The Tommyknockers
by John Power
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Allyce Beasley, Jimmy Smits, John Ashton, Marg Helgenberger, Robert CarradineDirector: John Power
Brand: SMITS,JIMMY
Producer: Frank Konigsberg
Producer: Jane Scott
Producer: Jayne Bieber
Producer: Larry Sanitsky
Producer: Lawrence D. Cohen
Writer: Lawrence D. Cohen
Writer: Stephen King
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 181 minutes
Published: 1998-09-01
DVD Release Date: 1998-09-09
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate
Movie Reviews of The Tommyknockers
Movie Review: Gripping movie by the master of horror! Great visuals...
Summary: 5 Stars
Many years ago, I read the creative Stephen King book on which this movie is based and have always remembered it. King is a master at pacing, suspense and outright horror. This is one of his most unique plots, IMO. It kept me guessing...and reading long past my bedtime.
Now today was Stephen King Movie Day in my neck of the woods (no, not Maine, but Sunny Cali) and I just had to watch his Rose Red and The Tommyknockers. Both kept me on the edge of my seat, but I liked Tommyknockers best, so chose to review it first. I may review Red Rose later; it deserves it too.
I thought The Tommyknockers was a three-hour movie, but it lasted four hours. You can tell how much I was obsessed with it because nothing keeps me away from my computer for that length of time.
Of course, the movie was not as great as Stephen King's novel, but movies seldom live up to the books preceding them. I found The Tommyknockers very exciting, with so many twists and turns and "gory" visuals that it made me gasp over and over. Both Jimmy Smits and Marge Helgenberger were well-cast for their roles, making this science fiction adventure come to life for me. I couldn't believe what Helgenberger's character found in the woods and how it effected her and the entire Maine town where the action takes place.
I liked it so well, I went on Amazon.com and ordered a copy for a friend who was upset because she was out of town and missed this airing. When I like something well enough to put out hard-earned money, then that's a five-star recommendation to me.
If you decide to get your own copy of The Tommyknockers, be sure to lock your doors and keep some lights on. You will be THAT scared.
Reviewed by Betty Dravis, February 1, 2010
Author of "Dream Reachers" (with Chase Von) and other novels
Summary of The Tommyknockers
The small town of Haven becomes a hot-bed of inventions all run by a strange green power device. The whole town is digging something up in the woods, and only an alcoholic poet can unfathom the secret of the tommyknockers. Includes interactive menus, scene access, and trailer.Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Release Date: 30-JUN-2000
Media Type: DVD
The Tommyknockers is a TV miniseries based on Stephen King's 1987 novel. An alien spacecraft has been buried beneath the Burning Woods near the small rural New England community of Haven for millions of years, but has now by chance been unearthed by Bobbi (Marg Helgenberger) while digging around in the woods behind her house. The structure in the woods begins to exert a glowing-green influence on the town, causing the people to invent Rube Goldberg-like gizmos, develop the gift of telepathy, lose their teeth, and form a hive-mind mentality bent on digging up the ship and revivifying the desiccated aliens within. Luckily, Bobbi's significant other is an alcoholic poet (Jimmy Smits) who needs to learn to face his fears. He also has a metal plate in his head that prevents the hive-minders from reading his thoughts and makes him immune to the neon-green influence of the aliens. Ultimately, it's up to him to save the day. Although the acting is topnotch, especially from Smits and Helgenberger, and there are plenty of gooseflesh moments, there are also enough plot holes here to fuel a very long and enjoyable evening's conversation. Why do the aliens start in at this time, when they've been causing legends in the woods for ages? Where does an alien ship buried for ages get all that dry ice? How does the Smits character make a living as a poet? One suspects that King's fine sense of New England characterizations is given short shrift here, and that the woods in his mind teem with more alien thoughts than the TV miniseries form could embody. Welcome appearances by congenial actors abound, notably Joanna Cassidy, E.G. Marshall and Robert Carradine. And there's a slutty postal letter-carrier played authentically by Traci Lords. --Jim Gay
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