Television series
Stephen King's It
ABC's 1990 adaptation of Stephen King's epic spans two timelines: childhood friends battling a shape-shifting cosmic entity in their hometown, then reuniting as adults to finish what they started. It's earnest horror that trades gore for psychological dread and genuine warmth between characters. Made for network television but unafraid of darkness, it's for anyone who loves creeping dread, ensemble chemistry, and the power of friendship against impossible odds.
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Stand by Me1986
King adaptation about kids bonding through adventure and terror. Same warmth and nostalgia, the same belief that childhood friendships can be sacred. Proves King's best work isn't about the monster—it's about the people.
But Lighter in tone and shorter in scope. If you're specifically hungry for cosmic horror and adult reckoning, this won't scratch that itch.
The Outsider2020
HBO's Stephen King adaptation that captures the same ensemble texture and slow-burn dread. Grown adults facing something incomprehensible, trust fracturing, the weight of history. Genuinely unsettling.
But Darker and grittier than It. The mystery takes a while to unspool, and some viewers find the pacing glacial. Demands patience.
Poltergeist1982
Spielberg-produced supernatural horror that balances genuine scares with family warmth. Like It, understands that horror works best when you love the people in danger.
But Dated special effects, and the tone sometimes tilts toward action-adventure when It stays psychological. Less about metaphor, more about spectacle.
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The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Kolchak: The Night Stalker1972
Both pit individuals of ordinary competence against cosmic entities that should be unbeatable. Both find horror in persistence and belief rather than omnipotent power. Kolchak is It's American pulp grandfather.
Forgotten gem about a scrappy reporter investigating supernatural phenomena. Same DNA as It—ordinary person versus cosmic wrongness—but told as pulp adventure. Charming, genuinely eerie, and utterly committed to its premise.
But Shot on 16mm with '70s production values. A single season, so it's short, but each episode is standalone and some land better than others. Requires fondness for period television.
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A Nightmare on Elm Street1984
Wes Craven's iconic villain preys on teenagers as cruelly as It does on children. The same sense that an unkillable force has personal history with its victims, and that belief can wound it.
But Freddy is played for dark humour in a way It's creature rarely is. The slasher framework is different from It's epic scope, even if the DNA is close.
Insidious2011
James Wan builds dread the way It does: through character and atmosphere before the supernatural fully arrives. Ensemble cast facing something ancient and unknowable in their own home.
But More jump-scare oriented than It. The second half leans toward action, and the design of the entities can feel derivative or slightly silly.
Millennium1996
Chris Carter's underrated series about a man haunted by visions of darkness, and the secret society fighting it. Shares It's sense of hidden horrors beneath normal life and the cost of knowing too much.
But Genuinely bleak and adult in ways that might exhaust you. It's procedural-adjacent, so some episodes feel disconnected from the larger mythology.
The X-Files1993
Mulder and Scully pursue the unexplainable. While monster-of-the-week, the best episodes capture It's sense of cosmic dread and the toll of confronting something that rewrites reality.
But Uneven across nine seasons. Mythology episodes are byzantine, and many creature episodes rely on '90s special effects that haven't aged kindly.
Les Misérables2019
Both are ensemble stories about people bound together by shared history and circumstance, forced into solidarity against a force larger than themselves. In It, that force is supernatural. Here it's society. Both ask what you're willing to risk for the people who matter.
French thriller about police brutality and systemic rage in Paris. Completely different surface, but shares It's interest in how groups fracture under pressure and how childhood trauma echoes through adulthood. Visually stunning, morally complex.
But No genre thrills whatsoever. Serious, occasionally agonizing social realism. If you want It for the scares, this will feel like a tonal earthquake.
