10 Best Stephen King Movie Adaptations

4. Stand By Me

Rob Reiner's other King movie is even better, and the author's first movie adaptation outside of the horror genre. Stand by Me is a one-of-a-kind coming-of-age tale about four young boys (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O’Connell) who set off to find the dead body of a missing boy in 1959.

Reiner's sensitive direction and a fantastically adroit, highly relatable script ultimately take backseat to the four incredible performances at the film's core, without which it wouldn't be nearly as effective as it is.

So trenchant is the movie's examination of male youth that it's been shamelessly copied by dozens of other coming-of-age films over the years, few of which have got anywhere close to capturing the same wistful nostalgia and heart-warming depiction of friendship.