Stephen King fans can always expect two things from him: a new book and a movie recommendation. King enjoys sitting in front of the cinema or TV screen just as much as he enjoys sitting in front of his computer screen (rumor has it that he still uses a typewriter). King might not be an expert filmmaker (Maximum Overdrive proved it), but as someone who has entertained millions of people through books, he can easily spot and appreciate a good story.
So far, in 2025, King has expressed his adoration for several films. To no one’s surprise, he had great things to say about The Long Walk and the new Schwarzenegger-less version of The Running Man, both of which are adaptations of his book. The Master of Horror was also impressed by a few other films; some horror, some thrillers, some Westerns, some comedies.
Ignoring adaptations of his work, here are the other movies Stephen King has praised this year via his frequent X posts or interviews.
9
‘Companion’
Loving girlfriend Iris (Sophie Thatcher) gets tangled in a seedy web of murder, lies, and vice when she learns she is not human but a companion robot that her boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid) is renting from the A.I. company Empathix. She also learns that an app on Josh’s phone can control her emotions and increase her intelligence bar (Josh set it at 40% to ensure she remains submissive). This is only the beginning, and as more plot twists emerge, bodies pile up fast in Companion.
Love Don’t Cost a Thing? Not Really
Arguably the best sci-fi movie of the year, Companion feels like something Charlie Brooker would have thought of for Black Mirror (he must be furious). The movie piles up so many compact subplots, but don’t worry, everything is precise enough to prevent you from losing track of who did what. There are minor flaws, but the Quaid/Thatcher wattage and Drew Hancock’s expert direction are such that you will defend the film with all your honor. Stephen King says he wishes he’d seen it in the theaters, but is glad that he “watched it on streaming,” adding that “Sophie Thatcher is a star.”
8
‘Our Hero, Balthazar’
Balthazar “Balthy” Malone (Jaeden Martell), a teen from a rich family, frequently posts videos of himself talking about gun control to impress his ravishing classmate, Eleanor (Pippa Knowles). Unimpressed, an online troll using the handle “Deathdealer16” begins taunting him. Well, Balthy becomes convinced the troll is a mass shooter, so he travels to Texas to confront the mysterious person. Fingers crossed for him in Our Hero, Balthazar.
Content Creator Vs. Troll
Directed and scripted by the fast-rising talent Oscar Boyson, Our Hero, Balthazar is a comedy-drama of the highest order. On top of that, Boyson does the Lord’s work by breezily addressing the ever-thorny topic of gun control. King labeled it “an exciting indie movie,” telling his followers that they will be “reminded of Mean Streets.” Indeed, the new movie walks the same path as the Scorsese classic, where De Niro’s character tries to impress the people around him by acting tough.
7
‘The Rule of Jenny Pen’
In The Rule of Jenny Pen (which was ready in 2024 but was released in 2025), an elderly judge, Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush), suffers a stroke while passing a sentence in court. Partially paralyzed, but eager to fully regain his faculties, he checks into a care home in what he hopes will be a temporary arrangement. He is displeased to find himself sharing a room, but even more worrisome is the discovery that long-term resident Dave Crealy (John Lithgow) pretends to be senile by day yet terrorizes people with a creepy hand-puppet named Jenny Pen at night. The staff don’t believe Stefan, so the onus is on him to end the terror.
Forget ‘The Thursday Murder Club’
Better known for playing Albert Einstein in Genius, this creepy flick finds Australian actor Geoffrey Rush in a more contemplative, composed, and subdued mood, even if his trademark bursts of weirdness and sudden rants are still in evidence. What’s so impressive is the sensitive way he handles his character’s emotional and physical odyssey. His body might fail him, but his mind keeps improving. Praise also goes to John Lithgow, whose Arthur Mitchell-like role helps the movie soar to new psychological heights. King recommended it before it even hit the streaming services, posting, “I watched one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. It’s called The Rule of Jenny Pen, and I urge you to watch it when it appears on Shudder.”
6
‘Bring Her Back’
Following the death of their father, teenager Andy (Billy Barratt) and his visually impaired younger sister Piper (Sora Wong) are placed under the foster care of Laura (Sally Hawkins), a woman still grieving the untimely death of her own daughter. Laura devotes all her time to Piper and isolates Andy. It gets worse. The woman is leaning into an occult ritual, hoping to bring her daughter back. Who will save the two innocent kids from Laura’s grip in Bring Her Back?
Worse Mother Than Margaret White From ‘Carrie’
“Thoughtful, textured, and scary as hell,” says Stephen King about the horror film by Australian twin filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou. Sally Hawkins is outstanding, her performance undoubtedly earning Laura a spot among the greatest horror villains. Also, be warned that Bring Her Back is only for hardcore fans. Most of the scenes are extremely disturbing, and one where a character is given a slice of cantaloupe on a kitchen knife only to bite down on the knife itself instead of the fruit, will bother you for eternity.
5
‘Together’
Together stars real-life married actors Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a couple who move from the city to the countryside after the latter lands a new job teaching elementary school English. Their relationship problems get quickly sidelined when, inexplicably, their bodies begin involuntarily merging shortly after Dave drinks from a pool in the wild. A search for answers then begins.
Till a Miracle Does Them Apart
Undoubtedly one of the year’s scariest films, Together hits you so hard that you’ll be afraid of hiking. Franco is solid, and Brie is suitably intriguing as the fed-up woman who craves peace, yet fate won’t let her have her way. Stephen King agrees that the performances are incredible, posting, “Dave Franco and Alison Brie are great—and brave—in the movie.” He also appreciates the film’s character-driven nature. “Horror movies work when you care about the people…. this one works,” he adds.
4
‘Weapons’
Weapons takes us to the tiny town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania, where 17 children from the same third-grade class vanish at exactly 2:17 a.m., leaving only Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher). Their teacher, Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), and Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), a grieving father, start investigating, and their efforts soon lead them to Alex’s aunt, Gladys (Amy Madigan).
Aunt Gladys is Hiding Something
“Confidently told, and very scary… I loved it,” says King about the supernatural mystery horror whose script had prompted a bidding war between several studios, with New Line Cinema emerging victorious. So intense was the bidding war that Jordan Peele dismissed longtime managers Joel Zadak and Peter Principato after his Monkeypaw Studios lost the opportunity. Overall, Weapons is brilliant, with incredible performances and creative sequences. The long-take scene where a woman approaches Julia Garner’s character with a pair of scissors as she is sleeping inside a car remains one of Hollywood’s most inspired and creepy set-pieces.
3
‘Wolf Man’
It goes from bad to worse for San Francisco-based writer Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbott) in Wolf Man. After learning of his father’s death, he takes his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) to his remote childhood farmhouse, only for them to be attacked by a mysterious creature, leaving Blake with a scratch. Fearful, the family barricades itself inside an isolated house, but what will they do when Blake starts demonstrating physical and behavioral changes?
“Daddy, What Big Teeth You Have”
King saluted Wolf Man via his social media accounts, calling it ”lean, mean, and scary as hell,” and “a real monster movie for a new generation.” Never take your eyes off the screen. This lean and scary film, as King puts it, has a lot to say about the manner in which families react whenever one of their own stops being normal. Christopher Abbott was never smoother and more dedicated to playing Blake, the most frantic of family men. His role was initially meant for Ryan Gosling, but the actor had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. No major loss, huh? A spirited Julia Garner as the wife also delivers.
2
‘Killing Faith’
Set in a plague-ravaged American West in the 1800s, Killing Faith centers on widowed physician Dr. Bender (Guy Pearce), who reluctantly agrees to escort Sarah (DeWanda Wise), a recently freed slave, and her white daughter (Emily Ford) across dangerous territory to reach a faith healer. Sarah believes the child is cursed since everything she touches dies, but Bender strongly leans towards disease, not demon-related. As they trek, their ideologies clash, resulting in several tense moments.
Who Is Right?
Killing Faith deserves numerous award nominations as it is a thought-provoking and thoroughly charming film. It might not be a big crowd-pleaser, but you will cherish it once you watch it, because of the thorough way in which it pits science against the supernatural. King describes it as “a quasi-supernatural Western that has echoes of Cormac McCarthy” (referencing the popular Western and Southern Gothic author). In an extra note, he praises the opening scene, involving a child and a horse, as “an authentic shocker.” In that particular scene, the girl approaches a horse, and before her mother can shout “No,” she touches the animal, and it dies. Such a moment leaves audiences hungry for more. And there is indeed more.
1
‘A House of Dynamite’
A House of Dynamite presents an unusual scenario where someone has unleashed an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), projecting it to America, and no one knows where it is from. Audiences get to see the panic from all quarters, whether it’s the 49th Missile Defense Battalion at Fort Greely, Alaska, or the White House, where POTUS (Idris Elba) tries hard not to lose his mind.
Best Race-Against-Time Movie This Year
Stephen King gets really political in his take on A House of Dynamite, saying it’s “terrifying, especially given the unprincipled, waffling nitwit now occupying the White House…or what remains of it.” The author must think of Trump as the kind of leader who might trigger an enemy nation to try and nuke America, as is the case in the movie, but we’ll leave him to his politics. What’s clear here is that the great Kathryn Bigelow has done it again. This is Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker, but it impresses in its own Netflix-fitting way. The tension never ends, and the ambiguous ending will leave you debating with friends and family for days.
