Truly Dreadful Film

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Best movie ever!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This fares better than much of Stephen King made-for-TV adaptations, though the episodes are hit or miss: BATTLEGROUND 8/10 - easily the best episode AND an homage to the greatest made-for-TV horror ever, "Trilogy of Terror." There's even a cameo by our friend the Zuni Doll! It goes the "no dialogue" route, and William Hurt pulls it off well. The FX are ace. Loved this one. Unfortunately, it's mostly downhill from here.CROUCH'S END 5/10 - this is pretty awful and Claire Forlani has got to be the worst working "name" actress, but there's something eerie in it's Lovecraft-ness that I appreciated for a bit.THE ROAD VIRUS HEADS NORTH 4/10 - Meh. It's good to see Tom Berenger and Marsha Mason working again. I guess.UMNEY'S LAST CASE 7/10 - It has a neat noir-ish feel, mostly created by the inimitable character acting of William H. Macy.THE END OF THE WHOLE MESS 6/10 - eh, this didn't translate too well, but it's watchable.THE FIFTH QUARTER 7/10 - This one's sort of a heist story with great performances (Sisto, Samantha Mathis) and a surprising homoerotic subplot. Good stuff here.AUTOPSY ROOM FOUR 4/10 - another King adaptation ruined by Richard Thomas! YOU KNOW THEY GOT A HELL OF A BAND 4/10 - I remember reading this as a youngster and finding it REALLY eerie. What's not to be scared of by evil dead rocknroll icons? Well, how about really lame evil dead rocknroll icon impersonators? This does not translate well to film.

The first episode set the bar quite high i thought. It starred William Hurt as a hit-man who is contracted to kill a toymaker. We are given very little information on his character or who is paying him to kill, indeed the episode is notable for having no dialogue at all. Returning to his modernist penthouse he is delivered a package containing toy soldiers, this gives him a smile but he dismisses it and goes about his business. But he is in for a night of hell, the soldiers are alive and are about to wage war, driving jeeps, shooting machine guns and bazookas and even flying helicopters!. The special effects are good for a TV show and it becomes quite tense as he dodges around the apartment using his wits to survive, sometimes getting the upper hand and other times not. I wont spoil the ending but suffice to say it was a clever little twist. This gave me hope for the rest of the series but i was in for a disappointment, the other episodes were all rubbish and i lost interest by the fourth one. Stephen King adaptations are always a mixed bag and these are no exception

I am addicted to these great episodes - the production values are excellent and they are done almost to perfection. Two quibbles with "The Road Virus Heads North," though. They are pretty good with signs like "Route 1 North" and exterior shots of Boston, such as the Zakim Bridge, etc. However, when Tom Berenger checks into the Windsor Hotel, supposedly in downtown Boston, you can clearly see palm trees in the background (uh, not too many of those around here.) Also, he stops for gas at a "Caltex" station - definitely NOT a New England brand (only Mobil and Exxon around here, folks.) Anyway, it's too bad they didn't quite nail the details.

The first week was fabulous: Battleground had absolutely no dialogue which was a risky proposition, and I'm glad TNT took a chance on it. William Hurt was very good as the rock hard killer who completely breaks down when confronted by a box of toy soldiers. The direction is very slick for a television show, the music was a bit on the nose but overall this was a great show to start the series off with.Crouch End is so far the creepiest of the episodes, it has the most horror elements in it so far and contains a lot of themes that Stephen King writes about a lot: the girl with the claw hand, Lovecraftian imagery and of course a messed up cat! The look of this film was amazing. It will tick a lot of people off though because there really is no story other than two people lost and seeing weird stuff, but the director did a great job of making it look and feel spooky.Umney's is a hard story to follow, and like Crouch End, is open to interpretation, which also will tick a lot of people off. There was quite a deviation from the original story that King fans will not like, but William H. Macy does a very nice job playing dual roles.End of the Whole Mess left me feeling empty: I feel like my emotions were manipulated all over the place to feel sorry for these characters when they brought it all upon themselves.I look forward to week 3!