Just in time for Halloween, Stephen King has revealed his favorite horror movie.
As a kid, the author’s answer for the “scariest” movie was 1966’s The Haunting, which got a mostly terrible 1999 remake. Speaking of 1999 horror flicks, The Blair Witch Project was King’s favorite when he got older, but now, at 77 years old, it’s director George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.
“This movie has lost its elemental power over the years — has become almost a Midnite Madness joke, like Rocky Horror — but I still remember the helpless terror I felt when I first saw it,” he wrote for Variety about the black-and-white zombie masterpiece. “And now that I think of it, there’s a real similarity to Blair Witch, both with minimal or no music, both cast with unknown actors who seem barely capable of summer stock in Paducahville, both with low-tech special effects. They work not in spite of those things, but because of them.”
You can stream Night of the Living Dead on Peacock.
King previously revealed his favorite adaptations of his own work. “I have a number that I like, but I love The Shawshank Redemption and I’ve always enjoyed working with Frank. He’s a sweet guy. Frank Darabont,” he told Deadline. “And I love the Rob Reiner thing, Stand by Me.” The Shawshank Redemption isn’t a horror movie, although crawling through a “river of “sh*t” is pretty terrifying.