Chilling Stephen King series you’ve probably never heard of called ‘his best’

A little known Stephen King mini-series has been hailed as some of his best work almost 25 years after it was originally released - with the author calling it his ‘absolute favourite’.

Unlike many of his previous TV and film projects, Storm of the Century wasn’t based upon a novel or short story, with King writing an original script for the screen. You can check out a trailer here:

A synopsis for Storm of the Century, which was released back in 1999, reads: “The residents of Little Tall Island are in the worst blizzard any of them have ever had to deal with. Cut off from the rest of the world, they must also deal with an evil stranger who has murdered one of their elderly residents and even while being held prisoner continues to cause harm.”

A recent article on movieweb.com branded it ‘the most underrated Stephen King adaptation’ and fans were quick to agree.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, one person said: “The art of the Stephen King television movie has never been executed so perfectly.

Mark Carliner Productions/Greengrass Productions

"Storm of the Century (1999) is not only one of the best King movies. It might rank among the best TV movies I’ve ever seen.”

Another wrote: “Storm of the Century is one of my favourite Stephen King works. Remember renting it on VHS as a kid and staying up until about three o’clock in the morning to finish it while my old man snored on the couch. Rewatched it all the next morning so he could finish it.”

While a third commented: “I love Storm of the Century. It’s highly underrated. Great acting and story.”

Over on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Storm of the Century holds a very impressive 83 percent.

Mark Carliner Productions/Greengrass Productions

A critics’ consensus reading: “Chilling performances and an even darker moral dilemma shelter Storm of the Century's somewhat long-winded tale from ever being anything less than watchable.”

In fact, the three-part series is so good, even King reckons it's the best of all the TV productions related to his work. High praise when you consider the competition.

Speaking to The New York Times about Storm of the Century in 2020, he said: “That is my absolute favorite of all of them.

“I loved Colm Feore as Linoge, and I loved the story. They filmed it in Southwest Harbor in Maine in the wintertime and they got the snow, so you get the sense of this awesome blizzard and the people trapped in it. They did a terrific job.”