The Highest-Rated Stephen King Movie Ever Gets A New Streaming Home & It's Perfectly Timed

Credit: Jerome Domine/Abaca/startraksphoto.com Published Sep 1, 2026, 11:31 AM EDT Richard Craig is a Senior Author at Screen Rant covering film and TV. Richard has also written extensively about horror and film soundtracks, contributing a chapter to the first major academic collection on the folk horror genre, The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror. Richard is also a performing musician and holds an MA in Music and Sound Art. The Stephen King adaptation with one of the strongest critical reputations in Hollywood is getting a new streaming home just as another version of the author's story prepares to arrive. Prime Video is adding both the original and its remake on September 1, making the timing particularly convenient for horror audiences preparing for yet another trip to one of King's most famous fictional towns. Few writers have had their work adapted for film and television as frequently as King. Since his first novel was published in 1974, Hollywood has repeatedly returned to his stories, producing everything from acclaimed dramas such as The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile to horror classics including The Shining, Misery, and It. Yet the critical standing of King's adaptations varies considerably, with some celebrated as genre landmarks and others remembered for very different reasons. King's relationship with Hollywood began almost immediately after he became a published novelist. His 1974 debut novel established several elements that would become synonymous with his writing: ordinary people confronting extraordinary horror, deeply dysfunctional families, small-town cruelty, and supernatural abilities emerging from emotional trauma. Its first major adaptation arrived only two years later, transforming the author's career and giving Hollywood one of its most enduring horror movies. Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976) established the template for bringing King's combination of supernatural horror and deeply personal character drama to the screen, while its lead performance earned an Academy Award nomination. Five decades later, Carrie is the rare King adaptation that has both enormous cultural staying power and the highest Rotten Tomatoes score with 94%. Carrie Was The First Stephen King Movie, And Is Still One Of The Best Carrie was the first Stephen King novel and the first adapted for the screen, with De Palma's movie arriving just two years after the book's publication. It stars Sissy Spacek as Carrie White, a sheltered teenager tormented by classmates and controlled by her fanatically religious mother, Margaret, played by Piper Laurie. Carrie's infamous prom sequence remains the defining moment, but De Palma's achievement is broader than its blood-soaked climax. His split screens, slow-motion imagery and unsettling use of color turn Carrie's humiliation into something operatic, while Spacek makes the character so sympathetic that it’s easy to forget the supernatural violence that’s coming. The 2013 remake, directed by Kimberly Peirce and starring Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore, is also arriving on Prime Video. It is a more contemporary interpretation, but its 51% Rotten Tomatoes score demonstrates just how difficult it was to match De Palma's version. The Bar Is Extremely High For Prime Video's Upcoming Carrie Remake Mike Flanagan's upcoming Carrie has an even tougher challenge than previous adaptations because it is expanding King's relatively short novel into an eight-episode television miniseries. The first television adaptation of the story, all eight episodes are arriving on Prime Video on October 7, 2026. Summer H. Howell leads the series as Carrie White after an extensive casting search, with Samantha Sloyan playing Margaret White. Flanagan serves as showrunner, writer and director, and will direct four of the eight episodes. Rather than compressing King's story into roughly 100 minutes, Flanagan can spend more time with Carrie before the prom, explore her relationship with Margaret, and expand the bullying and social dynamics surrounding her. That is particularly relevant because Flanagan's version is being updated for the social-media era. Carrie's isolation now intersects with viral bullying and the relentless cruelty of online culture. Furthermore, the bloody climax will now recall the very real high school violence plaguing modern America. These give the new Carrie series a way to reinterpret King's original themes without simply recreating De Palma's movie. Release Date November 3, 1976 Runtime 98 minutes Director Brian De Palma Writers Lawrence D. Cohen Producers Paul Monash Cast Piper Laurie Margaret White