5 Best Stephen King TV Shows With High RT Score to Watch After Salem's Lot
Mysterious murders, intricate investigations, and time travel.
Stephen King has been delighting readers with his books since 1967, and during that time his novels have been adapted for the screen countless times. And now another adaptation has been released on Max – Salem's Lot.
The movies and series have been both cult and disastrous, and we decided to make a list of really successful TV projects based on the books of the King of Horror that you can watch after Salem's Lot.
1. Mr. Mercedes, 2017-2018
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
The series is based on a non-mystical novel by Stephen King. It's the story of a killer known as Mr. Mercedes, who one day drives his car into a crowd, killing sixteen people, and then flees the scene.
Inspector Bill Hodges immediately realizes that the situation he is dealing with is far from an accident, but it takes him two years to get to the bottom of it, when the killer himself begins to remind people of himself through emails.
Mr. Mercedes is a complex story about the confrontation between a killer and a detective. You won't have to guess who the criminal is, because the focus is not on the search for a madman, but on his methods of confronting one of the smartest and most resourceful detectives in the country.
2. The Outsider, 2020
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
The Outsider is a dark detective story at the intersection of realism and fantasy. The coach of a local baseball team is accused of raping and murdering an 11-year-old boy – evidence points to the man's guilt, but surveillance cameras prove the suspect was elsewhere.
A detective investigating a mysterious murder begins to believe that something supernatural is involved.
3. 11.22.63, 2016
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
11.22.63 was enjoyed even by those who can't stand King's work: both critics and viewers praised the series. Beautiful costumes and sets, a logical plot and James Franco and George MacKay left millions of viewers around the world amazed.
The series in the alternative history genre is praised for its dynamism and interesting moves, rightly called one of the best adaptations of Stephen King. In eight episodes a journey through historical epochs unfolds, a romantic line is shown and questions are raised about at what cost and why to try to change the past.
According to the plot, English teacher Jake is given a unique opportunity to return to the 1960s and prevent the assassination of President Kennedy. Having traveled to another time, Jake finds that he is beginning to get used to that time and makes connections with people who are truly valuable to him.
4. Stephen King's The Stand, 1994
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%
The 1994 miniseries The Stand has achieved cult status. The authors deviate slightly from the book canon, but this does not spoil the plot at all, although King himself did not appreciate the result.
An outbreak of a deadly virus in a laboratory kills everyone who was there at the time. The only ones who manage to escape are a security guard and his family, but they become carriers of a terrible virus that causes an entire epidemic.
Not everyone manages to survive, but the few lucky ones who were not affected by the virus have to start a new life in an empty city.
5. Castle Rock, 2018-2019
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
Castle Rock is not directly based on any of King's novels. Rather, it is a project based on the writer's entire oeuvre, and this experiment has proven to be quite successful.
The episodes contain a large number of references to the works of the King of Horror from different eras, which will appeal to those who are familiar with both the old and new novels of the author, as well as several unexpected acting cameos.
A mysterious prisoner from Shawshank is found by people to whom he tells nothing but a name: Henry Deaver. This man turns out to be a lawyer from the town of Castle Rock, and a mysterious story begins with an investigation into who this prisoner is and what secrets the town is hiding.