If watching kids and covert military operations investigate Derry’s most terrifying inhabitant isn’t enough for you, we’ve got you covered. “IT: Welcome to Derry” by Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane might be doing a remarkable job expanding on Stephen King’s original, but it isn’t the only story from the legendary author that’s made its way to television. Over the years, there have been several shows delivering nightly doses of absolute terror, torn right from the pages of King’s works. Now, after careful consideration, we’ve compiled a list of entries that gave us a decent amount of the heebie-jeebies, should you be hungry for more.
While we wait for Bill Skarsgard’s child-eating clown to make his first official appearance in the new series, we’ve got a wild collection of monsters to compete with him. Everything from shape-shifting serial killers to villains who are just plain human have been considered to fill your watch list. Prepare for scares, scenes that aren’t good for the squeamish, as well as another version of Pennywise that will always be the frightening favorite for some. Get ready to hide behind those sofa cushions — something tells us you’re definitely going to need them.
The Outsider
There’s something deeply unsettling about “The Outsider” that even other entries on this list can’t quite match. It’s probably down to the incredible effort from showrunner and writer Richard Price to sell this massively underrated miniseries as a murder mystery at a time when grisly whodunits were on the rise. A few episodes in, though, and like its antagonist, “The Outsider” becomes something very different. Some of the thanks must also land at the feet of A-lister and then, “Ozark” star, Jason Bateman, as baseball coach Terry Maitland, who is dragged to the police station after being seen walking away from the brutalized body of a young boy. He claims he knows nothing about what’s happened — and, incredibly, he might just be telling the truth.
From here, Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Erivo get on the case as detective Ralph Anderson and Stephen King’s fan favorite character, Holly Gibney. Together, they start to uncover a mystery that unravels at a perfect pace into some very unpredictable territory. It’s gory, it’s grim, and it has Erivo delivering a brilliant performance long before she began defying gravity. It also has Mendelsohn, who, after carving out so much of his career being a villain, goes for something different here and does an exceptional job. This time around, he plays an everyman hero who can’t quite believe what’s happening, acting as our eyes and ears into a world that gets slowly revealed to him. When gears shift in “The Outsider,” it’s jaw-dropping, but believe us when we say this really is a show that’s best to go into as blind as possible.
Mr. Mercedes
While Cynthia Erivo was giving her best take on Holly Gibney, “Nobody Wants This” and “Succession” star Justine Lupe was providing her own alongside Brendan Gleeson and Harry Treadaway in “Mr. Mercedes.” Based on King’s 2014 novel of the same name, the show follows Gleeson as Bill Hodges, a retired cop who gets back on the scene when an elusive serial killer comes out of hiding to taunt our hero over an unsolved case.
Being so strongly associated with the big screen, getting Gleeson in on the small screen makes for a refreshing watch, almost making you wish he picked up a police badge more often. Nailing the permanently ticked off ex-detective with ease, he’s got great support from the likes of Lupe, along with Holland Taylor, and Jharrel Jerome. Perhaps the biggest gamble with this entry, however, is the swerve into rather wild territory with the second season and the killer that’s causing all the trouble.
Treadaway as Brady Hartsfield checks all the boxes of your classic crazed psychopath that has problems of his own besides being a blood thirsty monster. It’s in the second season, that he becomes more monster than man, with Hodges going another round with his longtime rival and venturing into territory that neither he or the viewer could anticipate. Spanning three seasons, “Mr. Mercedes” can certainly fill your time in between Derry locals getting ripped to shreds by clowns and flying babies.
Salem’s Lot
King’s crack at a vampire story from 1975 (and one of his personal favorites) gets brilliantly adapted by Paul Monash in a two-part story that still chills bones. The 1979 miniseries of “Salem’s Lot” follows David Soul as Ben Mears, a writer (of course) returning to his hometown for inspiration, only to find more than he expected. Besides being the talk of the town, Mears also stumbles upon an ancient evil that has befallen Salem’s Lot, slowly infecting the locals. Soon, everyone is keeping out of daylight, and missing kids are returning through their best friend’s windows as a vampiric nightmare starts to spread. Since its release, we’ve seen two attempts to bring the story back from the grave, but neither has managed to tap into the terror buried within the bones of this classic iteration. It’s an impressive achievement, particularly when you consider the daring deviations it took from the book.
While key plot points might’ve moved around a bit, the biggest but best tweak is in the villain of the piece. The pale, yellow-eyed terror, Kurt Barlow (Reggie Nalder), is a drastic departure from the more charming foe from King’s book. Here, we instead get a more “Nosferatu” type nemesis. It’s monstrous adjustment that pays off, allowing him to crawl his way into becoming one of the most memorable vampires in popular culture.
IT (1990)
Bill Skarsgård might be the preferred Pennywise for some, but we can’t forget Tim Curry’s chilling take from the 1990 miniseries. Tommy Lee Wallace’s two-part adaptation might have its flaws (that spider form will never be good in any version), but that all gets lost in the deadlights thanks to Curry’s horrifying turn as the eater of worlds and children. Comedic and chaotic in equal measure, he’s the star of this horror story that spans decades and brings a different kind of villain to the one we’re now accustomed to.
It’s perhaps the choice in color that makes Curry’s run at the clown such a standout scare. That combo of mad red hair and lips with that bulbous white dome is deeply unsettling. The dread gets turned up a notch, however, when Pennywise’s proper form begins to show, and the teeth come out to tear through the Losers Club from different generations. Getting the snot scared out of them are the likes of Richard Thomas, Annette O’Toole, John Ritter, and Tim Reid, along with young stars including Jonathan Brandis and Seth Green. Skarsgård may have more appearances under his bright frilly belt as Derry’s most dangerous inhabitant, but Curry’s iteration is still worth a watch even after all these years.
The Stand
Like a few shows on this list, King’s epic and infectiously brilliant story, “The Stand,” has appeared in numerous forms, but the 1994 miniseries from showrunner, Mick Garris is the only one that’s still worth watching. Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, and a young Rob Lowe are caught in the grip of the world-wrecking virus, Captain Trips, that wipes out most of the population. With humanity on the brink of collapse, those that remain are forced to pick a side, one of which is under the anarchic leadership of The Walkin’ Dude, Randall Flagg (Jamey Sheridan). A devil in double denim, his rise to power could send mankind into a hellish new era. Thankfully, those who oppose him set out on a mission that ends in an apocalyptic showdown in Las Vegas.
Besides some great performances from Sinise and Ringwald, “The Stand,” like the novel it’s based on, has an added layer of terror now, in a post-pandemic world. While Flagg is a foe that matches even Pennywise, the absolute dread comes from the spread of a monster, Captain Trips, that kills blindly and spreads through a cough or a sneeze. Even after a 2020 version that had the likes of Alexander Skarsgård as Flagg, Garris’ version is one that fans still can’t forget and probably never will.
