Desperation

A short note before I get to a movie review. Based on a recent comment, I want to reiterate that while I may have differences with various candidates and their policies, I in no way want any harm to come to ANY candidate, and I do not condone any wish for such harm to be visited upon them. I just do not operate that way.

Now to the movie!

There wasn't much on last night, so we watched one of our new movies: "Desperation." (And no, it's not a movie about the McCain campaign. You knew I couldn't resist, didn't you?) Desperation is not a state of mind here, it's a desert town.

This is based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, and King also wrote the screenplay. It was released in 2006 as a TV movie...I'm not sure how we missed it! Maybe we were on vacation.

I thought it was a lot of fun, and it stuck fairly close to the novel--not surprising, since King wrote the screenplay. I can't imagine he'd enjoy screwing up his own storyline!

It begins with every road tripper's worst nightmare: getting pulled over in some desolate location by a cop who ends up being a complete and utter psychopath. But this cop is no ordinary psychopath...he inserts strange utterances into his conversations with his prisoners, words like "Can tah" and "Tak!" Something seems to be happening to him physically. Decay? Melting? Is his face actually...splitting?! Turns out he's not just psycho...something has gotten a hold of him. He's already thrown a few other travelers into Desperation's town jail, including a young boy and his family. David has been through a tough time lately, including watching his good friend almost die in a bicycle accident. David makes a deal with God that if his friend's life is spared, he'll do whatever God wants him to do. Another one of the prisoners is John Edward Marinville, a writer who spent time in Viet Nam as a war correspondent...and who has some demons of his own to confront.

As the questions begin to be answered, we find that the locus of the problem is Desperation's mine, known as the China Pit. After being closed for many years, it's been reopened, and there is a disturbing history there that has been awakened. Part of the problem is that whatever lives in the China Pit can take over various bodies until it wears them out and must find another host, as well as commanding various desert denizens such as snakes, scorpions, wolves, cougars, and coyotes, who keep our scared and trapped travelers from escaping the town.

Sacrifices will be made, and young David must face the pain of reality and loss. What will HE have to sacrifice?

I enjoyed it quite a bit. I really like Tom Skerrit, and it was a nice surprise to see Steven Weber (one of the brothers on "Wings") as one of the main characters. It was fairly cheesy, but as you all should know by now, I LIKE cheese in my movies! I'm also enjoying watching scary movies lately, because it's just that time of year. What am I saying? It's always the right time for a scary movie!

In fact, I see that Circuit City has its usual sale on movies, and they're heavy on the scary ones this week. Yes, I'll be making a trip to pick up a couple of my favorites: "Fright Night" (vampires!) and "Carrie" (telekinesis! proms! AGGHHH!), as well as one that I haven't seen yet, but I hear is pretty good: "1408," based on a Stephen King story and starring John Cusack. Haunted hotel room, anyone?

I love October! Or should I say...SHOCKtober?! Bwah hah hah hahhhhh!