Solid. Steven King wrote an interesting book based on his own work as Richard Bachman, and the voices in his head. Tim Hutton isn't convicing as a writer. A really great star would've made this sing. Amy Madigan must be so sick of playing wives. Michael Rooker solid as a cop.
Not sure they got the POV of this right. Maybe better via Rooker? Or be upfront about Hutton?
Good story though.
George Romero tries to keep up with the times with a found footage zombie movie which ages worse - being on video or whatever rather than film. Maybe the years will be kind. Some comic bits like the Amish killing zombies - which might've made a decent movie on its own. Ditto the black survivors who want to create a black world. Either plot would be better than focusing on "hmmm... why do you want to film everything." It's the end of the world. Of course you want to film it.
Unwise voice over. Ditto the old character spouting English. Uneven acting. Some decent kills and moments.
But this feels like well worn territory.
Fantastic book. Big subject but superbly done, great research (access to archives) very thorough and fair. Deep dives on unmade films such as Napoleon and AI. Discusses Kubrick's interest in sex, often ignored by critics. Covers his arseholeness and eccentricities. The book is really fair.
Full of interesting stuff - his battles to make things, a daughter turning into anti-Semitic neo con, his dreams of moving to Australia, James Brolin was considered for The Shining.
Splendid.
Jack Nicholson starts at nine and keeps going higher. Shelley Duvall magnificient. Ditto Danny Lloyd. I get why Steven king is upset, the film skips the essential human tragedy of Jack Torrence, but offers other pleasures. Wonderful atmosphere.
I love how George Romero blew his success of Dawn of the Dead on this. Bikers as knights. No one dies. So many subplots. No drama. Nothing at stake. No one dies. I kept expecting the Guinnevere triangle, or the Nazi bikers to come back or a big bunch of cops to attack... something. But no.
The actors give their all.
Solid book, slightly odd structure, excellent interviews (John Carpenter, Bill Phillips, Keith Gordon, Alex Paul though weirdly no John Stockwell or Steven King). No big behind the scenes dramas, just professionals doing a good job.
I don't know that much about Coscarelli despite him making some cult faves - Phantasm, Beastmaster, Bubba-Ho Tep. He had an amazing career, his first DIY feature picked up by a major studio as was his second. And Phantasm was a huge success. I wonder why he didn't do more. He was going to do Silver Bullet but it didn't work out he turned down Conan the Destroyer and Nightmare on Elm Street 2.
Interesting book. Perhaps overlong (could've done with less on screenings and the later films.)
Apparently Stephen King's original draft focused its opening scenes on the arguing couple as per his brilliant short story - I think he was aiming at a slow build tale along the lines of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Totally legitimate. But it went to New World who made a pulpier, shockier version (more "bumps" earlier) - also legitimate. It breaks POV to incoporate the young kids, which TBH is less scary. The couple who come across the town are happier, younger.
The film has a terrific story which cries out for atmospheric treatment and true horror. The cast are pretty good - the main kids are appropriately scary. But too much of it is silly like Peter Horton scolding them about religion. There's not a high enough death toll. No sense of dread. It's too much a vehicle for Peter Horton being heroic - with Linda Hamilton being rescued.
So basically you have to let go of this being a good movie and just enjoy its clunky straight to video ness.
A drop in quality. The adults aren't as good actors as the kids - Bill Hader is outstanding and James Ransome quite good but everyone else seems disinterested (Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy) or just not up to it. There's no chemistry, sense of the group, or personal drama.
Why get at least some good actors and not have them interact with drama? From memory there were subplots with the novel - Chastain had this abusive husband who came after her, and McAvoy was going to leave his wife who crashed the mission, and there was a love triangle between McAvoy and Jay Ryan.
That's cut out. Instead there's a bunch of ordinary set pieces and a bloated finale. The running time is so long. They would've been better off cutting the running time, increasing spookiness and having more character interaction, like a love triangle. Why have that dumb thing where a character's suicide is heroic instead of being terrifying? That's dumb.
I did enjoy the cameos from Steven King and Peter Bogdanovich and there's some nice shocks and Hader is amazing.
They nailed. The kids are genuiely young so the stakes are huge. Great set pieces. Stranger Things took a lot of from. Very spooky. Powerful.
Steven King's debut novel is a cracker, in part because it deals with universal themes and dreams - who hasn't felt neglected, bullied at high school, who doesn't know the cruelty of school and kids, and religious nutter parents, and who hasn't wanted telekenesis to help out. When Carrie knocks over that bratty kid on a bike it's hard not to feel joy - we've all wanted to do that to little turds. Everyone gets too Nancy Allen's desire for revenge, Amy Irving's desire to be kind. Betty Buckley's desire to be kind, Spacek'sfeelings of being isolated, longing for acceptance, delight... and desire for revenge.
The pig's blood is so primal. So its Carrie wiping out her class.
Brian de Palma was fortunate to have Sissy Spacek to play the lead - so achingly vulnerable, so believably plain but also capable of blossoming. The idiotic remake put a hot girl in this part.
PJ Soles and Nancy Allen are great bitches, ditto the tubby girl. John Travolta and William Katt impress too. I love Soles wearing a cap at the prom. Piper Laurie is fine too in the broadest role. There's no warmth from her towards Carrie, she's just mean... but it works at the end when Carrie comes to her for a hug because Spacek is so good (no knock on Laurie, she doesn't have a chance to do anything).
Brian de Palma is so ideal for this material I wonder why he's never done another King adaptation. Like a lot of De Palma it's very pervy (the opening shower seequence with full frontal nudity), plays tricks (the nudity goes to blood), wacky comedy (girls getting tired at gym, Katt and his mates buying tuxes). slow mo, split screen, movie references (Psycho like scene), slow motion, suspense sequences.
The scene where Betty Buckley slaps Nancy Allen is quite shocking. And John Travolta slaps Allen too. There's a lot of Allen slapping.
This has heart unlike a lot of De Palma filmes due to King, and the actors. The ending where Spacek is betrayed by his mother after reaching out is unbearably sad.
Carpenter took this as a job for hire but he's Carpenter at his peak and he does a good job. Mostly. I remember watching it as a young 'un and realising he didn't get the nuances of the novel. The film lacks emotional heart.
It doesn't get Keith Gordon falling in love with the car and convey about the car. Alexandra Paul is wooden. John Stockwell gives heart to his relationshp with Gordon. But the emotional pull of the piece is not as clear as the book. It's like it's going through the motions.
Stylish motions, though. Loved the bullies - the main one, his tubby sidekick who deserves death, ditto his gawky sidekick. Christine Belford is strong as mum. Robert Prosky feels a little under utlilised.
A solid King adaptation. Not top tier. I sense Carpenter missed the influence of Debra Hill on this one.
