Meanwhile, King has counted Rob Reiner's 1986 film amongst his favourite adaptations of his work. Like, duh - it's incredible. Taking the skeleton of the novella The Body, Stand By Me fleshes out the story of three pre-pubescent friends in fifties small-town America who go off in search of the body of a peer who has been missing for week. Stand By Me is a classic example of it's not the destination, it's the journey. In fact, when the group actually arrive at the body, it's a bitter-sweet moment, something of a damp squib, as they realise tracking down a corpse is actually sort of a messed up reason to go on a camping trip. Even more so when Keifer Sutherland turns up and threatens to stab 'em. Sutherland is just a small part of a great ensemble cast: Corey Feldman shines as the kid with the family history of mental illness doomed to end up in an asylum alongside his veteran father, Jerry O'Connell gives the comic relief Vern some humanity (along with stupidity), but it's River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton as the tragic central pair that steal the show. What's your favourite Stephen King movie? Share your thoughts down in the comments.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/