Stephen King’s books have given him a reputation as the master of horror, and rightly so, but one of his most chilling stories has yet to land on the screen.
The mastermind behind The Shining, Misery, and It, King’s imagination has helped bring about some of the best horror movies ever made. And with over 65 novels and 200 short stories under his belt, there’s still plenty of opportunity for future scares.
In fact, many of his undderated short stories hold some of the biggest potential, including his 1981 short, The Jaunt.
First published in The Twilight Zone Magazine, The Jaunt was later added to King’s Skeleton Crew story collection. Although it might be unfamiliar to casual readers of King’s backlog, trust us when we say that the premise is one of the writer’s most horrifying, and ripe for new movie material.
Taking place in a distant future, the tale loosely follows a family as they embark on “the Jaunt”, a new form of instantaneous teleportation that can allow civilians to travel through the Solar System.
As the children ask their father questions about how the Jaunt actually works, the mystery surrounding the technology turns into a cautionary tale of existential terror, all ending with one of the most grim and frightening images King ever produced.
Stephen King’s short stories are getting the spotlight
When it comes to adaptations of The Jaunt, there have been two developments that didn’t amount to anything. The first was a 2015 plan for a film adaptation directed by Andy Muschietti, but the director opted to do It Chapters One and Two instead.
In January 2021, it was announced that Fear The Walking Dead co-creator Dave Erickson would be adapting The Jaunt into a TV show, but no further news or discussions have evolved, suggesting this plan might now have fallen to the wayside.
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Coincidentally, King’s other short story The Monkey (also published in Skeleton Crew) is soon to get a film version by Osgood Perkins in February 2025. And a film based on his novella, The Long Walk, is currently in production, proving that now is the perfect time to launch into some of his smaller works.
Clearly, other horror fans are starting to revisit The Jaunt, with Reddit users praising the story to no end.
“I made the huge mistake of Googling ‘short stories that have the most terrifying premises’ and this short-story I never heard before came up as the first one,” said one comment. “…Holy Jesus Christ, it’s giving me heart palpitations.”
“This is probably the worst fate in any horror story I’ve ever read,” added another. “I think about it at least once a week.”
A third wrote: “King’s short stories HIT. Many are under the influence from when he was sick, which sorry to say, and it happens in music too, it made amazing words to read. But those earlier King stories are absolutely horrifying.”
“I’m generally not a huge King fan, but in my opinion The Jaunt may be the best horror of any form. It’s so short and simple and deeply horrifying regardless of who you are. There are no cheap tricks or imagery/descriptions used to scare, it’s just a simple concept that is downright terrifying,” said one user.
For more scares, check out our list of the 2024 horror movies you need to check out. You can also keep up to date on all the best horror movies on Amazon Prime Video, and find out what’s going on with Welcome to Derry, the prequel series for Stephen King’s It.
