Desperation (2006)

Desperation

This is a TV movie by Stephen King (both the novel the movie is based on and the teleplay). I usually find Stephen King's dramas better thn his horrors, but I did enjoy Storm of the Century and The Stand (interesting that both were made for tv and not theatrical releases).

The Good:
Tom Skerritt, Steven Weber and Ron Perlman were all pretty decent in the movie.
The story itself was ok, though it seems to have been done before in one form or another.
For a tv movie it was fair.

The Bad:
The pacing was weird, not exactly "bad" but weird.
It didn't have the impending sense of doom like the other made for tv S.K. stuff.
Some of the characters were a little 2-D.

Overall: I would say that mediocrity reigns supreme in this feature. I give you as many Signs as possible to only watch this on a day where your want for a movie moves you to "Desperation".

I do think I am going to rewatch the other made-for-tv S.K. stuff though.

Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990)

Psycho IV: The Beginning

(originally written 10/25/06)

Ah, my favorite time of year, especially for televison. I love the week before Halloween because I always see at least one new horror movie (new to me at least). The first one this year is Psycho IV: The Beginning. To be honest, here comes the blasphemy, I didn't care for the original. The first Psycho wasn't "bad", it just did nothing for me. In my opinion, Hitchcock's suspense movies are amazing, while his horror movie are terribly lacking...

The Good:
Perkins is always in rare form playing Norman Bates, I may not have cared much for the original, but his acting is nice and creepy in both it and in this one.
It was good to see Henry Thomas doing something like this, not that he was great, but he was interesting.
The scenes with Norman's mom were nice, she was somewhat of a bipolar, maniac depressive, hypersexual, power-mad monster... I really liked her .

The Bad:
The ending.
The way the psychologist reacted during the radio show was ridiculous.
The radio station crew were a yawn fest, their lines could have been written by a hack writer's dog while sleeping.
I would have liked a little more story from the present, the constant flashbacks were cool and all but the last good portion of the film was in the present so... well, it just didn't sit right with me.

Overall: It was a TV movie I think, not sure though. It was okay for what it was, I would call it average, could have used more blood, perhaps a Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace without the cool lightsaber duel.