Unlike a lot of entries on this list, Dreamcatcher had a whole lot going for it. A story about a man forced to compete in mindless violence for people’s entertainment is simply turned into mindless violence for people’s entertainment. Why have social commentary when Arnold can be punching something? It’s actually extremely ironic. And here it is, turned into an action vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger. There’s a sense of dead-on black humor about violence and television, and the relationship and nature of both. The novella, written under the Richard Bachman pseudonym, is one of King’s most poignant, scathingly accurate pieces of science fiction. It’s fun, it’s fast-paced and entertaining, it’s a lot of things but it is not the book. I’m not going to say The Running Man is not a fun feature. At least he seems to be the only one to understand what kind of production he’s in. Robert Englund appears, but under a ton of old age makeup and with bionic legs, for no real reason. When the machine starts moving around to stalk its prey, that’s when the movie really becomes a treat. It’s a testament to King’s ability as a writer that he can somehow make a possessed laundry press work on the page, but on film it’s a hard sell. Some things don’t just translate well to the screen. I’ve talked quite a bit about Tobe Hooper’s hit or miss career, but even I was surprised by how truly bad The Mangler could be when it really wanted. On top of that, it features some of the worst Maine accents ever committed to film. Instead, we have many normal rats who happen to be rather aggressive and one big mother rat-which is much more bat-like, really. It takes away a lot of the charm of the various mutated forms of rats in King’s story. I’ll admit that Graveyard Shift grows on you over time, but that doesn’t mean it’s a successful adaptation. The filmmakers had that take a backseat, deciding that the true focus should be on Traci Lords seducing men with alien lipstick. Even if King didn’t realize it at the time, this was his book about succumbing to addiction. Most of the plotlines are completely removed, characters who appeared in one or two scenes are fleshed out into primary antagonists. And I say that as someone who actually enjoyed the novel it’s based on, which is not widely considered to be one of the author’s best. Some of them have succeeded, like It and Storm of the Century. There have been a wealth of Stephen King miniseries for television over the years. See Also: Six of the Most Baffling Stephen King Sequels The Tommyknockers But sometimes the budget is simply too small to feasibly bring what’s on the page to life, other times, they just don’t understand what they’re working with at all. In most cases, the story was there, if only they had found the right approach to it. It is a different thing entirely, and much more common, when a movie fails both in the adaptation and on its own. Srpski Film (aka A Serbian Film) generated no small amount of controversy following its first American screenings at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival.CLICK HERE For 100s of FREE Trashy Horror Movies! Not long after Milos arrives on set, he realizes this will not be an ordinary porn film, and as he's dosed with drugs and led from one extreme of sex, violence, and human debasement to another, Milos becomes aware that his physical and emotional survival is being put to the ultimate test. Milos agrees, even though Vukmir won't tell him what the movie is about. Vukmir (Sergej Trifunovic) is a mysterious man who offers to pay Milos a huge sum to appear in his next film - enough to support his family for life. Milos has been having serious money problems and wants to better provide for his family, so when an old friend tells him about a wealthy filmmaker who'd like to work with him, he's willing to listen. Milos (Srdjan Todorovic) was once a star in pornographic movies, well known for his ability to perform longer than any of his peers, but he gave up his career and now lives a quiet life with his wife and young son. Filmmaker Srdjan Spasojevic pushes the boundaries of what can (or should) be shown onscreen in this violent and malignly erotic thriller.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |