Stephen King is a legendary storyteller known for his massive collection of horror, suspense, crime, sci-fi, fantasy and supernatural fiction novels including popular works like It, The Shining, Pet Semetary and ‘Salem’s Lot. Over the course of his career thus far, King has written 65 novels and over 200 short stories. Several of his works have since been adapted for the big screen, becoming either full-length features or series. While some of his movie adaptations are better than others, they’ve had an undeniable impact on the horror genre as a whole and still reign supreme today, serving as the inspiration for remakes, like Firestarter, and new series like Welcome to Derry.
Unique to King adaptations, is that he often makes a cameo in his movies. He may play a forgettable background character or have a more important role, but he’s always there in some capacity. Of all the King movie adaptations, here are six of his best cameos thus far.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
6 Sleepwalkers (1992)
Columbia Pictures
Sleepwalkers is a horror movie written by King that premiered in 1992. It follows the last two survivors of a bunch of shapeshifting vampire-like creatures that feed on female virgins. The concept of the movie and the overall plot is pretty gross and hasn’t aged well; however, it still offers a great cameo from King himself. In Sleepwalkers, he plays a stressed-out cemetery caretaker who is trying to keep things in line after a murder happens on the cemetery grounds. King’s character is worried he’s going to be held liable for the crime since it happened on the grounds, so he angrily parades around the grounds and panics, but also manages to add a bit of comedic relief to an otherwise suspenseful movie.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
5 Creepshow (1982)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Creepshow is an anthology horror movie premiering in 1982 and serving as King’s screenwriting debut. The movie consists of five short stories, one of which is The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, which stars King as the title character. In this segment, backwoods-living Jordy stumbles across a meteor crash site and contracts a fast-growing, mossy, plant-like virus that grows out of his body and spreads to everything he touches, eventually resulting in both him and his home being covered in a mossy, green substance. Creepshow is one of the only instances where King held a full role and made more than just a cameo appearance, and he has a fun, over-the-top approach to a rather humorous story.
4 Storm of the Century (1999)
ABC
Storm of the Century is a TV miniseries based on a screenplay by King. It’s about a massive storm coming to a small Maine town, but it’s not just bringing winter weather; it also brings a weird stranger who knows all the darkest secrets in the town and has some sinister motives. In Storm of the Century, King appears in a TV ad as a lawyer and again as a broadcast news reporter. It’s a bit of a funny gag that you have to pay attention to, but King plays both characters, and it’s never made clear whether he’s playing a person with two different jobs, a set of twins, or if he’s just goofing on the audience and by making two similar appearances. Either way, it’s a short and sweet cameo in one of King’s greatest miniseries.
3 Pet Sematary (1989)
Paramount Pictures
Pet Sematary is hands-down one of King’s scariest books and also one of his scariest movies. Premiering in 1989, it’s about a family that moves to a small Maine town where they come across a pet cemetery that is believed to bring creatures buried there back to life. However, the cemetery ground is “sour” and when things come back they’re not like they were when they were alive and are instead more like evil zombies.
King makes a cameo in Pet Sematary as a minister at a funeral for a minor character in the movie. It’s a short cameo, literally just about 20 seconds long, and all King does is give an abbreviated sermon before the funeral guests depart. While most of his cameos usually have some element of humor to them, his Pet Sematary role is much more straightforward and even feels a little depressing, as that’s the general tone of the movie in the first place.
2 The Stand (1994)
The Stand, based on King’s novel of the same name, is a miniseries that premiered in 1994. It’s about a post-apocalyptic world that’s been ravaged by plague and disaster. The world is now in the midst of a battle between good and evil, where the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of an elderly woman and a group of other survivors.
King plays Teddy Weizak, another one of the apocalypse survivors. While it’s bigger than a cameo, it’s still a rather minor role. However, The Stand is one of King’s more serious works, so he’s tasked with playing a more dramatic character without tossing in bits of humor, thus showcasing his range as an actor no matter the size of the role. The Stand was remade in 2020 and King made another cameo as a different character; however, the remade miniseries didn’t receive as positive a review as the first did.
1 It: Chapter Two (2019)
King’s novel It originally hit screens in 1990 as a two-part miniseries on ABC. In 2017, it was re-imagined with Andy Muschietti in the director’s chair. Two years later, the sequel, It: Chapter Two, premiered and followed the “Losers Club” as adults 27 years after the events of the first movie.
King’s appearance in It: Chapter Two is his most recent cameo. He plays the shopkeeper at a pawn shop where Bill (James McAvoy) finds his childhood bicycle. Bill, now a successful author, offers to sign a copy of his book for the shopkeeper, to which he replies “Nah, I didn’t like the ending.” Which is a fun gag considering King himself is a successful author in real life. This scene played a major fan service to those who not only love King’s work, but also the It story. It made this one of King’s most memorable, yet humorous and well-delivered cameos yet.
