NEW Desperation (DVD)

Stephen King, as reknowned as he is, has a bad habit of recycling ideas for his books. Likewise, films based on his books, particularly the made for TV ones, are often nothing short of awful. Desperation has its moments, but is too muddy, too weird, and too saccarine sweet at times.

The film feels overly familiar to other King adaptations such as the Langoliers, IT and even the Stand. A group of sundry people are trapped in a Nevada ghost town and are at the mercy of a powerful earth demon or entity known as Tak, who dates back to an ancient, pre-Native American civilization. In the first half of the movie, Tak is played by the woefully underrated Ron Perlman, one of my favorite actors. Perlman chews up the scenery and seems to be enjoying himself. But the problem is that Tak can only inhabit human bodies for short amounts of time as they decompose rapidly, so Perlman isn't really seen in the second act. Lots of familiar actors and actresses show up, including Tom Skerrit as a Vietnam vet writer, Matt Frewer, Anabeth Gish and Stephen Webber. However, things get really muddled in the clash of good vs. evil. There are ENDLESS speeches and pep talks about God and christian faith, its really tiresome. However, the little boy who stands in for Danny from the Shining often finds himself asking if maybe the God he worships might be no less sadistic than Tak, so things aren't all black and white. The atmosphere of the town of Desperation is cool, but suffers from bad lighting. Probably the creepiest scene is a supernatural old film reel of how Tak was released from its ancient slumber.

Its too bad that there wasn't much light shed on what exactly is Tak trying to accomplish. It simply awakens, posseses people, controls animals and that's about it. It would also have been cooler if they delved a bit deeper into the ancient civilization that is connected with Tak. Oh well, if you're a King fan you might eat it up.

Tak!

So I thought I only saw pieces of the ABC presentation of Desperation. On TV I thought I missed the chapter about the first family, David's family, and how they came to be in the town jail. It turns out I didn't miss anything, that's the way it was filmed. When I heard the film was available on DVD and "R" rated, too, I vowed to rent it and see the movie as it was designed to be seen. Curses, gore, adult scares and, perhaps a booby! One wouldn't expect anything but the most watered down presentation on ABC but the "R" rated version, oh boy!

The DVD, rated "R", was EXACTLY the same presentation word for word and scene for scene with the only difference being the exclusion of commercials. I'm going to say, and prove me wrong, that the "R" rating was slapped on the DVD to intice people to rent it to see the original adult version. What a sneaky rip-off. How can they do that?

Overall, the movie was not great. The ending was completely tacked on and I got a little tired of the sermonizing. The performances were OK, with the exception of Ron Perlman's performance. He was outstanding.

I know Amazon sells this DVD but they also sell the book and the book is much more satisfying. It's hard to believe the same guy that wrote the movie also wrote the book. I'm sure everybody made lots of money on this project but I'd like my money back.

I read the book first and was a little disappointed to see they'd left so much that was on the pages out of the movie, but it was still a good horror flick in the King line up. Since I collect both his books and movies, this one certainly won't be left out. When characters crossing the desert find themselves face to face with a crazed cop, there's no hope of escape...or is there? The plot thickens as they discover it's not just a matter of an officer gone mad, but dealings with ancient supernatural spirits/Gods. A young boy may be their only salvation, if they choose to trust his visions.

I would've liked to have seen a slightly longer movie with more of the book, and especially a vital character that was left out, added in. However, I don't believe King movie fans will be disappointed.

Chrissy K. McVay - Author