Stephen King's Desperation
by Mick Garris
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Annabeth Gish, Charles Durning, Matt Frewer, Steven Weber, Tom SkerrittDirector: Mick Garris
Brand: LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 131 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-08-29
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate
Movie Reviews of Stephen King's Desperation
Movie Review: Pathetic.
Summary: 2 Stars
Before I begin the onslaught of how truly awful this was, I wanted to see thie first review of this maybe for a eye shot of adrenaline to get the fingers working, and I really needed a laugh, this "Dr. Dolphin" character (Top 1000 Reviewer) giving Desperation FIVE STARS...hahhahahahahahaahahha, (oh my gut, oh, oh, stop, stop, hahaha) Quote: "The acting: This is what makes the movie." NO, NO, please believe me the acting did not make anything, but you wanting to howl. Oh wow and I thought it was interesting seeing African Americans walking around in Bethel, Maine last summer, indeed this is the formidable icing on the cake.
You want blood, sweat and tears on a review, and not to mamsy-pamsy it to the masses on amazon to get 100's of helpful votes, wherein a person dissents from the majority: then here you go. 2006's 'Desperation' like many amazing king novels which are just absolutely butchered (Tommy Knockers, The Stand, Needful Things, The Dark-Half, etc.), 'Desperation' starts out interestingly enough, I guess. I mean on the lonesome road from nowhere to somewhere in the middle of the land that God forgot, we can place the wooden, and absolutely untalented Henry Thomas (E.T.) in a vehicle, with a conversation that was so unmotivating, I thought, "wait, wait, this has to be a Stephen King based movie." The two carry on this horrible relationship through the first twenty minutes of the movie, and you are praying to your own personal God that either one of them gets mauled to stop the insanity. Ron Pearlman plays this overacted, possessed cop, and during his interactions with the unknowing travelers, his face becomes more grim, as the possession slowly eats away at the cocoon. (see friends, this entity takes control of the host body, and slowly, evidentally eats away at it, therefore each new body finds more feed, that being the unknowing travelers.)
I thought perhaps the superb Tom Skerritt (Picket Fences, Contact, A River Runs Through It) [to name my favorites] could help the overacting and pathetic dialog, while holding on to some semblance while an ensemble forms in the local town of Desperation's police station. It doesn't. It tries to, but what movie doesn't try overtly to become cohesive. The grounding is formulaic, and it's petty. Ok, so let's go back to that acting made the movie comment by doctor death there. Amazing? To whom, Helen Keller? Shane Haboucha, playing the young boy David in the film, who suffers tremendous loss, did a really good job, as he UNDOUBTEDLY carried the entire film, however his acting was pushed, rushed and so scripted, there was no emotional creativity in the least. (His crying scenes were as paltry as Culkin trying to be something other than Kevin McCallister)
Desperation is what you scream out during the last scenes of the movie, because the name is fitting considering how rancid the cutting is. I wont give anything away, but the ending in itself is enough to make most film lovers drop their jaws in horror at exactly why the director would allow such complete absurdity in a film, and a voiceover that you thought would be from a man behind the curtain who you aren't supposed to pay atttention to. While it had its moments, it never found a leg to stand on from the opening scene. (Argento anyone?)
AWFUL, but an extra star because the boy did give it a go.
Summary of Stephen King's Desperation
In This Town There Are No Accidents.Cross-country travelers on an isolated highway are arrested by a corrupt sheriff and taken to the local jail in Desperation Nevada. Handcuffed in the back seat of the police cruiser they watch in horror as they pass townspeople lying dead in the streets. When the sheriff begins to physically transform the wayward hostages realize there is a deeper and bigger evil at play in the town of Desperation.System Requirements:Running Time: 130 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R UPC: 031398196396 Manufacturer No: 19639Director Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers), also recruited by Stephen King to remake The Shining, knows how to capture King's horror aesthetic on film. Desperation, based on a more recent King novel, is a pastiche of earlier King novelties, such as the psycho in uniform, this time Sheriff Collie Entragian (Ron Perlman), and dogs summoned by the devil, this time by TAK, an ancient Chinese demon. Desperation, Nevada has a collapsed mine full of Chinese immigrant ghosts, whose spirits are trapped with TAK until they're accidentally unleashed. The TAK-possessed local sheriff is killing everyone, save a few travelers who stumble through on road trips. In the opening scene, Mary (Annabeth Gish) and her beau are pulled over by Sheriff Entragian, framed by his placing of marijuana in their trunk, then read their rights with a Satanic "I will kill you" thrown in. Later, Steve (Steven Weber), Cynthia (Kelly Overton), and Vietnam vet John Marinville (Tom Skerrit), ride into town, and they too encounter the evil policeman's wrath. They all meet a brave, imprisoned boy, David (Shane Haboucha), with whom they team up to end the mayhem. Desperation uses blue and green lighting to embrace the funhouse look, and camera shots highlighting the Sheriff's deranged face make the film occasionally spooky. But the rehashed plot detracts from the fear-factor, leaving one to pine for earlier King story adaptations, like Misery, or Cujo.--Trinie Dalton
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