Desperation: Best TV Movie I've Ever Seen

So here goes again with another exciting post that no one will ever read. Last night I was lucky enough to see Stephen King's Desperation on the SciFi channel. I just got done listening to the audiobook so the story and characters were still fresh in my mind when I was watching it. I figured this would put the movie at a serious disadvantage considering movies rarely live up to the book's, but I think Desperation did a pretty good job both of casting a realistic portrayal of the characters in the book and of sticking relatively close to the story in the book.

Desperation is a pretty excellent story with a creepy plot that really just gets more and more creepy as it goes on. The story centers around a group of 8 protagonists and 1 antagonist (in the beginning anyway). We begin with a couple from New York who are driving across the country to return the husband's sister's car. Driving through Nevada, they are pulled over and arrested by a rather odd cop from the old mining town of Desperation. By rather odd, I mean including the phrase, "I'm going to kill you," in the Miranda rights.

After having dealt with the first couple (killing the husband who was Elliott in E.T. and introducing us to all but three of the rest of the characters in the film) the cop goes back hunting for more victims. So now in the prison there is a family of 3 (that used to be 4), an old veterenarian (the last living person from Desperation), and Elliott's wife.

We meet the truck driver and the hitchhiker he picked up and we follow their sideplot for a bit. Then finally the driver's boss comes into the scene-- a midlife crisis writer on a Harley taking a leak in the desert. After a good solid thrashing from the cop he is taken back to the police station and locked up with the others. From there the real story begins to unfold-- why the police officer who had worked there for 13 years suddenly went ape-shit and killed everyone in the town--why all the desert animals seem to be at his control-- what exactly went on in the "China Pit" mine, and what was awakened...

The movie itself is pretty well done for having been done as a TV movie. The casting, as I have already said, was excellent. The cop, played by Ron Perlman, was exactly as described in the book. The deviance from the book was actually quite minimal. One fairly superfluous character was not included in the film, which didn't really bother me. She didn't exactly add anything to the plot that could not be added by someone else. Also, the scene where the old-timer with the bike had a flashback/nightmare sequence about when he was in Vietnam was probably even better done than I remember from the book.

I certainly liked this movie more than most, and I think that it is just another example of Stephen King's books making excellent movies (Pet Semetary still scares me to this day). I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a good solid horror flick.

Best Death: Being blown up and then having a huge mine collapse from above.
Kill Rate: 55% (Not including the entire town that got wiped out and the China Pit Massacre scene)
"Skills of Kills": ****
Gore: ***
Creepiness: ***
Plot: ****
Overall: ****

Death Rage: Mis-categorized "horror" film, but still entertaining.

Happy May Day everyone! Not that I particularly know the meaning or traditions of May day, but I figure it was worth mentioning for those of you who do celebrate this holiday. I remember having celebrated May Day with my church but the internet is talking about traditions of secular nature, so who the hell knows? Perhaps comment if you would like to throw in your two-cents.

So anyway, the movie I watched today was called Death Rage, billed originally as Con la rabbia algi occhi in Italian. Apparently a spaghetti western without the "western." For the sake of an easier, more american name, I'm going to call it Death Rage. This movie was obviously thrown into the set without someone having watched it... I suppose the americanized name would make it sound like a horror film, but... it wasn't. It was a mob flick, so I obviously can't review this movie in the same terms as I would a horror film. Nor have I seen nearly as many mob movies as I have horror flicks, but I'll do my best.

So basically this movie starts off with a concert in what I assume was New York City in which a mobster (I assume he was a mobster because he was wearing a suit, he looked Italian, and he was with two or three goons dressed likewise) is killed. The story then switches to a horse track in Naples where a young kibitzer (who I think kinda looked like Michael J. Fox, but what the hell do I know?) sorta advising an American which horse he should bet on. The kid goes into this shack looking more than a bit shady and surprise surprise, the horse he said would win would win. On his way out with his winnings, the American is set upon by a group of men who try to put him in their car, presumably to meet their boss. His bodyguard shoots one of them, and a shoot-out takes place ending up with the American dying. The cops confiscate his winnings and so the kid goes around looking to cut his winnings from the confiscated money. He finds out that the American's next of kin, a badass who bears a striking resemblence to Mr. Clean is coming into town to... settle the affairs.

The kid joins the Mr. Clean Mobster (after much persuading and begging) and they set out to settle the score. On the way, the kid's best friend, a stripper, and Mr. Clean Mobster fall in love (so there was a decent amount of bewbage), and the plot thickens as often happens with mob flicks. It's a pretty straightforward movie though, not hard to follow. Your standard mobster versus mobster versus cops situation in which the cops take a semi-sympathetic stance on one of the mobsters. It also had a tremendously 70's soundtrack, for which I happen to be a total sucker. Now don't get me wrong-- this isn't The Godfather or Goodfellas. I would rate it as... well, better than The Freshman with Matthew Broderick for what it's worth. I really enjoyed this flick and even though it's not a horror flick, I highly recommend it. I will definitely be watching this one again. If you ever get the chance, check it out.

Best Death: Thrown under a train the first night Mr. Clean Mobster came into town.
[Because this was not a horror film I won't rate it, but I do recommend it.]

Also, the coming movies seem pretty hopeful... Medusa and I Eat Your Skin.