Stephen King might be known as the master of horror with hits like It, Pet Sematary, and Misery all keeping us up at night, but he’s also known to deliver some solid laughs in many of his books, and not just the non-horror works like the novellas Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption or The Body. That’s why memes that poke fun at his most disturbing or moving movies are so delightful for fans to enjoy.
King himself loves a good joke and would probably love some of these fan-made Stephen King movie memes featuring some of his most iconic creations, from Carrie to Cujo.
Be A True Fan, You Dirty Bird
This meme featuring Kathy Bates is so funny because it’s literally what she does in the film Misery. As Annie Wilkes, she torments and nearly offs her own favorite author, proving what a psychopath she really is, nurse or not. This pokes fun not only at fans who profess to love their favorite authors but don’t show it, but also how authors may picture their most rabid fans.
Fans who’ve watched Castle Rock have even seen her build up to this point in her psychosis during the second season of the show. There’s even an allusion to the sledgehammer, although the show goes in another direction, saving the sledgehammer for Paul Sheldon later in Annie’s canonical timeline.
Kids These Days Are So Desensitized
When the original It miniseries aired, it may have been campy but it sure scared the daylights out of people who watched it–especially if you were a kid who happened to walk into the room. The remakes, particularly in regards to the first film, may be scarier, but the fact that kids who found Stephen King through Bill Skarsgård’s incredible Pennywise didn’t find Tim Curry’s iconic version scary at all is a little disturbing.
It’s really only natural that with sharper, more intense media that older scary movies will be found less scary over time, but this image of poor Pennywise feeling put out because of modern child culture is too funny.
Every King Movie, Ever
Oh, you like this character? He’s your favorite, huh? BOOM, gone, without so much as a funeral! Stephen King sure likes to play God with his characters and while we’re here for it, we also kind of hate him every time he takes out a Beave, a Mattie, or a Chris Chambers. Giving us Richie/Eddie during It Chapter Two with audiences knowing what happens to Eddie going in was a particularly brutal gesture on his part. Way to cut out our hearts, Steve.
Still, this meme comparing his many murders to those of J.K. Rowling, who’s only taken out a handful of characters in comparison, is pretty funny.
We’re With Her
Carrie may have been Stephen King’s first venture into both the horror and sci-fi realms, but over the years it has evolved into less of a scary movie and more of a revenge fantasy for anyone who’s ever been bullied. No, that doesn’t make it right to trap all of your schoolmates in a burning building during prom while you use your telekinesis to take them all down, but Carrie, played by the wonderful Sissy Spacek, who made a return to the King universe in the first season of Castle Rock, is somewhat of a feminist icon as a result.
Yes, we really mean that you should overcome high school, move on and see how things get better… but we also look at Carrie and think, “Good for her.”
King Vs. Kubrick
By now it’s no secret that Stephen King was most displeased with Stanley Kubrick’s final movie version of King’s book, The Shining. Even though the film is a brilliant movie on its own as Kubrick’s vision, King certainly has a right to feel affronted given that it’s nothing like his book. Sure, there are the same characters and the basic same situation at the Overlook Hotel, but everything else was wrong, from Jack’s very characterization to the trembling waif we see as Wendy Torrence in Kubrick’s movie.
Shelley Long would probably have loved to have played King’s Wendy, who was much stronger and stood up to her husband even through her fear.
Grumpy Church
Pet Sematary is one of those King films that isn’t quite good in terms of quality, but it’s so delightful that it became a cult classic with fans. The idea of Church, the original “zombie” brought back by the mysterious cemetery, being the “original Grumpy Cat” is too hilarious. Imagine Church as the original Internet sensation, appearing in the same memes as Tartar Sauce but in a much less wholesome manner.
When you think of a cat who’s grumpy, though, isn’t Church the original? It puts things in a whole new light if you consider it this way. Maybe we need more Church memes.
We All Have Letters Down Here, Harry
One of the best memes to arise from It often features Pennywise dangling something we want in the sewer, whether it’s a Hogwarts letter, the next season of Game of Thrones, or tacos, and we love to watch the unsuspecting victim crawl down, eager for the prize. It makes Georgie look downright cautious.
This idea was even used by Saturday Night Live with Kellyanne Conway appearing as “Kellywise” in an Anderson Cooper spoof. Cooper even dons a yellow slicker a la Georgie. Kellyanne dangles Hillary Clinton’s book as bait for him and it’s just as funny, particularly since the hilarious Kate McKinnon played the part.
Andy Farted
This meme is just laugh-out loud funny because it’s so ridiculous in every way. The idea of locking out the warden of Shawshank Prison and risking solitary, among other things, just to pass gas in his office is so outrageous you can’t help but chortle. Maybe Andy did fart while he played that record; who knows?
It also takes a poignant scene in what may be the best film ever made… and reduces it to pure potty humor. It’s even more ironic considering all of the actual waste Andy Dufresne had to wade through to escape in The Shawshank Redemption.
Everybody Loves Puppies
Stephen King’s writing works so well at twisting everyday objects, animals and people, even those that we would normally love, into subjects of terror. Case in point: Cujo, a single word that’s come to be synonymous with King’s works. The idea of Cujo being a sweet, cute puppy here is almost sad, given that at one point he really was.
It also takes the popular “feeling cute” meme and turns it on its head, since it takes something that really was once cute and foreshadows the doom caused by the dog in the book and movie. The story is even more harrowing in the book since little Tad doesn’t make it like he does in the film.
King’s Horror Trumps All
Of course Stephen King films should get a famous Wonka meme, and what better way to use one than to point out the brutality and utter horror found in King’s works? Willy himself knows a thing about horror, after all, given his famously terrifying tunnel, but King knows how to turn us against ourselves and leave us with something we’ll never recover from.
As this meme points out, the film Maggie ended with a gut-wrenching choice that shook audiences. Willy here knows better and thinks that’s cute, given how Stephen King presented a similar choice in The Mist (among other works) only to have it end with a much more sadistic conclusion.
