Thinner (1996)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

the audience applauded

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

As Stephen King adaptations go, this is a fair attempt at what I found to be one of King's most disturbing novels. The idea of your own body gradually changing for the worse, and you not being able to do a damn thing about it, is a particularly horrifying one and one which translates well to the big screen. Okay, so the acting isn't that great, but it's the clever storyline which carries this film through from the start to the finish and it works.What I like most about King's novels - and filmed works - is the theme of gradual transformation, or decay. In SALEM'S LOT and NEEDFUL THINGS it's the community which is slowly taken over, while in CHRISTINE - and indeed, THINNER - it's the individual who becomes taken over by evil. This film works due to some very good special effects work which sees Burke transform from a 297 pound monstrosity to a human skeleton, with skin stretched taught over his thin frame. Due to the excellent nature of the effects, this transformation is always 100% believable, which is lucky really as it carries the whole film along.There's a slow tension which burns in the background here, a feeling of unstoppable damnation which follows Burke whenever he's on screen. Obviously the revelations at the end don't live up to the audience expectations, but the build-up is very suspenseful. The acting is not brilliant, but good enough for this kind of mainstream film, with Joe Mantegna stealing the show as a cruel, heartless gangster type. His role would be a godsend for any actor, giving them a chance to be extremely vicious in a fun way. Lucinda Jenney is also effective as Burke's leech-like, two-timing wife. Burke himself is hardly convincing, but he manages to convey that harassed/frightened/disturbed look pretty well.Although not gory, there are some gruesome moments involving various dismembered or desiccated corpses which pop up every now and then for that shock moment. The one I liked best was a man who had been deformed with a chicken or something - pretty disgusting. There's another good moment where Burke is shot through the palm with a ball bearing, giving the producers a chance to use a perforated hand special effect, much the same as the one in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN. Some out of place action turns up to keep the wheels turning, along with a voluptuous and glamorous gypsy girl (there just aren't enough of these in films these days). The twist ending is a fun one, and there are plenty of things to enjoy here if you don't mind a bit of light entertainment. This is a film which is difficult to take seriously, but a lot of fun.

An obese Lawyer finds himself growing Thinner when an old gypsy man places a curse on him.Now the lawyer must call upon his friends in organised crime to help him persuade the gypsy to lift the curse.Time is running out for the desperate lawyer as he draws closer to his own death, and grows ever thinner......There was a time in the early nineties when every other film released was based on source material by King, thanks to the roaring success of Misery.Some where okay, at least two are regarded as modern masterpieces, and the others were made for a quick buck to cash in on the success of the name.It didn't help that the man himself appeared in the majority of them, because we can't even say that he disapproved of the quality of the films.This is an average entry, that has no right in being a feature length film, it would have worked much better as an episode of The Twilight Zone, because the film really fills itself out with pointless plot arcs, and narrative.There's a ten minute dream sequence for heaven's sake!!.Burke is fine, but he looks like fat b******* richer brother from Austin Powers, and Joe Magntena is just doing a live action Fat Tony.The last scene is pretty unsettling, but when a film has dawdled through it's narrative, you are just glad it's all over, rather than being shocked.Not bad by any means, just another cash generator for a greedy studio.

Thinner (1996): Dir: Tom Holland / Cast: Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna, Kari Wuhrer, Michael Constantine, Lucinda Jenney: Gruesome horror film about evaporation. It stars Robert John Burke as a lawyer with an eating disorder. On his way home one evening he accidentally hits an elderly woman with his car and she dies. Seeing that Burke is a respected lawyer he is rendered innocent by the judge and arresting officer but outside the courthouse he is touched by an old gypsy with a curse that will evaporate him regardless how much he eats. To add to problems his wife is having an affair. The judge and arresting officer are cursed also but he is advised to seek revenge. Interesting concept is quite detailed but wayward. Directed by Tom Holland who previously made one of the best vampire films of the 1980's in Fright Night. He also made the doll possessed Child's Play. Burke plays his role with subtle humour despite plans that don't quite fan out. Joe Mantegna is interesting as a client who owes Burke favors. He is a criminal who answers Burke's problem by disrupting the gypsies. Kari Wuhrer plays a gypsy girl given a unique interrogation. Michael Constantine steals scenes as the old gypsy who may have met his match. Lucinda Jenney plays Burke's cheating wife who may meet karma. Clever horror about consequences that evaporate our senses. Score: 8 / 10

The films made, based on Stephen King's books, have always been a hit and miss affair. In fact, more have tended to miss than hit. However, 'Thinner' is a real treat. It's nothing totally new - at least, not by today's standards - but, in some ways, it was a little ahead of its time.Today (and ever since the US remake of 'The Ring') there have been a type of horror movie where something bad/supernatural happens to the protagonist, they don't know what's going on, they research the phenomenon (normally involving the help of a convenient expert), before finally confronting the evilness in the final act. Thinner is basically one of these, only made about 5-10 years before this sort of film became the norm.It's about a fat man who gets cursed to lose weight. Then lose some more weight. And some more. Basically, if he doesn't stop the curse he'll end up looking like Posh Spice without any make-up on (and no one wants that!).The film is generally nothing new, but it's major plus points are the special effects used for making out unwitting hero look thinner and thinner. Plus it's not for the faint-hearted. This is definitely an adult's horror film as it gets pretty dark in places.If you think you can handle a darkly disturbing King film at its best, give this one a go. I haven't read the book, so I can't say how faithful it is to that (only that the ending is apparently different if you believe all the comments on Internet message boards).