NEEDFUL THINGS

NEEDFUL THINGS

The setting is the quiet coastal American town of Castle Rock. Sheriff Alan Pangborn (Ed Harris, CREEPSHOW; THE ROCK) lives there happily, having moved from life as a cop in a violent city to enjoy the tranquillity that it offers.

On this particular day, Alan visits the local café to propose to his girlfriend, head waitress Polly (Bonnie Bedelia, DIE HARD). In the meantime, her assistant waitress Nettie (Amanda Plummer, PULP FICTION) shows them an advertisement in the local paper - a new store has opened locally, called Needful Things. Collectively, they wonder who owns it.

Young Brian (Shane Meier, SHRED) is the first to find out, when he wanders into the shop and starts to nosey around. He meets it's owner, the mysterious Leland (Max Von Sydow, THE VIRGIN SPRING; SLEEPLESS), who asks the lad what he most wants in the whole world. Brian replies, saying he desperately wants to complete his archive baseball card collection - Leland promptly produces the missing card, and tells Brian he can have it … if he does him a favour, and plays a little prank on crazed local Turkey farmer Wilma (Valri Bromfield, CAGED FEAR).

As Brian leaves with his cherished baseball card and the promise of playing a trick on Wilma, Leland takes out a little black book and starts a list under the heading of "Castle Rock". At the top of the list is Brian's name …

The next day, Polly sends Nettie over to Leland's shop with a homebaked pie as a welcoming gift. While there, Nettie spies an ornament identical to one she owned when she lived with her late, abusive husband. Leland - as he did with Brian - becomes immediately familiar with Nettie, knowing stuff about her past and offering the ornament to her - in return of a favour, suggesting that someone needs to teach corrupt local businessman Danforth (J T Walsh, OUTBREAK; THE NEGOTIATOR) to be nice.

There follows the town drunk Hugh (Duncan Fraser, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE), rivalling holy men Father Meehan (William Morgan Sheppard, THE PRESTIGE) and Reverend Willie (Don S Davis, BENEATH), deputy sheriff Norris (Ray McKinnon, THE MISSING) … it seems all the locals are capable of finding something of enormous personal meaning to them in Leland's store, and they're all willing to do the old man favours in return.

All the while, Leland's list in his little black book keeps growing. And, as Brian is the first to discover, a deal is only met when Leland says so … and the pranks he instructs people to inflict upon each other become more and more destructive.

However, first Polly and then Alan begin to query the old man's origins and, more pertinently, his motives …

Based on a Stephen King story, NEEDFUL THINGS suffers in much the same way that 90% of King's screen adaptations do. It's overlong, stagey and feels like a TV movie. The action is cheap and wooden, while the "horror" elements fail to capture the images King elicits on the page.

A fantastic cast are collectively better than the material they're given to work with, and director Fraser Clarke Heston (ALASKA; he's also Charlton's son) is simply not experienced enough to reign the likes of Harris and Walsh in when they go into serious overacting mode.

The film feels too trite overall to carry the weight of it's bigger themes - the eternal struggle between good and evil, the nature of greed, the banality of warring religions, and so on. The Murder She Wrote-style score does little to help here.

Still, there are a few interesting (if tame) set-pieces and Von Sydow lends proceedings an undue charm.

If you manage to get to the final fifteen minutes though, you'll no doubt find yourself cringing through some truly overwrought dialogue W D Richter's screenplay and Harris' deranged performance. Embarrassing. Then silly, come the finale.

Metrodome's disc is a basic effort.

The film is presented uncut in a reasonably bright but soft 1.33:1 transfer, with an English mono soundtrack that is a little too low for it's own good. Fortunately, optional English hard-of-hearing subtitles are on offer.

Static menus include a scene-selection menu offering access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

The only extra relating to the film is the original theatrical trailer, which lasts approximately 2 minutes.

The disc opens with trailers for other Metrodome titles: ASSEMBLY; RIDING THE BULLET; THEM; ACCION MUTANTE and NIGHTWATCH.

When it comes to King adaptations, there are films like THE SHINING and CARRIE … and films like CUJO and FIRESTARTER. NEEDFUL THINGS fits very firmly into the latter bracket.

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by Metrodome Distribution
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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