (played with over-the-top enthusiasm by Jack Nicholson) takes a job as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel for the winter. He brings his wife (Shelly Duvall) and young son, Danny, to battle the inevitable boredom and monotony. Soon however, Jack’s isolation gets the better of him, and with the help of some of the hotel’s ghosts, murder is the only thing on his mind. Whether watching Jack stalking the halls while wielding an axe or chasing his son through a wintery maze, The Shining never lets up. Sure, it is not a perfect adaptation according to Stephen King, but when you have Jack Nicholson and Stanley Kubrick, you cannot go wrong.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Directed by Frank Darabont

The following was contributed by Cody Stuart

Adapted from the Stephen King short story Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, the movie’s title is enough to put off most movie-goers. It’s too long and awkward to pronounce. When the film was released in 1994, it barely broke even at the the box office, making only $3 million over it’s $25-million-budget. At the time, the names Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins were hardly enough to ensure box office success. Director Frank Darabont was a complete unknown, having never previously directed a feature film, yet The Shawshank Redemption has grown to become one of the most well regarded American films of all time. The tale chronicles the wrongfully convicted Andy Dufresne’s (Robbins) incarceration at Shawshank prison and currently ranks behind only The Godfather on imdb.com’s top 250 list.