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The Tommyknockers

The Tommyknockers

List Price: $9.98
Your Price: $9.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: If I hadn't read the book . . .
Review: "The Tommyknockers" was not Stephen King's best work, but it was a pretty good story with believable characters, plenty of suspense, and lots of creepiness. I liked it. This movie, however, was definitely missing something. It seemed watery, like watching a dress rehearsal, with everyone saying their lines and going through the motions, but not really doing the movie. And, there were too many variations from the book, and some of the changes seemed nonsensical and pointless. I thought Jimmy Smits could have filled this role well, but the film came out weak and boring.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Pretty Bad Stuff, Folks
Review: "Tommyknockers" is a bad made-for-TV movie based on one of Stephen King's worse books. The book was long, long, very long, and the movie is too. (There are two versions of the movie; the 2hr version that has huge gaps missing, and feels rushed and incomplete; and the 3 1/2hr one, that is slow and meandering) The movie is as long as "It" was, but it felt longer and dumber. Anyway, the plot is that Bobbie Anderson (Marg Helenburger) uncovers a spaceship in the woods on her property. Her poet alcoholic boyfriend Jim Gardener (Jimmy Smits) showes up agin in time to watch her degenerateing health as her obsession of digging it up grows. The alians are not dead, but asleep, and are giving the folks of Haven, Maine some extrodianry mind powers, but eventually these powers start taking a toll on the citizens as well. The movie was just bad; bad script, goofy story concepts, hokey special effects, acting that is un-inspirered at best (which is a shame, I like Smits), and what is Traci Lords doing (if you wanted to get away from your T and A reputation, this isn't the way to do it). I would recomend just reading the book, but I'd just go and read or watch "It" again.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: If I hadn't read the book . . .
Review: "The Tommyknockers" was not Stephen King's best work, but it was a pretty good story with believable characters, plenty of suspense, and lots of creepiness. I liked it. This movie, however, was definitely missing something. It seemed watery, like watching a dress rehearsal, with everyone saying their lines and going through the motions, but not really doing the movie. And, there were too many variations from the book, and some of the changes seemed nonsensical and pointless. I thought Jimmy Smits could have filled this role well, but the film came out weak and boring.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Pretty Bad Stuff, Folks
Review: "Tommyknockers" is a bad made-for-TV movie based on one of Stephen King's worse books. The book was long, long, very long, and the movie is too. (There are two versions of the movie; the 2hr version that has huge gaps missing, and feels rushed and incomplete; and the 3 1/2hr one, that is slow and meandering) The movie is as long as "It" was, but it felt longer and dumber. Anyway, the plot is that Bobbie Anderson (Marg Helenburger) uncovers a spaceship in the woods on her property. Her poet alcoholic boyfriend Jim Gardener (Jimmy Smits) showes up agin in time to watch her degenerateing health as her obsession of digging it up grows. The alians are not dead, but asleep, and are giving the folks of Haven, Maine some extrodianry mind powers, but eventually these powers start taking a toll on the citizens as well. The movie was just bad; bad script, goofy story concepts, hokey special effects, acting that is un-inspirered at best (which is a shame, I like Smits), and what is Traci Lords doing (if you wanted to get away from your T and A reputation, this isn't the way to do it). I would recomend just reading the book, but I'd just go and read or watch "It" again.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Pretty Bad Stuff, Folks
Review: "Tommyknockers" is a bad made-for-TV movie based on one of Stephen King's worse books. The book was long, long, very long, and the movie is too. (There are two versions of the movie; the 2hr version that has huge gaps missing, and feels rushed and incomplete; and the 3 1/2hr one, that is slow and meandering) The movie is as long as "It" was, but it felt longer and dumber. Anyway, the plot is that Bobbie Anderson (Marg Helenburger) uncovers a spaceship in the woods on her property. Her poet alcoholic boyfriend Jim Gardener (Jimmy Smits) showes up agin in time to watch her degenerateing health as her obsession of digging it up grows. The alians are not dead, but asleep, and are giving the folks of Haven, Maine some extrodianry mind powers, but eventually these powers start taking a toll on the citizens as well. The movie was just bad; bad script, goofy story concepts, hokey special effects, acting that is un-inspirered at best (which is a shame, I like Smits), and what is Traci Lords doing (if you wanted to get away from your T and A reputation, this isn't the way to do it). I would recomend just reading the book, but I'd just go and read or watch "It" again.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: a bad adaptation
Review: About a week ago, I finished reading the Stephen King book, "The Tommyknockers." It was a decent book, so I decided to rent the movie version. It was absolutely horrible. I understood it, because I read the book. But for someone who hasn't read the book, the plot would be impossible to understand. Also, the special effects were a crying shame. There are only TWO Stephen King books that have made good movies (Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile). These are the only two that I would recommend. Strongly recommended S. King books are Bag of Bones and Night shift.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Tommyknockers (1993)
Review: Above-average Stephen King telechiller adapted from his novel by Lawrence D. Cohen, about a town whose people become alien mutates who are possessed by aliens still in a buried spaceship, who force the townspeople on a mission to uncover the ship from the ground in the woods surrounding the town. The acting in this film is excellent, most notably from Marg Helgenberger and Jimmy Smits. The special effects (for a TV movie) are superb and the aliens look unbelievably eerie, and the usage of the green light is often effective too. The plot is not exactly the most original, but the way it's captured in this miniseries is most refreshing and riveting. The music score is standard horror movie fare, but it is quite suitable for the film and adds tension and atmosphere. There isn't really anything wrong with this movie except that the story is, like I said, not the most highly original and the narrative is kind of slow. However, it is a spine-tingling tale of horror and shouldn't be missed by serious Stephen King fans, or sci-fi/horror fans for that matter. THE TOMMYKNOCKERS is also home to one of the most chilling shots in horror history (which plays just after the opening credits end) when Helgenberger turns around in the woods with the hood up and we see her as one of the mutates. *shivers*

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 2 stars and 1/2? WTF!?
Review: Aww what the fu(k is with the LOW RATING! THis movie rocks! I got this movie today and i saw it and it freaked the bejesus out of me. U HATERS STOP YOUR B!TCHING!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointed
Review: First of all let me say that I am a HUGE Stephen King fan. I love his books and some of his movies. But I don't love this movie. I don't know how someone could come up with this bad of a movie from a pretty good book. First of all, without giving too much of the movie away let me say this, in the book they uncover a flying saucer. Whatever the thing in the movie is, it isn't a flying saucer. It blows my mind that they would change something this central to the point. And as some other reviews have stated, by just watching the movie, you have no idea why some of the characters are not affected by the ship like the others. My recommendation would be to take a little more time and read the book. You will be better off if you did. If you want to watch a Stephen King movie watch It, The Shining, Pet Semetary, Storm of the Century or the Stand.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Slow but worth it.
Review: For those who have not read the book, like me (I gave up on King a long time ago) this is a reasonably intelligent treatment of a theme done rather badly in The X-Files film (unless you just love conspiracy stories); the acting is credible and the horror grows slowly as the viewer comes to understand what is happening to the characters. It gets more like conventional SF films toward the end, but interest holds up throughout.

And, as an aside, it does not surprise me that your reviewer who clearly dislikes Tracy Lords (who I think is highly underrated because of her pornstar background - she is learning all the time), is named 'Gay'.


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