Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (2024)

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Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (1)

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Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (2)

Stephen King's stratospheric career as the world's premiere horror scribe began with the creation of a now-famous female protagonist — telekinetic outcast Carrie White — and a notorious female villain, Carrie's fanatical mother Margaret. Since then, he has crafted a whole catalog of thrilling roles for women, be they electrifying leads or unforgettable second-stringers. Just the mention of King's name instantly brings to mind some of these iconic characters.

Some stories are loaded with legendary ladies — one is spoiled for choice in Brian De Palma's Carrie — while others may have just one surprising star, such as the number one villain in this list. What follows are five of the most compelling heroines from classic screen adaptations, and five of the biggest baddies. Some are beloved and some may spark controversy, but all of them prove that this author is the king of equal opportunity scares.

10 Amber Mendez Exposes Government Corruption

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (3)

Arnold Schwarzenegger's costar Maria Conchita Alonso in 1987's The Running Man easily keeps up with the action hero as he blows away the competition in the titular game show. Alonso plays Amber Mendez, a composer working for the state-run Network that forces prisoners to participate in a gruesome gladiatorial exhibition. She starts out as a bumbling bystander but becomes a cunning and courageous whistleblower who exposes the government's corruption, live on the air.

The Running Man is one of the books Stephen King published under the pen name Richard Bachman. The prolific author published seven novels pseudonymously because his publishers wished to avoid oversaturating the market with the King name.

This role is an excellent showcase for the talented actress, who handles comedy and action with equal aplomb. Maria Conchita Alonso rarely gets the applause she deserves, despite her wide-ranging career. Even a film like Vampire's Kiss, which is dominated by the scene-stealing Nicolas Cage, would not be as successful as it is without Alonso's painfully funny performance as the woman with the world's worst job.

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (4)

The Running Man

R

Thriller

Science Fiction

In a dystopian America, a falsely convicted policeman gets his shot at freedom when he must forcibly participate in a TV game show where convicts, runners, must battle killers for their freedom.

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Director
Paul Michael Glaser

Release Date
November 13, 1987
Cast
Arnold Schwarzenegger , Richard Dawson , Maria Conchita Alonso
Writers
Stephen King , Steven E. de Souza

Runtime
1 hour 41 minutes

Main Genre
Action

Production Company
TAFT Entertainment Pictures, Keith Barish Productions, Home Box Office (HBO)

9 Stephen King's Least Favorite Adaptation Has a Great Female Lead

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (10)

By now everyone knows that the author of The Shining loathes Stanley Kubrick's screen adaptation, despite the fact that it is regarded as one of the greatest horror films of all time. King has famously objected to the Torrance family's lack of character development; they start out antagonistic and unpleasant, and they end the story much the same way. Shelley Duvall's iteration of Wendy Torrance was harshly criticized for her submissiveness and fragility but these characteristics actually increase the film's tension.

Other Actresses to Play Wendy Torrance

  • Rebecca de Mornay in the TV miniseries The Shining (1997)
  • Alex Essoe in Doctor Sleep (2019)
  • Kelly Kaduce in Mark Campbell's opera The Shining (2016)

Duvall's Wendy may not go on a traditional hero's journey, but her fragility is exactly what makes the film work. As horror host Joe Bob Briggs has pointed out, not every story calls for a "strong female protagonist"; in fact, a character who feels acute fear and vulnerability is more capable of instilling those feelings in the audience. And to be completely fair, Wendy triumphs over an impossible situation despite her apparent weakness, which is rather impressive.

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (11)
The Shining

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.

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Director
Stanley Kubrick

Release Date
May 23, 1980

Cast
Jack Nicholson , Shelley Duvall
Writers
Stephen King , Stanley Kubrick , Diane Johnson

Runtime
2 hours 26 minutes
Main Genre
Horror

Production Company
Warner Bros., Hawk Films, Peregrine

8 This Protagonist Even Gives King the Creeps

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Even though his first published novel, Carrie, made him an instant success, its protagonist never endeared herself to Stephen King. In Carrie White, the author created a teenage underdog so realistically weird and awkward that even he found her impossible to like. Her climatic telekinetic rampage offers viewers a certain catharsis, but the story works so well precisely because Carrie is so convincingly pitiful.

Other Interpretations of Carrie White

  • Angela Bettis (May) was brilliantly cast in Bryan Fuller's 2002 remake, which doesn't quite live up to her performance.
  • Chloë Grace Moretz played a Carrie who was a bit too self-confident in the 2013 remake.
  • Emily Bergl played Carrie White's punky, assertive half-sister in the otherwise very familiar Carrie 2: The Rage (1999).

Carrie has received remakes and a sequel, but none have managed to capture the doomed prom queen's crown. This may be because each of them has tried to make the character cooler, cuter, less of a victim and also less of a villain in the end. Only the Brian De Palma version, with Sissy Spacek's Oscar-nominated performance as the morbidly weak bully magnet, fully manifests the power of King's creation.

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (18)

Carrie (1976)

R

Thriller

Mystery

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Director
Brian De Palma

Release Date
November 3, 1976

Cast
Sissy Spacek , Amy Irving , Piper Laurie , Nancy Allen

Runtime
1 hour 38 minutes
Main Genre
Horror

7 The Atypical Heroine Dolores Claiborne Was Kathy Bates' Favorite Role

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No, it's not Annie Wilkes it's Dolores Claiborne, the beleaguered, blue-collar widow accused of killing her elderly employer. Dolores' estranged daughter Selena (Jennifer Jason Leigh) arrives and, despite their differences, pieces together the painful circumstances that led her mother to commit the ambiguous crime. Dolores Claiborne features multiple complex female characters, including Dolores' late employer Vera Donovan (Judy Parfitt) with whom she shared a secret understanding.

The 1992 novels Dolores Claiborne and Gerald's Game both concern domestic violence, child abuse, and a fateful solar eclipse. King originally considered releasing them as a two-volume set that he would have called In the Path of the Eclipse.

Dolores Claiborne is anything but the typical Hollywood heroine. She's middle-aged, working-class, plain and overweight; everyone underestimates her. Despite this, her enormous strength of character allows her to triumph over absurd injustices while navigating her complicated relationships with Vera Donovan — another woman the world disdains — and Selena, who she once failed to protect. Dolores is a multidimensional character of a kind that rarely gets to be the hero, and Kathy Bates realizes her perfectly.

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (24)
Dolores Claiborne

R

Crime

Drama

Mystery

Dolores Claiborne, directed by Taylor Hackford, stars Kathy Bates as the titular character who is accused of murdering her wealthy employer. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays her estranged daughter, who returns to their small town to uncover the truth. The film portrays a compelling narrative of buried secrets and strained relationships, derived from Stephen King's novel.

Director
Taylor Hackford

Release Date
March 24, 1995
Cast
Kathy Bates , Jennifer Jason Leigh , Judy Parfitt , Christopher Plummer , David Strathairn , Eric Bogosian , John C. Reilly , Ellen Muth
Writers
Stephen King , Tony Gilroy

Runtime
132 Minutes

Main Genre
Crime

6 Stephen King Said Dee Wallace Deserved an Oscar Nod for Playing Donna in Cujo

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"A woman and her son are trapped in their car by a rabid dog" doesn't sound like much of a story, but Cujo is a rich allegory for how civilization breaks down when we neglect our responsibilities to one another. Dee Wallace plays suburban housewife Donna, whose deadly confrontation with a vicious Saint Bernard happens due to events triggered by the destruction of her marriage. Stephen King said on the Kingcast that Wallace was snubbed by the Academy for her outstanding performance, after which she had to be treated for exhaustion.

This is the sort of conversation that you get into with people about awards season, and who gets nominated and who doesn't get nominated. Dee Wallace should have been nominated for an Academy Award, and in my opinion, she should have won it. She was just passed over.

Donna is another character who is rarely the subject of audience admiration: A homemaker who betrays her husband when his career hits the skids. However, King depicts this ugly situation with nuance and compassion, and Dee Wallace shines as Donna's struggle to preserve the social institution of family is metaphorically reflected in her battle with the violent forces of nature.

Stephen King's beloved and often unlikely heroines, for all their flaws, show that a great character doesn't have to be perfect or even particularly likable to earn them legions of fans. His irresistible female villains push the point even further by proving that a character can win viewers' hearts just by being downright evil.

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (26)

Cujo

Horror

Cujo, a friendly St. Bernard, contracts rabies and conducts a reign of terror on a small American town.

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Director
Lewis Teague

Release Date
August 12, 1983

Cast
Dee Wallace , Danny Pintauro , Daniel Hugh Kelly

Runtime
93 minutes

5 Zelda Terrifyingly Embodies the Heroine's Guilty Conscience

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (32)

Mary Lambert's adaptation of Pet Sematary is a modern classic where the primary threat is the cursed soil near the new home of the Creed family. Those interred there return as terrifying mockeries of their former selves, but one of the film's most frightening characters is a mere memory. Rachel Creed (Denise Crosby) is haunted by thoughts of her sister Zelda (a gleefully evil Andrew Hubatsek), who died in agony from spinal meningitis. Rachel wished that the wrathful Zelda would die, and the shame she feels for this erupts in horrific nightmares.

The 2019 remake of Pet Sematary stars Alyssa Levine as Zelda, who dies in a bizarre dumbwaiter accident.

Disability in horror media is a big topic. From Jason Voorhees to the Phantom of the Opera, disability and deformity have been equated with monstrosity, something that modern discourse identifies as problematic. Pet Sematary separates itself from the herd by focusing not on Zelda's alleged evil, but on Rachel's guilty fear of her sister's difference. In a sense, Zelda expresses the rage that many marginalized people feel toward a world that wishes them ill.

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (33)
Pet Sematary (1989)

R

Horror

Fantasy

Thriller

Pet Sematary follows the Creed family after they move to a rural home near an ancient burial ground. When their cat, Church, dies, Louis Creed buries it in the mysterious pet cemetery, only to have it return with a malevolent presence. Tragedy strikes again, leading Louis to make a desperate decision to use the cemetery's dark powers, unleashing a terrifying chain of events.

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Director
Mary Lambert

Release Date
April 21, 1989

Cast
Dale Midkiff , Denise Crosby , Fred Gwynne , Brad Greenquist , Miko Hughes
Writers
Stephen King

Runtime
103 Minutes
Main Genre
Horror

4 Mary Is a Feline Femme Fatale

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (38)

Sleepwalkers may not be a great movie, but it is hugely entertaining, thanks in large part to Alice Krige as Mary, a very different kind of cat-woman. Mary and Charles (Brian Krause of Charmed fame), her son and lover, are vampire-like creatures who feed on virgins, wield psychic abilities, and can transform into werecats. Despite the movie's disturbing incestuous themes, Krige blazes with erotic energy, creating a character who is every bit as sexy as she is scary.

Related

10 Underrated Female Villains in Horror Movies

Mrs. Voorhees in Friday the 13th and Rose in Get Out are among some of the most underrated female horror villains.

Sleepwalkers was the first script that Stephen King did not base on a preexisting work of fiction. The story is occasionally confusing (why are real cats kryptonite for the werecats, exactly?) but the real raison d'être of Sleepwalkers is a steady stream of special FX. Mick Garris, director of the 1994 TV miniseries The Stand, is no stranger to a good gore gag or delightful (if dated) transformation sequence.

3 Margaret White Is the Mother of All Villains

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (40)

Carrie White may have terrifying powers, but Margaret White is one of horror's most frightening figures. Piper Laurie nailed the role of Carrie's mother, a religious zealot who was profoundly traumatized by the assault that caused her pregnancy. The experience intensified Margaret's aversion to sex, and her delusional attempts to keep her child from becoming a woman are a key factor in Carrie's climactic breakdown.

Actresses to Play Margaret White

  • Patricia Clarkson in Carrie (2002)
  • Julianne Moore in Carrie (2013)
  • J. Smith-Cameron plays the very similar mother of Carrie's half-sister in Carrie 2: The Rage (1999).

Piper Laurie's extraordinarily committed performance earned her nominations for both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Her memorably flamboyant line readings have become cultural punchlines, even giving the name to Adam Sandler's debut comedy album They're All Gonna Laugh At You!. However, the affectionate jokes at Carrie's expense have not dulled the incredible impact of Laurie's performance, as evidenced by the inferior attempts of other great performers to capture her original magic.

Related

10 Scariest Movie Moms

Some moms are nice and caring while others are vengeful and murderous, as films like Black Swan Carrie have proven.

2 Kathy Bates Played the Ultimate Toxic Fan

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Long before the terms "toxic" and "fandom" were in popular usage, Misery featured a woman who takes over the life of her favorite author, forcing him to write to her exact specifications. Kathy Bates is iconic as Annie Wilkes, whose dreams come true when novelist Paul Sheldon is stranded at her home. When she discovers his plan to kill off his popular protagonist, Annie takes matters into her own hands. Bates brilliantly plays Annie as a woman who has no idea that what she is doing is wrong, which is a huge part of her horrific appeal.

Stephen King experienced fan backlash against his 1985 non-horror novel The Eyes of the Dragon, prompting his wife Tabitha to print a reaction in his newsletter Castle Rock. She wrote:

The public is frequently possessive and unforgiving, without seeming to understand that what they are exercising is a kind of emotional slavery... Money and fame attract the self-seeking, who are willing to do anything... even if it hurts or kills you...

Her remarks, reprinted in George Beahm's The Stephen King Story, feel extremely relevant to the current cultural moment. King certainly had his toxic fans in mind when he penned Misery, though he has repeated that he also saw the domineering Annie as a representation of his addiction issues.

1 This Villainness Redefines Road Rage

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (43)

"You better watch what you say about my car," says Arnie Cunningham about the love of his life. "She's real sensitive." Christine is a cherry red, fully automatic, 2-door, hardtop, 1958 Plymouth Fury, and she's all woman. Hollywood's love affair with cars has rarely reached the fever pitch of John Carpenter's excellent adaptation of Stephen King's book about a boy's bad romance with his haunted ride. The outrageous premise is balanced by convincing performances, especially from Keith Gordon as the teen virgin whose passion for Christine helps bring her to life in the mind of the viewer.

In this straight male predecessor to Titane, Carpenter evokes the uncanny sense that Christine is more than just a perfect body; she also has a soul, and feelings including deadly jealousy. In the novel, Christine is possessed by the evil spirit of her former owner, but the cinematic car has a mind all her own, and her role as Arnie's girlfriend brilliantly hyperbolizes the emotions people project onto their vehicles. Christine is also the apotheosis of Stephen King's obsession with '50s pop tunes; in other adaptations, music is used as a dating device or for simple nostalgia, but here, vintage torch songs are the literal love language of the '58 Plymouth Fury. Christine is clever and compelling throughout.

Stephen King's 5 Best Heroines — and 5 Most Terrible Female Villains (44)
Christine

R

Drama

Horror

Mystery

Thriller

Christine is a 1983 horror film from director John Carpenter. The film was based on the novel by Stephen King, in which an evil car is purchased and starts having a negative influence on its new teenage owner. The film stars Keith Gordon as the main character Arnie, who buys Christine.

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Director
John Carpenter

Release Date
December 9, 1983

Cast
Keith Gordon , John Stockwell , Alexandra Paul , Robert Prosky , Harry Dean Stanton , Christine Belford

Runtime
110 minutes
Writers
Stephen King , Bill Phillips

Budget
$9.7 million

Studio(s)
Columbia Pictures

Distributor(s)
Columbia Pictures
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  • Carrie (1976)

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