The Stand (1994)

The TV mini series of the Stephen King epic novel exploring a world that has had 99% of the population wiped out and this is the story of the survivors as they try to find their way in a world they no longer recognise. This is usually shown in 4 parts and is still very short compared to the scope, scale and detail of the book. I have read the book 3 or 4 times and it is my favourite Stephen King book and is actually one of my favourite books of all time.

This visual representation is actually a very good compared to the book and grabs the major points, I have to say as in all of these cases the book is far and away more involving and I would recommend that everybody reads the book. You follow several characters through a plague that starts like the flu and has a 100% mortality rate however there are a small amount of people who are immune to the virus. You have Stuart Redman played by Gary Sinise, Fran Goldsmith played by Molly Ringwald, Ralph Brenter played by Peter Van Norden, Nick Andros played by Rob Lowe and Larry played by Adam Storke.

There is a large supporting cast that capture the characters as written by Stephen King and as he has a small part in the film I presume he approved of all of the changes and helped to sculpt it for the TV from his original book. As a TV serial of a book I really enjoyed it, I think though that my love of it comes from my love of the book and the fact that it is quite true to the book. I give it 3 stars, I would love to see a 12 part serialisation of this perhaps going in a bit more depth and darkness. If you have read the book worth seeing and if into good old  fashioned post apocalyptic stories.

Carrie (1976)

From 1976 from the mind of Stephen King and Brian De Palma comes the high school horror film Carrie. Starring Sissy Spacek as Carrie, Piper Laurie as her religious mother, Amy Irving and Nancy Allen as the girls that torture Carrie and John Travolta as Nancy Allen's boyfriend. The film follows Carrie White as she reaches womanhood and as her mother does not communicate with her in a proper manner when she bleeds for the first time she has no idea what is happening and her school colleagues being unsympathetic tease her you get the first glimpse of the pent up power within Carrie.

Another of the "Horror Classics" that I had not seen I watched this with fairly high expectations and while it was not as bad as I thought or hoped it was going to be I have to say that knowing there is some serious stuff going to happen it is quite tense and you are waiting for the scenes you possibly know about. The tension is quite good and is surely a mark of Brian De Palma as the director, as really this is a very simple story about bullying and what their actions bring them.

This was an excellent film and especially if you are into horror films and enjoy revisiting the "Classics" of this genre then this film is one for you. It also carries the trademark of the "B-Movie" ending which is always good with one final scare, this is a 4 star recommend from me, let me know if you have seen it and what you think of it. 

Christine (1983)

Film of 2012 #61


Stephen King's Christine brought to Life by the master of Horror that is John Carpenter, however this happened I am very happy to have seen the outcome. The story follows Arnie Cunningham played by Keith Gordon, who is bullied. He has nothing other than a friend who is on the football team Dennis played by John Stockwell. That is until passing a garden they see Christine for Sale, she is a beat up, broken down, junker that Arnie falls in love with and decides to restore so he has a cool car. However there is something supernatural about Christine and things start to happen.

I have read this book and it is better than the film but then this is usually the case when books are made into films. However this film still holds up to me, the story follows Arnie to begin with and then as things start to happen you switch to Dennis and the Girl that Arnie hooks up with played by a very Young Alexandra Paul as they try to figure out what is happening and what they can do to sort the situation.

This is a fun horror film with some good effects, some great music and an interesting story I really like the film a and would say that if you like Carpenters early works or the the writings of Stephen King then it is worth a look, it is 4 stars for me.

The Running Man (1987)

The Arnold Schwarzenegger film from 1987 based upon the book written by Richard Bachman who we all know is Stephen King, so you have a sci-fi film from the pen of Stephen King, I have never read the book but want to. This is another film that I have seen several times and I love it every time, it is the real height of Arnold's career where he gives all of his best one-liners including the I'll be back repeated from 1984's The Terminator.

I will see this many times again in the future and recommend that everybody gives it a go. You have a future where the corporations are running everything and the number one rated show on the network is The Running Man where criminals are sent in and killed by themed Stalkers, you have Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards who had been previously framed and escaped from jail and he is launched into the game zone. This film works so well as it puts the corporations with all the money as the bad guys and as liars.

This is a 4 star recommend for me, it suffers form being dated a bit and there are laws that some people will not get over but i think it is well worth seeing.

Monster Squad (1987)

Another film that after I started watching I realised that I had seen it many years before, this film is much loved especially amongst the Horror fans who see themselves as the protagonists and I have to say that while I was never that way as a youngster would love to go through what they do in this film as it is awesome.

They have all the bad guys from the Universal Classics with Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, the Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The Monster Squad itself is a strange group with what we would today class as nerds the youngster, the fat kid and the geek leader, strangely with the school cool guy thrown in as well.

This is an awesome film with many references to the classics including and awesome scene from Frankenstein with the little girl, there are also a couple of awesome quotes from the film with the T-Shirt at the start "Stephen King Rules" and "Wolfman has Nards" two classic quotes for me and make the film even more enjoyable as fans can throw them at each other long after the film has finished.

I am going to say 4 stars for this film, while I had a blast watching it there were a few issues with effects and some of the acting, however on the whole a film well worth seeing and a recommendation especially if you have any love for the Universal Classics or wanted to be in a cool gang as a small child.

The Kings Speech (2010)

After all of the Oscar hype surrounding this film I had to go and see it even though I had no real interest in the subject matter, I have to say that I am very glad that I did see it as it was awesome, it was funny and entertaining and keeps you engrossed. Colin Firth was fantastic as King Bertie and Helena Bonham-Carter also played a brilliant part as the Queen Mother however the star of the show for me was Geoffrey Rush, he was phenomenal as the speech therapist.

I would really like to know the accuracy of this story as it all seems really fantastic and I am sure that there is some dramatic license used. The film as a whole is an excellent piece of entertainment with what appears to be some good historical facts and characters.

This is a worthy Oscar film and gets the 5 star royal seal of approval from me, if you have not yet had a chance to see the film it is well worth seeing.

Children of the Corn (1984)

I watched this film on a Sunday morning while ironing, I had the box set and thought it would be worth watching as I had not seen any of them before. Not knowing anything about this i think I thought it would be like Village of the Damned (which I have never seen either). So I was surprised at how the film went.

With Linda Hamilton in a role that puts her back in the Terminator Sarah Connor role, the lost victim that needs to be saved. The story is pretty simple in today's market place the impact is a bit lost as there is little shocking gore and you are looking at a lot of kids. I think in it's time it would have been quite scary, however the end effects are not very good, typical Stephen King where the ending of his stories suck as he cannot end his excellent suspense stories.

I think that this is a 2 star film for me, there are some good scares and some good performances but to be honest it did not grip me and I don't think i will be in a rush to watch 2 and 3 but i am interested to see where they decide to go.