It's Horrors Week at The A.V. Club

As we put together this year's theme, one master of horror floated above the rest.

By Danette Chavez | October 27, 2025 | 7:00am

Left: John Abraham (Screenshot: No Smoking); Cynthia Erivo (Photo: HBO); Glen Powell (Screenshot: The Running Man trailer/YouTube)

Film News Horrors Week 2025

Our annual Horrors Week tends to encompass the works of several filmmakers, writers, and artists, but this year as we brainstormed, one name rose—floated, if you will—above the rest: Stephen King. Even before Andy Muschietti returned to Derry for a new HBO series, 2025 was already the year of the King adaptation, with The Monkey and The Long Walk setting pulses racing in theaters and Glen Powell rounding the bend soon in The Running Man. So we decided to center this year’s horrors package on a writer whose name has become synonymous with the genre, whose writing has inspired reimaginings both unwieldy and audacious, and who shows no signs of slowing down. We’re obviously no strangers to King’s work (nor he to ours), but while we’ve run many excellent pieces through the years—here’s just one of them—this is our first time dedicating a theme week to the prolific author.

We’re kicking things off today with some help from Zack Handlen, who set out to figure out why The Stand remains unadaptable. On Tuesday, Jacob Oller delves into Richard Bachman’s feel-bad ethos, which might suit the cultural moment better than that of his alter ego. Later this week, you can look for features on some of King’s creative departures as Matt Schimkowitz and Tim Lowery revisit the author’s supergroup and pop culture writing. We’ll also examine some ill-fated attempts to interpret King’s work outside of Hollywood, with William Hughes tackling a foray into video games and Saloni Gajjar digging up Bollywood’s short-lived relationship with the author. On Halloween proper, we’ll have a long read on Holly Gibney, who represents one of the strangest developments in King’s writing, and a 24 Hours Of marathon programmed by The Monkey director Oz Perkins. We’ll round things out with a Book Club chat on R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis and a horror-themed AVQ&A. Read on, and a happy Horrors Week to us all.