Stephen King's Desperation 5/23 on ABC
 

A movie based on a book airing on television. Since it's a movie I figured the Movie forum was the most appropriate place for this. I've been waiting 4 years since this was announced. And now it's nearly a week away. All I know so far is that it airs on ABC on the 23rd.

There was a nice article about in Fangoria, but the series doesn't interest me.

I read the book when I was in junior high and liked it. My tastes have changed, though, so I'm not sure how much I would like it now. Anyway, I don't remember much of the story, and I don't really watch TV, but if the reviews are decent I'll probably catch this on the inevitable DVD release.

Site:

http://abc.go.com/movies/desperation.html

I'm curious about this. King saw it and commented on it about a year ago, saying it was amazing, but so scary and graphic that it might get 'trimmed' by the network. Given we had to wait this long to finally see it, I'm wondering if we'll be seeing a good cut or if ABC will have butchered it.

Haven't seen an even halfway decent Mick Garris adaptation of a King story yet, and I don't believe that this will break the trend of awfulness...

While I'm no fan of Ride the Bullet or The Shining, I thought The Stand was fantastic. It's not in the same class as The Dead Zone, Shawshank Redemption, Stand by Me or The Green Mile, but I'd probably say it was the second best made-for-television King after Storm of the Century.

Right on. The Stand isn't in the same league as the films you mention, but one of the best of the TV movies they've done.

shouldn't this be in TV Talk?

I don't know, that's a tough call...hmmmm...it's a movie....but it's on TV...oh God...I don't know...ummmm...oh shit....

I set my Tivo to record this and it replaced House. I'm not sure if I can live with that ...

What're you asking me for? Not my thread.

Bronze this post. :thumbsup:

Can't wait. Loved the book, IMHO one of Stephen Kings best.

Read the book years ago. I thought it would make a good movie.

Good cast too
Tom Skerritt - From The Dead Zone
Steven Weber - From The Shining
Annabeth Gish
Ron Perlman - From Sleepwalkers
Henry Thomas
Matt Frewer - From The Stand
Charles Durning

Just a reminder that this airs tonight.

Ill be watching house live tonight
and downloading it tomorrow ;)

Read the book years ago and enjoyed it. From what I've heard regarding this production, it was announced, filmed and orginally intended to air as a mini-series. Apparently someone at ABC didn't care for it, as it's been sitting around for over a year. As it was residing on said shelf, it was hacked to death in the editing room to the now existing 3 hour runtime. Removed are most of the scenes regarding character background, depth, motivation etc.

Doesn't bode well.

I was wondering how a nearly 700-page book could be made into a 3-hour movie. Hopefully but unlikely we'll see an extended cut for DVD

Neither does the fact they're airing it against the last American Idol performance show of the season.

Don't know much of this film's history but reading this thread gives me a bad feeling that this is a chopped up version. It seems odd to have a 3hr Stephen King TV movie. Normally you get a 4 hour movie slit up over 2 nights.

Thanks for the heads up. Recording it now.
Although, it's been so many years since I read Desperation that I don't even remember the the details of the novel anymore.

Is there gonna be an adaptation of Regulators, too? IIRC, weren't they sister-books?

I think the events in the book take place in less than day so I'm thinking they could have done it in two. Basicly you have some people come to town. They run into crazy cop. Stuff happens. The end.

Was this supposed to be in HD? Tivo's guide says no but this page at ABC.com has the symbol indicating that it is in HD.

http://abc.go.com/movies/desperation.html

But I just checked the recording and it isn't.. what the hell.

EDIT: Well a quite check to AVSforum and everyone says no HD in their area. I can't fathom why this isn't in HD. Guess I'll just delete.

No HD means no watch from me. I'll wait for DVD.

It's probably easier to watch than 10.5 the Apocalypse, but I couldn't stand the book.

I liked it but my damn receiver shut down at the 127 minute mark. So i guess i'm waiting for the dvd as well. Maybe we'll get the complete uncut "mini series".

I thought it was rather mediocre. Started great though. Ron Perlman was terrific in the first half as an evil policeman terrorizing motorists. The first half was also pretty good for establishing atmosphere and ratcheting up the suspense. Like some other horror, things became less interesting once the nature of the threat was made clearer. And it got worse when an incredibly annoying kid started getting lots of airtime -- the whole bit with "god's plan" just felt really corny. And the final "confrontation" just seemed laughable to me.

It wasn't in HD, which sucked. It didn't seem particular gory to me -- mostly just seeing already dead bodies and lots of scenes in darkness/shadow. I'm glad it wasn't longer -- many of these King mini-series just seem too drawn out as they are.

I read the book but it has been a while. I guess I'm the only one that really enjoyed this? Thankfully they didn't try to make a miniseries of "The Regulators" - "Desperation" was the better work .

The second half of this movie was boring and horrible.

I still can't believe this was not broadcast in HD. :grunt:

I recorded this last night, but didn't watch yet. No HD and based on the reviews: it pretty much means it's a delete when I get home.

I agree, Brainee. Like most of these King adaptations for TV, the first half setup is great, the second half payoff is lame.

But Pearlman did kick ass in his part - definitely the highlight of the show. I could see where there were obvious bits cut for time. The second half seemed very rushed after the deliberately paced set up, and a few plot holes were pretty glaring. Presumably, the full cut will re-surface on DVD later.

I still enjoyed it - the ABC King miniseries are kind of a late TV season tradition for me. You have to wonder if they are losing theire luster to ABC though. They seem to be cutting them back in both frequency and length lately.

I thought this was alright but it failed in a lot of ways.

They didn't spend enough time on Collie Entragian. He didn't look half as bad as described in the book. There seemed to be very little tension, it was hard to get a sense of urgency and the fear of just what the hell was happening in this town and what is going to happen.

I didn't like the kid who portrayed David or at least the way he acted. The kid just lost his whole family not to mention all the horrible shit that's going down but he hardly seems to show any emotion. Marinville was badly cast, Tom Skerrit;s an okay actor but he's way too old, Sam Elliot or Nick Nolte would have been better choices. Also Annabeth Gish is a bad actress.

I was disappointed when Steve Ames and Cynthia Smith went into a convenience store instead of one of the houses. That scene in the book is pretty cool, reminded me a lot of The Stand.

The voice for the spirit in the cave was ridiculous.

Another big disappointment is that the IOU/treehouse thing was changed and replaced with a yearbook.

Damn I was just going to watch this had it on my dvr, but no HD no sale! I even watched that darn Bird Flu movie since it was in HD.

It reminded me of the "voice from God" scene at the end of Real Genius.

Anyway, I just finished this and have to agree with brainee's points. I thought it was a bit more polished (as in more like a real movie and not a tv-movie) than the usual Mick Garris - King adaptions. But it definitely suffered from the problem of good buildup but nowhere interesting to go with it, leading to a disappointing reveal. I had the same problem with It and (especially) Dreamcatcher. I think the problem is that Pennywise the Clown and Collie the Cop are much creepier than , so when these films change gears it's bound to be a letdown.

i liked it :up:

i read desperation awhile back.. but i could have swore that for one reason or another, i hadnt ever finished it

i kept watching the movie, and remembering everything from the book up until the very end.. so I guess I did read the whole book :lol

I also read regulators and didnt like it as much.. but with the right cast and special effects, it could be pretty freaky.

I watched this and didn't care for it at all (and was so looking forward to it). I blame Mick Garris (not the material) though. Very sloppy job on his part, IMO.