22 Stephen King Movies on Netflix: Horror, Drama & Beyond

1. Gerald’s Game (2017)

• Runtime: 103 min
• Starring: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood
• Director: Mike Flanagan
• Genre: Psychological Horror, Thriller
• IMDb Rating: 6.5/10

In Gerald’s Game, a secluded getaway becomes a nightmare when a role-playing scenario goes fatally wrong. Carla Gugino delivers one of the strongest performances of her career, playing terror, resolve, and self-forgiveness with surgical precision. Director Mike Flanagan adapts an interior-heavy novel into a visual grammar of voice, memory, and hallucination that remains coherent and gripping. The famous handcuff sequence is shocking but purposeful, fusing body horror with emotional release. Cinematography and sound design emphasize isolation, letting the cabin’s silence accuse and the sunlit hours feel unsafe. Flashback structure and inner dialogues turn trauma into an antagonist that must be named before it can be survived. The final movements deliver hard-won catharsis without cheapening the pain that preceded it. As a keystone of {focused}, it proves King’s smaller, character-driven stories can thrive on screen. It also plays excellently on a living-room setup, where close-ups become the movie’s true special effect.

2. 1922 (2017)

• Runtime: 101 min
• Starring: Thomas Jane, Molly Parker
• Director: Zak Hilditch
• Genre: Gothic Crime, Horror
• IMDb Rating: 6.2/10

1922 follows a farmer whose choice to murder his wife poisons his land, his family, and his mind. Thomas Jane transforms voice and posture until guilt seems to weigh on every breath he takes. The Nebraska fields are photographed like endless rooms, turning open space into a pressure cooker. Rats creep in as both literal infestation and metaphor for a conscience that never stops gnawing. The deliberate pacing lets dread ferment rather than explode, which makes the final stretch feel inevitable. Narration blurs confession and curse, as if speaking the truth might make it more real. Sound design weaponizes quiet, using creaks and wind to suggest things better left buried. As a mainstay within {focused}, it shows how King turns simple premises into moral parables that stick. By the end, the story reads like a ledger of choices written in chewed edges and sleepless nights. As a streaming pick, it stands tall among Stephen King movies on Netflix.

3. In the Tall Grass (2019)

• Runtime: 101 min
• Starring: Laysla De Oliveira, Patrick Wilson
• Director: Vincenzo Natali
• Genre: Supernatural, Mystery
• IMDb Rating: 5.4/10

A roadside call pulls siblings into a field where time and space fold like a bad map. Vincenzo Natali stages grass as architecture—corridors, cul-de-sacs, and rooms that seem to move when you blink. Overhead shots create a living labyrinth that stays legible enough to invite your own theories. The performances calibrate panic and curiosity so the puzzle never feels like empty gimmickry. Mythology is sketched rather than lectured, leaving room for audience cartography. The score pulses underfoot like a heartbeat you hear through the soil. The ending ties fate to choice in a loop that feels cruelly neat. As an adventurous entry among {focused}, it rewards viewers who like their horror strange and spatial. It’s also a neat test of how far you’re willing to follow vibes before answers.

4. Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (2022)

• Runtime: 104 min
• Starring: Jaeden Martell, Donald Sutherland
• Director: John Lee Hancock
• Genre: Coming-of-Age, Supernatural
• IMDb Rating: 6.0/10

A shy teen reads to a reclusive magnate, and a buried smartphone becomes a line to unfinished business. The movie plays gentler than its premise, leaning into melancholy and mentorship before drifting toward menace. Donald Sutherland’s flinty warmth gives the ghost story a worldly backbone, even after his character exits the frame. Jaeden Martell threads vulnerability through texts, choices, and the guilt that follows consequences you didn’t intend. Themes of influence and power echo through every ring and notification, like modern folklore tapping on the window. The staging favors suggestion over spectacle, letting absence act as a presence in itself. The resolution opts for quiet reckoning that lingers more than it lunges. As part of {focused}, it scratches the itch for a reflective, modern King tale you can watch late at night. It’s a mood piece that pairs well with herbal tea and dim lamps, not popcorn jumps.

5. The Mist (2007)

• Runtime: 126 min
• Starring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden
• Director: Frank Darabont
• Genre: Creature Horror, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.1/10

A supermarket becomes a bunker when a sentient fog rolls in carrying things with too many teeth. Frank Darabont shoots chaos like a battlefield reporter, letting panic feel documentary-raw. The creatures are tactile and frightening, yet the most terrifying evolution happens in the makeshift church aisle. Marcia Gay Harden turns certainty into a cudgel, charting how fear curdles into cruelty. Practical effects and grim lighting keep the siege sweaty and close, even in a big box store. Character choices feel jagged and human, refusing to sort neatly into heroes and villains. The finale is one of the cruelest and boldest in modern horror, a decision you keep arguing with yourself about. As a pillar of {focused}, it doubles as a case study in how communities fracture under pressure. It’s not pleasant, but it’s honest, which is why it lingers. As a streaming pick, it stands tall among Stephen King movies on Netflix.

6. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

• Runtime: 142 min
• Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman
• Director: Frank Darabont
• Genre: Drama
• IMDb Rating: 9.3/10

Hope tunnels through concrete as two men barter years for dignity and small kindnesses. Tim Robbins underplays intelligence and patience; Morgan Freeman narrates humanity without a hurry. The screenplay treats friendship like a craft learned in tiny, repeated acts. Thomas Newman’s score floats like a breeze through laundry lines and library stacks. Every rewatch reveals a new seam of compassion, a glance or line that re-threads the theme. The escape feels both inevitable and miraculous, a magic trick performed in broad daylight. The epilogue reframes patience as daring, not passivity. As a humane cornerstone inside {focused}, it proves King’s range reaches well beyond horror. It’s also the cure for a bad day—reliable as a lighthouse in fog.

7. The Green Mile (1999)

• Runtime: 189 min
• Starring: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan
• Director: Frank Darabont
• Genre: Supernatural Drama
• IMDb Rating: 8.6/10

Death row becomes a chapel where mercy keeps interrupting routine. Tom Hanks anchors decency while Michael Clarke Duncan radiates ache and unguarded goodness. Period detail hums; the corridor’s fluorescent buzz becomes a metronome of fate. The miracles arrive plainly, which makes them feel stranger and more intimate. Friendship, guilt, and power braid into a sorrowful cadence that never turns maudlin. The long runtime breathes without losing focus, generous to every supporting soul. The closing images sting but bless, a paradox the movie wears gracefully. As a counterweight within {focused}, it shows King’s tender side without losing moral teeth. It’s the kind of story that quiets a room for minutes after credits.

8. Stand by Me (1986)

• Runtime: 89 min
• Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell
• Director: Rob Reiner
• Genre: Coming-of-Age, Adventure
• IMDb Rating: 8.6/10

Four boys hike toward a rumored body and discover the map to themselves. Richard Dreyfuss’s narration catches the ache of memory without drowning it in syrup. Humor and hurt keep swapping leads, so neither overwhelms the other. Railroad trestles and forest paths become cathedrals of late-summer risk. The performances are open-faced and precise; every kid gets a true moment. The last lines land softly and permanently, like a secret you finally admit. It’s tender without being fragile, funny without being cruel. As a timeless anchor of {focused}, it proves King writes boyhood with x-ray empathy. It pairs beautifully with a quiet evening and an old friend. As a streaming pick, it stands tall among Stephen King movies on Netflix.

Why these stories travel: character first, consequences next — inside Stephen King movies on Netflix

9. IT (2017)

• Runtime: 135 min
• Starring: Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Bill Skarsgård
• Director: Andy Muschietti
• Genre: Horror, Adventure
• IMDb Rating: 7.3/10

The Losers’ Club bands together against a shape that feeds on fear’s flavors. Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise moves like a wrong idea given limbs and a smile. Set-pieces function as haunted-house rooms with character arcs running through them. Production design turns Derry into a civic curse—storm drains and siding that remember you. Humor gives oxygen so the dread can burn hotter without exhausting you. The ensemble chemistry makes bravery feel communal and breakable. The finale is triumph and trauma in equal proportion, as childhood often is. As a headliner for {focused}, it still plays like a crowd movie even in a quiet living room. It’s also an ode to kids who choose each other on purpose.

10. IT Chapter Two (2019)

• Runtime: 169 min
• Starring: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader
• Director: Andy Muschietti
• Genre: Horror, Fantasy
• IMDb Rating: 6.5/10

The Losers return older, richer in scars, and poorer in denial. The film’s structure mirrors how old fears wear new shapes without losing the old bite. Bill Hader is the stealth MVP, finding humor that respects the trauma’s gravity. Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy steady the center when the set-pieces go operatic. Memory edits itself in ways the movie lets you feel rather than explain. Creature work swings for spectacle while keeping geography legible. The ending argues that naming what hunts you weakens it, even if it doesn’t vanish. As part of {focused}, it completes a two-part ritual about growing up twice. It’s messy, earnest, and big-hearted—like reunions tend to be.

11. The Shining (1980)

• Runtime: 146 min
• Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd
• Director: Stanley Kubrick
• Genre: Psychological Horror
• IMDb Rating: 8.4/10

Snow seals a family into a hotel that keeps its own calendar and appetite. Stanley Kubrick composes dread with geometry, echo, and the tyranny of perfection. Jack Nicholson weaponizes the human grin; Shelley Duvall embodies attrition in real time. The score saws the nerves and then keeps sawing, even in daylight. Carpets, corridors, and typewritten pages become runes you can’t stop reading. The film invites interpretations the way a labyrinth invites wrong turns. It’s a museum piece that still bites, not a relic under glass. As a perennial pillar within {focused}, it’s both homework and pleasure. Watching it loud at home is like opening a freezer and stepping inside. As a streaming pick, it stands tall among Stephen King movies on Netflix.

12. Doctor Sleep (2019)

• Runtime: 152 min
• Starring: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran
• Director: Mike Flanagan
• Genre: Horror, Fantasy
• IMDb Rating: 7.3/10

Danny Torrance grows into a man who tries to use his shine to ease other people’s last nights. Rebecca Ferguson’s Rose the Hat is charisma sharpened to a point, a cult leader with velvet fangs. Mike Flanagan braids King’s book and Kubrick’s film with uncommon grace, honoring both without cosplay. The movie balances hospice gentleness with psychic violence in sequences of crystalline staging. Visual echoes are quoted rather than imitated, which keeps reverence from turning into fan art. The casting gives the story a heartbeat you can trust while the plot takes risks. The ending finds mercy where you expect only ghosts, which feels deeply King. As a companion inside {focused}, it’s generous, sad, and somehow hopeful. It’s the rare sequel that teaches you how to watch it while it plays.

13. Carrie (1976)

• Runtime: 98 min
• Starring: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie
• Director: Brian De Palma
• Genre: Horror, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.4/10

A bullied girl learns she has power, and a town learns what cruelty costs at scale. Sissy Spacek’s performance is both fragile and volcanic, a live wire wrapped in lace. Piper Laurie turns religious mania into domestic terror by way of a mother’s gaze. Brian De Palma’s split screens and slow motion sculpt operatic dread out of teenage ritual. Prom becomes a fuse you can see burning but can’t snuff out. The pig’s-blood tableau became cultural shorthand for humiliation and its aftershocks. The ending feels both inevitable and freshly horrible every time. As a first-wave classic in {focused}, it shows how fear and pity can share a frame. It’s the rare horror film that makes you ache while you flinch.

14. Carrie (2013)

• Runtime: 100 min
• Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore
• Director: Kimberly Peirce
• Genre: Horror, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 5.8/10

This remake updates textures and tech while keeping mother-daughter combat at the core. Chloë Grace Moretz plays Carrie with guarded curiosity rather than tremor alone. Julianne Moore’s devotion is razor-edged, a faith that cuts the world to fit her fear. Digital effects widen the canvas of destruction without erasing personal stakes. The bullying narrative broadens to include screens and posts, extending cruelty’s reach. Kimberly Peirce searches margins for tenderness and cost, not just spectacle. The prom remains a fuse; the aftermath remains a reckoning. As a modern echo within {focused}, it invites compare-and-contrast viewings that reward detail hunters. It proves the story’s bones still carry weight in new rooms. As a streaming pick, it stands tall among Stephen King movies on Netflix.

15. Misery (1990)

• Runtime: 107 min
• Starring: Kathy Bates, James Caan
• Director: Rob Reiner
• Genre: Thriller, Horror
• IMDb Rating: 7.8/10

A bestselling novelist wakes in the home of his biggest fan, who plans to keep him there. Kathy Bates modulates kindness into menace with Oscar-winning control, making politeness feel lethal. James Caan plays terror from a bed like it’s a stage with only two props: pain and wit. The house becomes a chessboard of reach and risk where doors are as dangerous as hammers. Every footstep upstairs is a countdown, every tea cup an interrogation. The hobbling scene has not dulled with time; it’s a contract signed in splinters. Reiner’s direction keeps humor on a short leash, so relief never runs far. As a staple of {focused}, it’s a master class in single-location suspense. It also makes writers everywhere lock their doors a little earlier.

16. The Dark Tower (2017)

• Runtime: 95 min
• Starring: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor
• Director: Nikolaj Arcel
• Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
• IMDb Rating: 5.6/10

A mythic gunslinger and a New York kid race to keep a cosmic keystone from falling. Idris Elba’s physical grace turns reloads into ritual, a dance of inevitability. Matthew McConaughey plays evil like a bored god trying on hobbies to pass the time. The movie compresses sprawling lore into a brisk chase, prioritizing momentum over map. Action staging keeps geography readable even as worlds slip their borders. Fans debate fidelity; newcomers often enjoy a sturdy gateway to the mythos. The father-son energy between leads gives the plot a warm spine. As a fast detour in {focused}, it scratches the fantasy itch between heavier horrors. It’s popcorn that occasionally tastes like prophecy.

17. Christine (1983)

• Runtime: 110 min
• Starring: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell
• Director: John Carpenter
• Genre: Supernatural, Thriller
• IMDb Rating: 6.7/10

A ’58 Plymouth Fury falls in love with its owner and punishes rivals with chrome and fire. John Carpenter frames the car like a jealous starlet, lit to seduce and to devour. Practical effects give metal a predatory purr, a growl you feel in your ribs. High-school ecosystems fracture under possession, pride, and the smell of gasoline. The kills are imaginative yet weirdly elegant, staged like sinister magic tricks. It’s a cautionary tale about how objects end up owning us, not the other way around. The last shot winks without removing the curse’s teeth. As a stylish gear-shift inside {focused}, it’s lean, mean, and rewatch-friendly. It also proves headlights can leer. As a streaming pick, it stands tall among Stephen King movies on Netflix.

18. Pet Sematary (1989)

• Runtime: 103 min
• Starring: Dale Midkiff, Denise Crosby, Fred Gwynne
• Director: Mary Lambert
• Genre: Horror
• IMDb Rating: 6.6/10

Grief digs where it shouldn’t, and the ground remembers everything you ask it to forget. Mary Lambert keeps domestic warmth close so the loss hits like a truck you heard coming. The mythology is simple and merciless, a rule learned once and paid for twice. Fred Gwynne’s warnings become a chorus you’ll hear in your head for days. Makeup and staging push the third act into feral territory without losing clarity. The moral is ancient: you can’t heal by stealing from the dark. The ending is both inevitable and unbearable, which is why it works. As a foundation piece of {focused}, it measures love by the harm we’d undo. It will make even brave viewers turn on a hallway light.

Licensing rotates, chills remain — keeping your queue current for Stephen King movies on Netflix

19. Pet Sematary (2019)

• Runtime: 101 min
• Starring: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, Jeté Laurence
• Director: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer
• Genre: Horror
• IMDb Rating: 5.7/10

This remake flips a key plot turn and finds new veins of dread in familiar soil. Jason Clarke and Amy Seimetz play parental fear without melodrama, which makes it more piercing. The woods act like a character with moods, rules, and a long memory. Sound design thumps like a buried heart under the floorboards, steady and wrong. Ritual becomes a map of denial, a route we walk because the alternative is worse. Some choices divide fans; many images unsettle for days regardless. It pairs intriguingly with the 1989 version for a lively double bill. As a modern echo within {focused}, it keeps the conversation moving forward. It’s proof that grief stories reinvent themselves every decade.

20. Firestarter (1984)

• Runtime: 114 min
• Starring: Drew Barrymore, David Keith, Martin Sheen
• Director: Mark L. Lester
• Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller
• IMDb Rating: 6.0/10

A gifted child and her father keep outrunning a government that wants to bottle lightning. Drew Barrymore mixes innocence with volcanic snap, turning tears into weather events. Tangerine Dream’s synth score bathes the chase in heat shimmer and neon dread. Practical flames lend weight, so every set-piece feels dangerous instead of decorative. The father-daughter bond keeps the center warm even when the world is cold. Institutions act like cages for weather, trying to put lids on volcanoes. The film is pulpy in the best way—clean, fast, and oddly tender. As a retro spark inside {focused}, it’s ideal for a Friday night double feature. It also makes you side-eye every lighter in the room.

21. Firestarter (2022)

• Runtime: 94 min
• Starring: Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon
• Director: Keith Thomas
• Genre: Sci-Fi Horror
• IMDb Rating: 4.6/10

This remake lowers its voice, aiming for parental anxiety as much as pyrotechnics. Zac Efron plays protection as exhaustion and devotion, a dad running on fumes and love. Ryan Kiera Armstrong toggles between fear and defiance with disarming clarity. The score nods to ’80s textures while keeping modern menace in the mix. Effects sell the heat without indulgence, so the fire feels like character not wallpaper. The moral calculus stays thorny: power without guidance is a fuse begging for flame. It invites compare-and-contrast sessions with the original that reveal different hearts beating. As part of {focused}, it keeps the canon contemporary without erasing the past. It’s the quieter kind of scorch—smoke in the curtains after the party. As a streaming pick, it stands tall among Stephen King movies on Netflix.

22. Secret Window (2004)

• Runtime: 96 min
• Starring: Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello
• Director: David Koepp
• Genre: Psychological Thriller
• IMDb Rating: 6.6/10

A blocked writer is accused of theft by a stranger whose drawl sounds like judgment itself. Johnny Depp leans into unraveling with queasy charm, making isolation look like a hobby gone wrong. John Turturro’s presence turns copyright law into curse folklore: old rules, new knives. The cabin location works as a pressure cooker for drafts, delusions, and clues you don’t want. Visual motifs—mirrors, hats, corn—seed the twist without shouting answers. The finale clicks shut like a trap finally sprung, chilly and a little cheeky. It’s a small, tight thriller that respects weeknight attention spans. As a capstone for {focused}, it sends you to bed unsettled but satisfied. It might also make you close your blinds a bit earlier than usual.