WISE Score
Avg. Tomatometer
A grief-soaked Stephen King fever dream that’s more of a beautiful, slow-motion car crash than a tight thriller.
53%
53%View →Lisey's Story is what happens when an auteur gets a blank check to adapt his favorite book. It’s visually stunning and emotionally heavy, but it’s also a bit of a slog.
For parents, know that this isn't 'fun' horror. It’s trauma horror. It deals with childhood abuse, cutting, and the messy leftovers of death. If you're in the mood for a wet blanket of sadness with some cool monsters, give it a go. Otherwise, you might find yourself checking your watch more than the screen.
This is strictly for the 15+ crowd. Between the self-harm themes and the glacial pace, younger teens will either be traumatized or bored to tears.
This isn't a feel-good watch. It’s a heavy meditation on grief, mental illness, and the 'darkness' that follows a family. While it explores the bond of marriage, the tone is suffocatingly bleak.
Stephen King’s world-building is the star here. The concept of Boo'ya Moon—a dreamlike, terrifying alternate dimension—and the 'secret language' between Lisey and Scott is highly original and visually striking.
Heavy safety warnings for self-harm, graphic self-mutilation (cutting), and a terrifying stalker character. The 'Longboy' monster is genuine nightmare fuel, and the psychological distress is constant.
It offers deep insight into the complexities of long-term partnership and how we inherit the trauma of those we love. It's 'high-brow' horror that demands emotional intelligence to unpack.
Most Stephen King adaptations feel like they were made by people who read the SparkNotes and decided "scary clown" or "haunted hotel" was enough of a hook. Lisey’s Story is the opposite. King wrote every episode himself, which explains why it feels so dense and deeply personal. This isn't a show trying to jump-scare you every ten minutes; it’s a show trying to make you feel the suffocating weight of a long-term marriage and the secrets people keep to survive.
Because King had total control, we get the "full King." That means weird slang, dream-logic that doesn't always track, and a focus on the interior life of a widow that most thrillers would skip to get to the monsters. If you’re a fan of his more meditative books like Bag of Bones, this is your jam. If you want the high-octane energy of It or Misery, you’re going to find this incredibly frustrating.
Visually, the show is a masterclass. The transition between the "real" world and the supernatural "Boo’ya Moon" is handled with a level of artistry you don't usually see in horror TV. It’s lush, colorful, and genuinely unsettling. Julianne Moore and Clive Owen carry the emotional load with ease, making the relationship feel lived-in and authentic.
The friction comes from the pacing. Critics weren't lying when they called it a "snoozefest." There are long stretches where the plot simply parks the car and looks out the window. For a story about a terrifying stalker and a literal monster, it spends a lot of time on people sitting in chairs thinking about the past. It’s a mood piece, and if that mood doesn't grab you in the first twenty minutes, the next seven hours will feel like a chore.
This isn't just "scary." It’s heavy. The show deals with self-harm and childhood abuse in ways that are graphic and lingering. It’s not just a plot point; it’s the DNA of the story. Before you decide to watch this with a teenager who thinks they're ready for "adult" horror, check out our parent’s guide to Lisey’s Story to see if the specific triggers here are a dealbreaker.
If your teen liked the atmospheric dread of The Haunting of Hill House, they might appreciate the craft here. But where Hill House uses ghosts to explain family trauma, Lisey’s Story uses trauma to explain the ghosts. It’s a subtle difference that makes this show much harder to shake off.
Don't try to binge this. It’s too thick. The "airless" quality critics mentioned is real, and watching more than one episode at a time can feel like drowning in velvet. It’s better as a slow-burn weekly watch.
Watch it for the performances and the world-building, but keep your expectations in check regarding the "thriller" aspect. It’s a grief study with a side of supernatural weirdness. If you go in expecting The Conjuring, you’ll be bored. If you go in expecting a high-budget art house film that happens to have a monster in it, you might actually find something special.
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