Stephen Kings Tommyknockers

Stephen King's bestseller "The Tommyknockers" is adapted for television in a form of mini-series, three hours long movie aired as two hour and a half long episodes. The film is full of well-known faces, which are not famous enough for me to know their names, but which leave the impression of dear friends that I have not seen for a long time. The only face I immediately linked with the name is the face of Traci Lords, although the first association to this name definitely isn't a face. The first hour and a half introduces us to the Haven, a small town in New England, brings us closer to its inhabitants and slowly introduces us to the story through a series of inexplicable events. Near the end of the first part, these events are getting more and more serious, but altogether it can not be classified as horror. The film is based almost exclusively on characterization, while only indications of the real plot test our patience in anticipation of the second part. Although it captured King's atmosphere well enough, to many of you it will probably be boring, for what most movies pack in the first ten minutes this one stretches to ninety. However, I quite enjoyed it. In the second part, the story gradually accelerates, culminates, and ultimately disappoints with the outcome that essentially makes sense, but is made in an over-the-top manner that is inconsistent with the rest of the film. And once again a good movie is spoiled by an explicit display of unconvincing creatures and an action finale that is naive and stupid. If the end had been left indecisive, only implying what happened and leaving us to wonder and speculate, the film would have been more balanced and stronger. But I'm not surprised, because spoiling a potentially good story in this way is quite common, and when it comes to adaptations of Stephen King, one can say that it's a tradition.

5,5/10

Why on Earth does this only have a 5.1? In my opinion, this was much better than Storm of the Century, which has a 7.1 (all ratings as of 5/30/08).

The plot is very well written. A buried alien craft slowly turns the citizens of a small town into mind-reading, odd-gizmo-inventing slaves.

The acting was excellent. Great performances by Jimmy Smits, Marg Helgenberger, John Ashton, Robert Carrdine, Joanna Cassidy, and Allyce Beasley.

The music was very creepy, and very fitting.

The CGI was very good also, especially for a 1993 TV movie/series.

There were some very shocking scenes, and a lot of interesting little plots here and there. All of these together make a King Classic, but it doesn't seem to get the recognition it deserves. 8/10.

Aside from the odd exception, Stephen King has rarely transfered well to the big or small screen, and along comes this little mini-series which is a by-numbers example of what actually gets lost in translation. Firstly: when these novels are adapted for the screen, fundamental elements of the plot are excised or replaced, and this is true of even the better King-flicks ("The Shining" and "Carrie" are just as guilty as pulp trash like "Needful Things" and "Cujo"). "The Tommyknockers" begins as if it's going to buck the trend, establishing the majority of the usual King misfits early on, and actually adds a little suspense by not showing its hand too early - for example, this adaptation does not make clear what's buried out back in Bobbie's farm straight away. But as the town begins to be affected by said item, it's off into it's own world, and toss the novel out the window. Granted, some of the more imaginative gimmicks the township dreams up cannot be translated to screen with the appropriate panache, especially with the meagre budget allocated to this project - but does everything need to look so cheap? Much of the dialogue at best doesn't ring true, at worse stinks. Witness the actually quite good Marg Helgenberger delivering some awful lines ("Gard, let's experience it together!") but in an offhand way that suggests that she's really aware that she's not in a Mamet play, but, Hell, let's make the best of it anyway. Any good points? Well, Joanna Cassidy is always worth watching, but an actress of her class still can't make a thrown together middle-age romance look realistic. Helgenberger and Allyce Beasley come out of it with the least mud sticking. Worst crimes? Jimmy Smits completely miscast, terrible dialogue, cheap effects, complete massacre of the source material, Traci Lords all at sea outside of a John Waters movie or skinflick ... the list goes on.

One of King's lesser novels is transformed into one of the worst adaptations of his work so far. King's incredible imagination has always proved difficult to translate to the screen, which seems too small to contain everything on the page. There have been, literally, a handful of decent adaptations of his work, but it is usually the less graphic stories, or those dealing with a psychological horror rather than a physical presence that transfer best.

'The Tommyknockers' treads familiar King ground, and is very reminiscent if 'Needful Things', with an unknown force entering the lives of the community and turning one against the other for it's own end. There is a tormented and fallible hero, innocence is lost and found, there's an old codger with tales to scare the kids, and strange goings-on down at the old Indian burial ground. All par for the course then. The version I've seen was a shortened video version, which made no sense at all. Characters and events seemed to materialise without warning and act without any compulsion at all. It appears that most of the plot development has been removed too, but, to be honest, sitting through another 60 minutes would've only induced more boredom, not enlightenment. The result is an amateurish, uninteresting, and frightless mess.

I first watched 'Tommyknockers' on VHS back in the nineties. I'd been a fan of horror writer Stephen King's work and knew that some of them didn't translate well to film, while only a few did the source material justice. 'Tommyknockers' falls somewhere between the best and the worst. I have to confess that I always enjoyed it and now own it on DVD. However, I wouldn't go as far as saying that it's a masterpiece, or up with the best of King's work (translated to film), or even horror in general.

If you've seen one Stephen King film then you'll know the time of place it's set. Yes, another small New England town falls foul to a supernatural force. This time it seems like whatever's going on is actually helping the residents, allowing them to 'think outside the box' so to speak and start designing all sorts of crazy (and hopefully profitable?) contraptions. So, while everyone from the postmaster to the local chef in the diner start work on weird inventions that will make their lives easier (and make them rich, of course), local writer Jim Gardner (Jimmy Smits feels a little left out. Whereas all his neighbours talk about receiving wonderful ideas beamed into his head, he jokes that it must be the metal plate in his head that's blocking the signal.

There are quite a few characters in 'Tommyknockers' and not all of them are particularly well developed. Some are downright cliches and you may find yourself cringing at some of their dialogue. There's some special effects here and there. The film runs for nearly three hours (in its extended cut) and pretty much all the way through the special effects look like the wouldn't be out of place on nineteen seventies 'Dr Who.' However, during the final act the film-makers obviously knew they better spend their budget somewhere and there are some pretty ugly nasties lurking beneath this quiet little town.

My biggest gripes with the movie was that, first, it's a bit all over the place. Some bits get quite tense and then there are long periods where nothing really happens, or it doubles down on a point it's already made in a previous scene. However, like I say, I still enjoyed it and reckon that anyone who has an appreciation for Stephen King's filmic adaptations should give it a try, or if you're just in the mood for a nineties horror.

The only thing I always come away with was that I was never quite sure what the Tommyknockers' evil plan really was. It's sort of hinted/guessed at near the end, but never set in stone. I guess one drawback of only having the films (silent!) antagonists show up for the last ten minutes of the film means you're left wondering what they were trying to accomplish with their nefarious powers. Maybe it's in the book. But who's going to go to the trouble of reading a book in this day and age? It's fun enough and the very final scene always stuck with me over the years as a real dramatic high-point.