The Tommyknockers (1993)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Best movie of this year hands down!

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

the ship was wrong, the dog was wrong, the people at the vet were wrong, the poetry party scene was wrong, Bobbi and Gard's reunion in Bobbi's dooryard was wrong, Hilly's two magic shows were wrong, the way Hilly got the magic kit was wrong. Becca was very wrong, the total lack of anything happening outside haven was wrong, the town name was wrong, the excavating of the ship was wrong, Ruth was wrong, (from her last name to her ultimate fate), the interior of the ship was wrong, David's rescue was wrong, Bobbi's fate was wrong, hell the entire town's fate was wrong, the scene in the post office had the wrong character talking to Nancy Voss about missing mail, Butch Dugan was wrong (from his size, his nick-name is "monster", to his ultimate fate), the state troopers' death scene was all wrong, which has me asking again, did the people that made the movie even read the book at all?

I loved Salem's Lot, liked The Stand and It and initially had mixed views on the Shining thinking it somewhat pointless but found it far more impressive on re-watch. But I didn't like the TommyKnockers, in fact I found it almost unwatchable. It has nothing to do with its faithfulness or lack of to the source material, I just couldn't get into it on its own terms.Are there any redeeming values? Well the music is reasonably atmospheric, and Mary Helgenberger plays her part excellently, also it does start off promisingly.However, the special effects are rather slapdash and cheap, not helped by some rushed editing and flat camera work. The dialogue is clunky and stilted, the story moves at an uneven pace with some choppy and unimaginative scenes and gimmicks- I found myself scratching my head at points especially the lipstick idea which felt thrown in and didn't feel like Stephen King at all-, the love scenes are cheesy and slow the adaptation down and the ending brings the word silliness to a whole new level. The pace is pedestrian as well, the direction is sluggish and the acting apart from Helgenberger is not great. Jimmy Smits is very miscast and awkward and Traci Lords is incredibly irritating and out of place.Overall, a disappointment. 2/10 Bethany Cox

The novel Tommyknockers was one of Steve King's earlier attempts to do sci-Fi, and it was only moderately successful. King fused his usual horror plot structure formula to a basic alien possession plot and added his standard strong character development. The characters were, in this case, better than the plot deserved. John Power's three-hour TV adaptation leaves most of the story intact, but drops some of the crazier and more absurd elements of the original work. Even without reading the original, those familiar with King's work will notice the restrained manner in which the climax takes place.In the woods behind Bobbie Anderson's (Marg Helgerson) house, something is buried. Some say it is an Indian curse, some say it's a holy place, but in general, the members of the little New England town of Derry don't go there. But one day, while her recovering alcoholic boyfriend Jim Gardner (Jimmy Smits) is out doing a poetry reading, Bobbie and her dog Pete start digging. Before long, Derry starts experiencing miracles, accompanied by green glowing lights.The casting is superb, and with the exception of an overcooked performance by Traci Lords, the acting is fairly good. Smits and Helgerberger are very good. The characterizations in this three hour long film fairly represent the original work, but the script lacks some of the original's punch. The cinematography is solid for a TV movie and the special effects are good. Tommyknockers is well edited, competently directed and fairly entertaining, but, like the original novel, it is not one of King's better works.Recommended for King fans. Weakly recommended for Sci-Fi fans.

this movie was so bad compared to the book. There was so many things that happened in the book that didn't happen in the movie. Ev Hillman gave Hilly the magic set on his birthday, the movie he had it before his birthday. In the movie he did his trick at his party, in the book it was at a friends party. In the book it was described to me anyway that the ship was flat and silver. But in the movie it was boxier and square. In the Book Ruth blew up the clock tower, movie her dolls killed her and she went missing. Movie Butch Dugan got killed by a coke machine instead of shooting himself in the head in the book. There was no mention of the Bangor Daily News guy. BUT those things were just little things compared to the end of the movie. When him and Bobbi went into the ship and the tommy knockers were alive (book they were dead) and then they found the missing brown boy in the ship and freed him then Bobbi and the boy got out while Gard flew the ship in the sky and blew it up but in the BOOK Gard killed Bobbi tried to help save the little boy with the transmitter but he thought he failed but the kid ended up in the hospital room with his brother. And then Gard got into the ship and fire was everywhere and all the people who became were after him got into the ship and it took off to where he didn't know and then the book ended.The movie was nothing like that. It was disappointing and the book was pretty good.