Stephen King had an a-mah-zing 2017, and this year sees the debut of a new King shared universe series on Hulu from J.J. Abrams (“Castle Rock”) along with a slew of other King adaptations in development. So we’re ranking all of the theatrical movies based on his work. A couple of notes: We aren’t ranking the sequels based on “Children of the Corn,” since many were direct-to-home-video affairs, or the Hindi film “No Smoking” (based on a segment of “Cat’s Eyes”) because I couldn’t find it.

“Tales from the Darkside: The Movie” has been excluded because only one segment is based on a King tale, and none of his TV projects (of which there are many) are included here.

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46. ‘The Dark Tower’ (2017)

This is one of the most recent Stephen King adaptations and also unquestionably the worst. “The Dark Tower,” which was supposed to be the beginning of an entire cinematic universe that, at one point, would carry on in a television series before returning to movies, is based on King’s magnum opus, a work so personal and important that virtually every other story of his is contained within its framework. Which makes all of the cheesy make-up effects and Matthew McConaugheymugging even more unbearable.

People who gave this limply directed bore a pass are tragically wrong; this is just awful and an affront to the wonderful world that King created. (Idris Elba isn’t a bad gunslinger though.)

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45. ‘Dreamcatcher’ (2013)

This is a crazily over-the-top, a half-warmed-over bouillabaisse of discarded King ideas and motifs that were originally written when the author was recovering from being run over by a van. (The influence of painkillers explains a lot.) From Morgan Freeman‘s bushy eyebrows to the alien presence having a British accent, none of it makes sense and it’s patently ridiculous.

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44. ‘Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace’ (1996)

Remember when this, one of the worst reviewed movies on IMDB, was called “Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe’s War?” Yeah, me neither … This is one of the worst examples of the nascent “cyberpunk” sub-genre that so consumed ’90s filmmaking (“Johnny Mnemonic,” “Virtuosity,” etc.) The time you could spend watching this could be better spent actually playing a VR game.

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42. ‘Riding the Bullet’ (2004)

The latest collaboration between King and so-so genre director Mick Garris, “Riding the Bullet” (slang for “hitchhiking”) is a flavorless slog. The story, based on King’s foray into Internet publishing (it was the first widely available e-book), concerns a suicidal university student trying to get back to his ailing mother. (Because, you know, when you’re concerned about your hospitalized family, the easiest, fasted and most direct route is via hitchhiking.) Along the way he meets various characters, some of which are supernatural. Unexcitingly cast, lazily directed, and offering nothing in the way of scares or philosophical inquiry, “Riding the Bullet” doesn’t leave a mark.

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