Building The Ultimate Stephen King Collection: Every Book, Movie And TV Series A True King Fan Should Own

One could make a strong argument that no single creator has made a greater contribution to pop culture in the last 50 years than Stephen King. It all began with Carrie, the book in 1974 and the movie in 1976, and the author since then has not only established himself as one of the most prolific professional writers alive, but a cross-medium legend. He puts out at least one new book (be it a novel, a collection of short stories, or non-fiction) annually, and it’s actually rare for a year to go by in the 21st century without seeing at least one adaptation premiere on either the big screen or on television.

Between Stephen King movies, books, and TV, his body of work also happens to be a wonderful playground for fans who see themselves as “collectors” – and if you’re one of those people, we’ve built this feature for you. I’ve personally spent years building my own perfect Stephen King collection, and knowing there is a wide world of Constant Readers out there I figured I’d lend a hand helping others do the same. From Carrie, to IT, to The Outsider, let’s dig in!

Stephen King Books

It all starts with the books, so we’ll begin the collecting journey here. More advanced collectors (and those with the available disposable income) may be inclined to go the route of buying First Edition copies of each of the titles (most of which are hardcovers), but this is more of a starter guide that points towards the best commonly available editions of each one (which generally means that they are purchasable at a reasonable price).

Must-Own Stephen King Books

If you’re building a core Stephen King collection, it’s a must to start with the classics (Carrie, Firestarter, The Dead Zone), the series (The Dark Tower, The Bill Hodges Trilogy), and the epics (The Stand, IT). The novella collections are special, as are most of his short story omnibi.

• Carrie (1974) – Hardcover

• Salem's Lot (1975) – Hardcover

• The Shining (1977) – Hardcover

• Rage (1977)/The Long Walk (1979)/Roadwork (1981)/The Running Man (1982) – Hardcover (Out Of Print)

• Night Shift (1978) – Hardcover

• The Stand (1978) – Hardcover

• The Dead Zone (1979) – Hardcover

• Firestarter (1980) – Hardcover

• Danse Macabre (1981) – Hardcover

• Cujo (1981) – Hardcover

• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982) – Hardcover

• Different Seasons (1982) – Hardcover

• Christine (1983) – Hardcover

• Pet Sematary (1983) – Hardcover

• The Talisman (1984) – Hardcover

• Skeleton Crew (1985) – Hardcover

• IT (1986) – Hardcover

• The Dark Tower II: The Drawing Of The Three (1987) – Hardcover

• Misery (1987) – Hardcover

• The Dark Half (1989) – Hardcover

• Four Past Midnight (1990) – Hardcover

• Needful Things (1991) – Hardcover

• The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991) – Hardcover

• Gerald's Game (1992) – Hardcover

• Dolores Claiborne (1992) – Hardcover

• Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) – Hardcover

• The Green Mile (1996) – Hardcover

• Desperation (1996) – Hardcover

• The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) – Hardcover

• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) – Hardcover

• On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft (2000) – Hardcover

• Black House (2001) – Hardcover

• The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003) – Hardcover

• The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004) – Hardcover

• The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004) – Hardcover

• Lisey's Story (2006) – Hardcover

• Under The Dome (2009) – Hardcover

• Full Dark, No Stars (2010) – Hardcover

• 11.22.63 (2011) – Hardcover

• The Dark Tower: The Wind Through The Keyhole (2012) – Hardcover

• Doctor Sleep (2013) – Hardcover

• Mr. Mercedes (2014) – Hardcover

• Revival (2014) – Hardcover

• Finders Keepers (2015) – Hardcover

• End Of Watch (2016) – Hardcover

• Gwendy's Button Box (2017) – Hardcover

• The Outsider (2018) – Hardcover

• If It Bleeds (2020) – Hardcover

• Later (2021) – Paperback

• Billy Summers (2021) – Hardcover

• Gwendy’s Final Task (2022) – Hardcover

• Fairy Tale (2022) – Hardcover

• Holly (2023) - Hardcover

Worth Checking Out

Once you have the essentials, you can expand from there. A number of these are great books – they just don’t have quite the same legacy as the best known titles in the Stephen King library. Some of them are also… bad (we’re being honest today).

• Cycle Of The Werewolf (1983) – Paperback

• Thinner (1984) – Hardcover

• The Eyes Of The Dragon (1984) – Hardcover

• The Tommyknockers (1987) – Hardcover

• Insomnia (1994) – Hardcover

• Rose Madder (1995) – Hardcover

• The Regulators (1996) – Hardcover

• Bag Of Bones (1998) – Hardcover

• Hearts In Atlantis (1999) – Hardcover

• Dreamcatcher (2001) – Hardcover

• Everything's Eventual (2002) – Hardcover

• From A Buick 8 (2002) – Hardcover

• The Colorado Kid (2005) – Paperback

• Cell (2006) – Hardcover

• Blaze (2007) – Hardcover

• Duma Key (2008) – Hardcover

• Just After Sunset (2008) – Hardcover

• Joyland (2013) – Hardcover

• The Bazaar Of Bad Dreams (2015) – Hardcover

• Sleeping Beauties (2017) – Hardcover

• Elevation (2018) – Hardcover

• The Institute (2019) – Hardcover

Optional

You may not feel that you need a coffee table book with Stephen King discussing the creepiness and legacy of gargoyles, but if you’re a completist, you’ll want to have these titles in your collection.They do make for nice additions to any Stephen King library.

• Nightmares In The Sky (1988) – Hardcover

• I Shudder At Your Touch (1991) – Hardcover (Note: Features the story “The Revelations Of Becka Paulson, which isn’t published in any other hardcover)

• Storm Of The Century (1999) – Hardcover

• Secret Windows: Essays And Fiction On The Craft Of Writing (2000) – Hardcover

• Faithful (2004) – Hardcover

• Blockade Billy (2010) – Hardcover

• Hearts In Suspension (2016) – Hardcover

• Flight Or Fright (2018) – Hardcover

Stephen King Movie Adaptations

Stephen King’s relationship with Hollywood is just about as long as his history as a published novelist, with Brian Da Palma’s Carrie having been released just two years after the novel it’s based on was first published. The author has an awesome big screen legacy, and thus there are a large number of titles to populate a collection.

Must-Own Stephen King Movies

Not only have some great movies been made based on Stephen King books, but there are some downright iconic ones too – and it’s primarily those titles we are calling essential for any collection. Some titles are considered among the best horror movies of all time… and considered among the best movies of all time period:

• Carrie (1976) – Collector’s Edition 4K

• The Shining (1980) – 4K

• Creepshow (1982) – Collector’s Edition 4K

• Cujo (1983) – 4K

• The Dead Zone (1983) – Collector's Edition Blu-ray

• Christine (1983) – 4K

• Children Of The Corn (1984) – Special Edition 4K

• Firestarter (1984) – Collector’s Edition Blu-ray

• Stand By Me (1986) – 4K

• Maximum Overdrive (1986) – Blu-ray

• Pet Sematary (1989) – 4K

• Misery (1990) – 4K

• The Shawshank Redemption (1994) – 4K

• Dolores Claiborne (1995) – Blu-ray

• The Green Mile (1999) – 4K

• The Mist (2007) – Collector's Edition 4K

• IT (2017) – 4K

• IT Chapter Two (2019) – 4K

• Doctor Sleep (2019) – 4K

Worth Checking Out

These Stephen King movies aren’t quite up to the high standard set by the brilliant adaptations above, and in some cases more liberties are taken with the source material, but there’s still plenty of good stuff, including a few solid anthology films.

• Cat's Eye (1985) – Blu-ray

• Silver Bullet (1985) – Collector’s Edition Blu-ray

• Creepshow 2 (1987) – Special Edition Blu-ray

• The Running Man (1987) – 4K

• Tales From The Darkside: The Movie (1990) – Collector’s Edition Blu-ray

• Sleepwalkers (1992) – Collector’s Edition Blu-ray

• The Dark Half (1993) – Blu-ray (Out Of Print)

• Needful Things (1993) – Blu-ray

• The Mangler (1995) – Blu-ray

• The Night Flier (1998) – DVD

• Apt Pupil (1998) – DVD

• Hearts In Atlantis (2001) – DVD

• 1408 (2007) – Blu-ray

• A Good Marriage (2014) – Blu-ray

• Pet Sematary (2019) – 4K

• Firestarter (2022) – Blu-ray

Optional

It’s tricky to recommend these Stephen King movies because they ride so low on the quality scale, but they exist for you to get if you’re a completist.

• Graveyard Shift (1990) – Blu-ray

• Thinner (1996) – Blu-ray

• Carrie (2013) – Blu-ray

• Dreamcatcher (2003) – Blu-ray

• Secret Window (2004) – Blu-ray

• Dolan's Cadillac (2009) – Blu-ray

• Riding The Bullet (2004) – DVD

• Mercy (2014) – DVD

• Cell (2016) – Blu-ray

• The Dark Tower (2017) – 4K

Stephen King TV Adaptations

A huge part of what makes Stephen King’s books so great is their attention to detail – and while this typically means that the tomes wind up getting pretty damn heavy, it’s also an element of his style that has led to there being a great relationship between King and the TV world. These adaptations provide the runtime real estate that regularly let adaptations be remarkably faithful to their respective source material.

Must-Own Stephen King TV Adaptations

If you’re looking for the cream of the crop material when it comes to Stephen King’s history on the small screen, you’ll find it below. Admittedly the legacy isn’t quite as iconic as the theatrical material, but we’ve still seen some fantastic adaptations for the small screen.

• Salem's Lot (1979) – Blu-ray

• It (1990) – Blu-ray

• The Stand (1994) – Blu-ray

• The Langoliers (1995) – DVD

• The Shining (1997) – DVD (best version in Triple Terror Collection)

• Storm Of The Century (1999) – DVD Based on original script by Stephen King

• The Dead Zone (2002) – DVD (Complete Series)

• Kingdom Hospital (2004) – DVD

• Salem's Lot (2004) – DVD (best version in Triple Terror Collection)

• Nightmares & Dreamscapes (2006) – DVD

• Haven (2010) – DVD (Complete Series) (Note: Each season was released on Blu-rays, but copies of Season 4, Season 5, and Season 5.1 and beyond can be difficult to find)

• Under The Dome (2013) – Blu-ray (Season 1) & Blu-ray (Season 2) & Blu-ray (Season 3)

• 11.22.63 (2016) – Blu-ray

• Mr. Mercedes (2017) – Blu-ray (Note: Region-Free Complete Series)

• Castle Rock (2018) – 4K (Season 1) & Blu-ray (Season 2)

• The Outsider (2020) – Blu-ray (Season 1)

• The Stand (2020) – Blu-ray (Complete Limited Series)

• Chapelwaite (2021) Blu-ray (Note: This a Region Free release from Australia)

Worth Checking Out

Quality-wise, these TV adaptations range between “middle of the road” and “downright awful. Some of them definitely have their redeeming qualities, and will certainly be of interest to any Stephen King collector who is also a completist.

• Sometimes They Come Back (1991) – Blu-ray

• Golden Years (1991) – DVD Based on original script by Stephen King

• The Tommyknockers (1993) – DVD

• Quicksilver Highway (1997) – DVD

• Trucks (1997) – DVD

• Rose Red (2002) – DVD Based on original script by Stephen King

• Carrie (2002) – Blu-ray (Out Of Print)

• Desperation (2006) – DVD

• Children Of The Corn (2009) – Blu-ray

• Bag Of Bones (2011) – DVD

• Big Driver (2014) – DVD

Optional

If you’re looking to get absolutely every Stephen King adaptation, including the anthology shows that turned the author’s works into single episodes, this section is for you:

• The Twilight Zone (1985) – DVD (Season 1) (Note: Episode “Gramma” based on the Stephen King story of the same name)

• Tales From The Darkside (1984) – DVD (Season 1) (Note: Episode “Word Processor Of The Gods” based on the Stephen King story of the same name) & DVD (Season 4) (Note: Stephen King wrote the episode “Sorry, Right Number”)

• Monsters (1988) - DVD (Complete Series) (Note: Out Of Print, Season 3 Episode “The Moving Finger” based on the Stephen King story of the same name)

• The Outer Limits (1997) – DVD (Season 3) (Note: Out Of Print; Episode “The Revelations Of ‘Becka Paulson” based on Stephen King’s short story of the same name)

• The X-Files (1998) – Blu-ray (Season 5) (Note: Stephen King wrote the episode “Chinga”)

• Creepshow (2019) – Blu-ray (Season 1 - Episode “Gray Matter” based on the Stephen King story of the same name) & Blu-ray (Season 2 - which includes the "Creepshow Animated Special," based on the Stephen King story “Survivor Type”)

As noted up top, there are always more Stephen King books being written and adaptations being made, so any collection of the author’s works is a fluid collection – but we’ll keep this list updated with all of the latest releases as they become available!

Note: This feature purposefully does not include sequels that are not based on pre-existing Stephen King works or written by King himself (i.e. the Children of the Corn sequels, Pet Sematary 2, The Rage: Carrie 2, etc.).

Additionally, Gerald's Game, In The Tall Grass, 1922, and Mr. Harrigan's Phone are notably absent from this list because they are not currently available on home video, and can only be watched on Netflix. The same is true for the series Lisey’s Story, which is an Apple TV+ exclusive.