The 31-day Stephen King Horror Marathon

Four years ago, I started my 31-day horror movie marathons– which lasted all through October. Every day, I posted a review on one of my favorite horror flicks, with indie horror films being the theme in 2014 and horror sequels being the theme the following year in 2015. The first two review series were super fun and sparked surprisingly nuanced conversation about the impact of some (as it turned out) controversial horror flicks.

Shortly after, I decided my next marathon would be centered around Stephen King’s horror film adaptations. But fall 2016/2017 were hectic for me with grad school and other projects, so the marathon fell by the wayside.

This year felt like the perfect time to continue my favorite Halloween tradition. The last two years have marked a renaissance for Stephen King adaptations with the release of three of my very favorite horror films from the now 71-year-old author. And there are five more on the way.

Stephen King horror films remain endlessly fascinating to watch and scrutinize, as each new release varies remarkably both in quality and approach to adapting the source material.

In 1976, the ultimate teenage revenge story, Carrie, was released to universal acclaim and solidified the Maine-based writer as one of the most terrifying and adaptable talents in the biz. Fast-forward 41 years, and the landscape of King film adaptations has undergone several phases of change. Last year, It: Chapter One became the highest-grossing horror film of all time shortly before the release of two critically-acclaimed Netflix-exclusive releases of Gerald’s Game and 1922.

During those four decades, King’s literature has been adapted into masterpieces (The Shining, Misery, The Mist) as well as the barely-watchable (Trucks, Cell, Graveyard Shift). For this marathon, I’ll only be diving into the highlights– both films and miniseries. Starting at the beginning and moving forward chronologically.

The #StephenKingHorrorThon (along with previous horror marathons) will be published on a brand new website (this one!) launching October 1st.

Barry Falls Jr
Barry was the managing editor of his university newspaper before contributing as a freelance content creator for Yahoo News and Esquire. He founded Horror Theory in 2014 to analyze horror films through a sociological lens.

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