To this day, even as we’re constantly inundated with new Stephen King adaptations, Stand by Me remains a perfect King film, and in retrospect serves as a flashpoint of the modern era. If the trope of kids-find-creepy-things-in-a-field reminds you a bit of Stranger Things, it should. But again, it’s hard to imagine Stranger Things ever getting made in 2016 without Stand by Me existing. Obviously, Stranger Things has evolved into a more complex and epic show, full of sci-fi world-building and various twists and turns. It’s debatable that Stand by Me is the best Stephen King movie of all time, and equally debatable that it’s one of Rob Reiner’s best movies.