Storm of the Century: Stephen King's 1999 Miniseries on Hulu

Watch it. That's the verdict Screen Rant is handing down for Stephen King's 1999 miniseries Storm of the Century, now streaming on Hulu. The outlet calls it a tense, dramatic, and shocking story that always deserved more appreciation than it got when it first aired on ABC.

Set in the fictional Maine town of Little Tall Island, the miniseries follows a community cut off by a historic winter storm. A mysterious man named Andre Linoge appears, calmly murders an old woman, and surrenders to the police. From his jail cell, he starts leaking everyone's secrets. Townspeople begin killing themselves and each other. His only demand: 'Give me what I want, and I'll go away.' Screen Rant stops describing the plot there to preserve surprises, but notes that the show balances supernatural elements with pure psychological terror.

Linoge, according to Screen Rant, is a charming, suave, and unsettling antagonist who terrifies adults and draws in children. The miniseries forces the town into a difficult moral dilemma, and unlike many King adaptations, it doesn't fall apart in the final act. Screen Rant says it stays strong until the end and lingers long after the last episode. The outlet wasn't surprised to learn that King himself considers Storm of the Century his favorite.

The miniseries owes part of its growing legacy to its influence on other horror projects. Screen Rant points out that Mike Flanagan, creator of Midnight Mass, has admitted on Tumblr (via SlashFilm) that he loves Storm of the Century. Both stories share a small island community, a charismatic manipulative stranger, and the idea that humans are the real monsters, plus a jail in the back of a convenience store.

More recently, It: Welcome to Derry included a direct reference in episode 7. During the Black Spot attack, a character says, 'Give us what we want and we go away.' Screen Rant reports that co-creator Jason Fuchs confirmed to Deadline that this was a deep-cut Easter egg meant to tie the Stephen King TV universe together.

Widow's Bay has also acknowledged the miniseries. Screen Rant says creator Katie Dippold told CBR that Storm of the Century influenced her, and she included a direct on-screen nod.

Screen Rant concludes that while the miniseries may not have gotten the ratings ABC hoped for, it clearly made a mark on horror pop culture. If you haven't seen it, that's a good enough reason to give it a shot on Hulu tonight.

• horror
• Hulu
• Miniseries
• Stephen King
• Storm of the Century
• streaming