The Stephen King Movie You Are Based On Your Zodiac Sign

To call Stephen King a prolific writer would be both an understatement and redundant. By now, he has become so ubiquitous within the worlds of novels, film, and television, that if you speak his name, chances are someone nearby will have a favorite story spun by the wordsmith. His works are so well-crafted and relatable that they make perfect fodder for adaptations. Some are great, some aren't, but there have been so many (with more on the way) that everyone reading this is bound to identify with at least one of them.

That's why this list exists. It's a fun guide to 12 adaptations of King's work and how they relate to character traits found within the signs of the Zodiac. We assigned films to the sign that best represents them based on their content, production, or characters. Obviously, it would be impossible to include entries from the man's entire adapted oeuvre, so it is limited to theatrically released features. There are no TV shows or miniseries. Enjoy a trip down Stephen King memory lane and find out which of the films adapted from his work you are, based on your zodiac sign.

There are eight books in Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series. The world within them is so massive that they bleed over into his other works as well. In a lot of ways, Roland's quest to reach the Dark Tower is kind of the backbone of King's entire bibliography. While not every novel or short story ties into it directly, enough of them do that it makes the Marvel Cinematic Universe appear tiny by comparison. 

Adapting any story in that world would be difficult, but beginning with the first book, "The Gunslinger," makes a lot of sense. It is one of the shortest entries in the series and has the simplest plot. The entire book is Roland Deschain tracking his enemy, The Man In Black. While it is the perfect starting point to King's grand mythos, it also stands alone. If you were going to begin introducing mainstream movie audiences to this massive and complex world, that's where you start.

The 2017 film "The Dark Tower" attempts to adapt this book while also giving us glimpses of the world surrounding it. Instead of a direct adaptation, it serves as both a sequel to the entire series as a whole and a retelling of that first book. That kind of ambition is what makes this film the Aries of the bunch as they are typically competitive and ambitious. The film may not have turned out the way everyone would have wanted, but the attempt is commendable.

To non-King fans, "Stand By Me" seems like an oddity. Yes, this story about a bunch of friends going on a trip to see a dead body was written by the same guy who wrote the book about a demonic clown, a haunted hotel, and the social outcast with telekinesis who kills everyone on prom night. For anyone who does consider themselves a King fan, however, "Stand By Me" serves as one of the best adaptations of his work while also being a story that perfectly personifies his writing.

King is a vivid writer who uses every tool at his disposal to transport the reader to the world being crafted in his stories. In "The Body" (the novella from which "Stand By Me" was adapted), that means bringing readers back to the summer of 1960. He wants you to experience that time as if you were there, even if you hadn't been born yet. The movie does this exceedingly well with its music, production design, and performances. It captures that time in life, regardless of when you grew up, exquisitely.

The film's ability to indulge in the fashion, music, and language of the time is similar to a Taurus' penchant for luxuriating. The film doesn't luxuriate in a negative sense; instead, it commits to its premise and period setting so deeply that we, the audience, are privileged to bask in the rich tapestry woven in its narrative and presentation.

"It" is such an epic novel about childhood fears and the ways in which trauma survivors can find an everlasting bond in each other that it has been impossible to adapt in only a single film. The first attempt to translate the enormous story into a visual medium came in the form of a 1990 TV mini-series starring the wonderful Tim Curry. Even without commercial breaks, the series needed over three hours to try and tell King's story.

27 years later, two movies — "It" and "It: Chapter 2" — brought the horror epic to the big screen. Combined, both films run just over five hours. To put it simply, that is a ton of story. With that much material, there's only one sign to choose here and it's Gemini. Traditionally, Geminis are very busy people with a lot going on. The "It" films have several characters living full lives over the course of 27 years, in a small town full of strange characters infected by the terrifying, supernatural force dwelling beneath their feet.

That force, usually depicted as Pennywise The Dancing Clown, literally feeds on the citizens of Derry every 27 years. Since they taste better when they're afraid, he likes to shift into a form he knows will scare them. That means the story is also changing, shifting in tone and focus, while still ultimately working to tell one cohesive tale. That kind of multi-faceted storytelling makes it a perfect example of the Gemini sign.

They say that Cancers are capable of existing within two worlds and are highly intuitive. The first Stephen King story and adaptation that this conjures up is "The Dead Zone." The book, the 1983 film directed by David Cronenberg, and the 2002 television series all tell the story of Johnny Smith, a kind man who misses out on a life with the woman he loves after experiencing a horrific car crash. He survives but is stuck in a coma for almost five years. 

When he wakes up, he finds that the world has moved on without him and he now has psychic abilities. These abilities manifest in dark visions of the future. He can see what tragedies will befall people just by touching them (if only he'd had this power prior to the night of the crash). After seeing a vision of World War III by touching a presidential candidate, this kind and gentle man becomes a terrorist-savior by choosing to assassinate the candidate.  

It's the duality within Johnny after waking up from the coma that makes this film represent the characteristics of Cancer. He is no longer a man living in the present moment — he exists in two worlds and is cursed to try and prevent these terrifying omens from coming true.

"The Shawshank Redemption" is another strange entry in the canon of King adaptations to anyone not ravenously reading his bibliography. This deeply hopeful film certainly contains elements of darkness and horror, but not in the way most people would associate with Stephen King. Actually, King told a story on the BBC show HARDtalk (via Cinemablend) about encountering a woman in Florida who didn't believe he could write anything other than "horrible things." When she said she prefers uplifting stories like "The Shawshank Redemption," King informed her that he did write that, but she didn't believe him.

Again, for King's "Constant Readers," this film is a wonderful translation of his voice on the page to film. Writer/director Frank Darabont has a track record for making films that both honor and elevate King's material. Darabont seems to understand that King isn't just being provocative or exploitative, but is dealing with real characters who have depth, complexity, and rich, if often flawed, inner lives, and he is impeccable at capturing that on screen.

Leos have been described as passionate, dramatic, and happy to flaunt how great they are. "The Shawshank Redemption" accomplishes this by telling a story about a man who might be wrongfully convicted on the scale of a classic Hollywood epic. It is a gorgeous film with stellar performances and wonderful attention to detail. This film knows it's good, isn't afraid to prove it, and deserves all the acclaim it has received.

When it comes to scary hotel stories written by Stephen King, it's tough to beat "The Shining." For one thing, that novel was about so much more than just spooky ghosts driving a man crazy. Much of it came from King's own experiences as a young father and alcoholic, and it isn't easy to equal that kind of intensity. Plus master filmmaker Stanley Kubrick made a highly-regarded adaptation of the novel that is still considered an all-time horror classic to this day. Any "scary hotel" stories would pale in comparison, right?

Not necessarily. "1408," released in 2007, succeeds by not trying to be "The Shining." Instead, it takes the premise found in King's short story and builds on it. While Kubrick's adaptation of the more well-known hotel story took a cold approach to a passionate story, the filmmakers behind "1408" turned the drama and terror way up, making a truly unsettling horror tale that is also deeply satisfying on an emotional level.

The main character, a skeptic who visits haunted locations and writes about them, wants to believe, but can't. The death of his daughter is too much to bear — he is on a quest to prove that there is no such thing as the paranormal and he is doomed to a life without her. His systemic approach to disputing the evidence in front of him is what makes the film a grounded embodiment of the Virgo character traits: practicality, clarity and reliance on intellect.

So much of "The Shining" has been discussed, written about, and debated over the years that an entire documentary about how to interpret it was made. It's almost impossible to add any new perspective on it. Kubrick's cold, bleak adaptation of King's intense, emotional novel is an undeniable classic, regardless of how some fans, or King himself, might feel about it. Although it wasn't particularly well-received upon its release, it has lasted the test of time and continues to grow in stature.

Instead of trying to pick apart its hidden meanings, we're just going to look at the reason why the film could be considered a good fit for Libra. The common belief about individuals born between September 23rd and October 22nd is that they seek balance and symmetry. That being the case, almost any Stanley Kubrick work could be considered the perfect film for a Libra. The cinematography in his pictures is often very symmetrical. 

While he utilized framing to elicit uncomfortable feelings in his audience, there is something striking and beautiful in all those shots of small characters on huge sets, or little Danny surrounded by pentagons when wandering the halls of the Overlook Hotel, that Libras may find fascinating.

When adjectives like elusive, mysterious, and misunderstood are used to describe a zodiac sign, as they are when talking about Scorpio, the obvious Stephen King match to that is "The Shining." As mentioned above, it's a film that audiences still love to debate. However, that description also states that a Scorprio "uses emotional energy as fuel, cultivating powerful wisdom through both the physical and unseen realms." Now that sounds like Frank Darabont's terrifying, bleak 2007 film "The Mist."

The plot of "The Mist" is very simple. Small town residents are trapped in a supermarket after supernatural fog envelopes their town. Like any good survival horror film, the true terror doesn't come from the giant monsters outside (although they're plenty frightening): it's the human monsters within that pose the greatest threat. When faced with a seemingly apocalyptic-level threat, the tiny collection of people trapped in the store turn into barbarians, divided against each other rather than united against the insanity outside.

The film's gut-punch of an ending leaves the viewer feeling lost, confused, and angry. This isn't because it's bad or undeserved, but because it shows us a difficult truth: human beings cannot survive unless we work together. Real-life horrors have shown just what miserable, awful creatures we can be, and "The Mist" tells us that if we don't figure out how to work together, we'll destroy ourselves. That's the "emotional energy" used to reveal "powerful wisdom" we were talking about.

Stephen King has written a lot about growing up. In this list alone, we've already discussed two different stories about young people entering adulthood. "Hearts In Atlantis" is named after a collection of novellas, once of which, "Low Men in Yellow Coats," forms the basis of this adaptation. The film softens some of the darker elements of the story, as well as its connections to "The Dark Tower," while retaining the powerful spirit at its center.

In some ways, this film works as a nice middle ground between "Stand By Me" and "It." It's about kids in a small town wrestling with some big issues. Although it features supernatural elements, they're not as in-your-face or scary as anything found in "It." It's really about a kid named Bobby Garfield (played by the wonderful and sorely missed Anton Yelchin), his friendship with an older fellow who is being hunted by mysterious men, and his burgeoning romance with his crush. It's a very sweet, tender story that seems to be overlooked by audiences today.

Being born under the sign of Sagittarius could mean that you have a full and interesting life ahead of you, like Bobby in "Atlantis." While we see some of what would become of him as an adult, the film is most interested in the moment in life when everything changes for him and he is set on that path to seek and learn and grow, like a true Sagittarius.

For anyone who thinks that Stephen King can't tell a frightening, intense story without big, ugly monsters, look no further than the suspense masterpiece "Misery." After directing "Stand By Me," Rob Reiner returned to the world of Stephen King adaptations in 1990, and this time he brought screenwriting superstar William Goldman with him. The collaboration resulted in a tense, disturbing chiller that broke actor Katy Bates into the mainstream.

The story of romance writer Paul Sheldon (James Caan) suffering a horrible car crash in the mountains, only to be saved by his biggest fan, is all about rising tension. The longer Sheldon stays in bed, the more obvious it becomes that his savior Annie Wilkes (Bates) has no intention of letting him go. The only way he is going to survive this unreal situation is with the patience of a Capricorn.

Capricorns are believed to be marathon runners, not sprinters. If Sheldon had made a big fuss the moment he got suspicious, Annie probably would have killed him right there. Instead, he humors her, observes her routine, and plans for an escape. Yeah, his feet get broken in the process, but he does survive thanks to his ability to wait for just the right moment.

Aquarius is associated with the giving of life. What does a movie about death row have to do with that? Yes, "The Green Mile" is about death row, but it's also about second chances. John Coffey, played by the late Michael Clarke Duncan, can heal people just by touching them. He is a true miracle that is destroyed by America's ingrained bigotry. Since he was found holding two dead white girls, it's assumed he was responsible for their deaths. In actuality, though, he was trying to save them.

Not only does Tom Hanks' character, Paul Edgecomb, get a new lease on life when John heals him, but so does the mouse Mr. Jingles, and the ailing spouse of the prison's warden. Despite all the good he's done, and the wrongful conviction, John is still put to death, something he makes peace with. It seems all the ugliness in the world is too much for him to bear and he welcomes death. In the end, his captors are forgiven. Even in death, he gives them a chance to reexamine their beliefs and go on to try and make the world a better place.

It's important to note that the film is an unfortunate example of a negative trope in American cinema relegating non-white characters into magical saviors, as discussed by director Spike Lee, but its message of hope in the face of hopelessness is what makes it a great example of the Aquarius personality.

It's said that a Pisces is psychic. Well, there is no shortage of psychics in Stephen King's work. Children, old people, humans, monsters, there are plenty of entities crafted by King that seem to sport some kind of psychic power. Therefore, any number of King adaptations could be chosen to represent Pisces. However, no adaptation comes close to depicting so many psychic beings than the 2019 sequel to "The Shining," called "Doctor Sleep."

Following the events of the original film, Danny Torrance learns how to manage his power and goes on to have a pretty crummy life. Following in his father's footsteps, Danny becomes an alcoholic and drifter. While he no longer sees the ghostly inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel, he is still haunted by the events that happened there and finds it difficult to move on.

When he discovers a powerful psychic named Abra and a band of traveling energy vampires who plan on eating her, he sees this as a chance to confront his old demons and use his trauma for good, by saving the girl's life. With its strange concepts, despicable villains, and quiet sense of hope, "Doctor Sleep" is a masterful adaptation and an excellent example of what makes a Pisces so unique.