“What is it with me and Stephen King movies on Sunday afternoons?
You know how I said the last cubby was filled with DVDs from a Newbury Comics run before my knee surgery? This one is filled with DVDs from a similar run, before going home for Christmas.
One thing I love about King is how he can take a very simple concept and make it ridiculously creepy. Ominous mist with unknown and unseen dangers trap people within a grocery store. Another thing I love is how unique and full his characters are. You really do get the sense that he knows people when he writes his motley crew. He gets them. And he knows the dark sides and complexities we all harbor. Despite whatever big bad may be out there, the real story (and the real threat) is with the people.
Really great cast of underappreciated actors. Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Alexa Davalos, Toby Jones, William Sadler, Sam Witwer, and a handful of future Walking Dead actors. That prolly has something to do with the fact that screenwriter/director Frank Darabont (who also helmed King’s Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile, arguably the best of his adaptations) is also responsible for Dead.
Oh man, this ending. (Don’t worry, no spoilers) One of the most messed up things I’ve ever seen. I was in utter shock the first time. And if it weren’t for some casting unavailability, it would have been even worse. I haven’t read the novel, but I’m told King left his ending a bit more ambiguous. The clarity of this one is just wrong in so many ways. Trust me when I say that alone is worth watching this film for”