Stephen King's List Of Favorite Horror Movies Is Filled With Must-Watch Classics

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Horror master Stephen King isn't just interested in literature, he's also a noted movie buff. In 2025, in a post on Twitter/X, he shared a list of his all-time favorite movies, ranging from classics like "Jaws" and "Casablanca" to some more obscure picks. In particular, King loves William Friedkin's sweaty, underrated jungle crime thriller "Sorcerer." King fans may be surprised byt he lack of horror on that list, which mostly includes classic crime thrillers. Even "Jaws," the one horror movie on the list, is just as much an adventure movie. 

Does the most famous horror novelist alive have something against scary movies? Not at all. In an August 2026 post on Threads, King participated in a "five horror movies to get to know me" challenge. His answers, in order, were:

1. "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

2. John Carpenter's "The Thing."

3. "THEM!"

4. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956).

5. "Gremlins."

In 2017, Indiewire compiled a list of over 50 horror movies King has praised as favorites through the years (including some adaptations of his own work, like Brian De Palma's explosive take on King's first novel, "Carrie"). Both this longer list and King's own more concise one underline the same point: He's got good taste in horror movies.

Stephen King was born in 1947, so monster B-movies of the 1950s were a staple of his childhood entertainment. In a 1980 appearance on "The Dick Cavett Show," King said half-seriously that "[he] was warped as a child" by all the horror movies and comics he consumed as a boy.

It's unsurprising that his list of "horror movies to get to know me" includes two classic '50s monster movies — arguably three, since John Carpenter's 1982 "The Thing" is a remake of 1951's "The Thing from Another World." In King's 1981 nonfiction book "Danse Macabre," covering the history of the horror genre, he writes that he always felt disappointed that the titular thing turned out to only be a lightly made up James Arness, resembling "a vegetable from outer space." Carpenter's "The Thing" answers a young Stephen King's disappointment with now-legendarily gruesome effects to bring the monstrous shapeshifting alien to life.

King argues in "Danse Macabre" that the original "The Thing" speaks to real fear of outside invaders. For those who think that's looking too deeply, he stresses: "Please remind yourself that a man's point of view is shaped by the events he experiences, and that a man's politics are shaped by his point of view."

Such political subtext is more plainly felt in "THEM!" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." "Body Snatchers" is widely recognized as an allegory picture about Communist subversion, wherein alien invaders seek to strip people (Americans) of all their individuality as the propagandized Soviet Union wanted. And if "Body Snatchers" has subtext, "THEM!" has plain text; it's about the dangers, intended and unintended, of nuclear weaponry. The villains are ants, mutated by radiation into giant, man-eating predators. 

"THEM!" is set in New Mexico, where the Manhattan Project conducted the first nuclear explosion test. In making consequences of nuclear testing into a tangible, wrathful monster, "THEM!" is practically an American "Godzilla." A "THEM!" remake was announced in 2023, to be directed by Michael Giacchino, but it feels destined to lose the charm of the original without the now-hokey giant ant effects. 

Conversely, "Body Snatchers" has been remade time and time again; the pod people can be twisted into any allegorical invader the creator chooses. Even Apple TV's hit series "Pluribus," about humanity taken over by a hive mind, feels like a spiritual "Body Snatchers" remake. But despite the frequent remakes, Don Siegel's original remains eerie, chilling, and a must-watch for horror fans.

"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" stands out on King's list as the only movie from the 1970s — the same decade King first found success as an author. It was even released in 1974, the same year King's debut "Carrie" hit bookstore shelves. In a 2019 interview with Variety, King called "Texas Chain Saw" one of his "cultural heroes" at the time when his luck as a writer picked up. As a transgressive proto-slasher, "Texas Chain Saw" reset the boundaries of what a horror movie could be.

Though an undeniable masterwork, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" can be an oppressive, difficult watch. But the last movie on King's list, "Gremlins"? That horror comedy is a cackling good time, plain and simple. King's writing doesn't lack a sense of humor, and neither does "Gremlins." You can even compare the Gremlins' sadistic but comical antics to Pennywise tormenting the children of Derry, Maine in King's "IT." King's favorite horror movies show the genre's broad range, as does his own writing.