Stephen King's Favorite Comedy Is One Of The Funniest Movies Streaming On Netflix

Stephen King may be renowned as the "King of Horror," but part of what makes many of his chilling tales so effective is his macabre sense of humor – and, let's face it, his occasional deployment of juvenilia (which is on full display in the regrettable, OxyContin-fueled "Dreamcatcher"). He's even funnier in person and, of course, on social media, where he often makes light of the very stupid state of the world.

For someone who's spent his entire life scaring us silly with such classic novels as "Salem's Lot," "The Shining," and "Misery," it's important to have a sense of humor. I imagine this quality also helped get him through his struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, as well as that near-fatal run-in with a minivan on Maine State Route 5 in 1999. Where does he get it from? Judging from his favorite books and writers, I'm not sure. He reveres the works of Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, and Ira Levin. Maybe Harlan Ellison instilled a keen sense of morbid humor in him.

When you look at King's list of 10 favorite movies, his affinity for levity begins to make a little more sense. There are some brass-knucklers on there (notably "Sorcerer" and "The Godfather Part II"), but the other eight have some big laughs in them. Still, there's only one straight-up comedy on there, and it was released when he was 19 years into his writing career. But who among us can resist the existential hilarity of Harold Ramis' "Groundhog Day?" I honestly don't trust people who dislike this movie. And if you've never seen it, you're in luck: it's currently streaming on Netflix a few weeks ahead of February 2nd.

"Groundhog Day" is a brilliant comedy, but it is not what I would call a light-hearted lark. Bill Murray is at his grumpy best as misanthropic weatherman Phill Connors, who despises being assigned to cover Punxsutawney Phil's annual determination as to the remaining length of winter. He hates being in this podunk Pennsylvania town, so it feels like a cosmic punishment when he's forced to keep repeating the day over and over again.

Connors goes through the whole range of emotions. He indulges the worst aspects of his personality, turns suicidal when overwhelmed by despair, and, ultimately, decides he might get out of this inexplicable time loop if he becomes the very best version of himself. It's the funniest movie Ingmar Bergman never made. And it's hardly a surprise that the horror of Connors' predicament speaks to King's dark, yet unabashedly sentimental soul.

I'd love to see King write or speak at length about his love of "Groundhog Day," but I feel like everything he needs to say about Ramis' movie is contained in the best book he's ever written: "11/22/63" (avoid the abominable television adaptation at all costs). This sprawling tale about a school teacher who finds a portal from the present day to September 9, 1958, is King's "Groundhog Day." It's not terribly funny, but it's warm, gripping, terrifying, and tragic. It feels like the book King was born to write. So bless the day King sat down in a movie theater and laughed himself silly as Bill Murray went through hell and emerged a decent human being.