Desperation Year: 2006 Director: Mick Garris Written by: Stephen King Threat: Demon Weapon of Choice: Mountain Lion Based upon: novel - Desperation - Stephen King Color/B&W/3D: Color Language: English Country of Origin: USA IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
None

The tyranist's thoughts
I like Stephen King as much as the next guy. Maybe even more. Unless the next guy is Rish. I can't even hope to compare with him. But for the most part, I'm a big enough King fan. It is unfortunate that I haven't read this particular novel yet. It was released at the same time as The Regulators and for some reason, I skipped both of them. Maybe that was in the midst of one of my sci-fi benders.
Anyway, I couldn't tell you if the plot varies much, but I sure hope that King managed to makes something at least faithful in spirit to his own novel.
A bunch of arrests are made on an isolated stretch of highway and the offenders are carted off to the nearby town, a place that is eerily deserted. It gradually becomes clear that all is not as it seems and the town cop is up to more the just keeping the law.
Even made for TV, this one was pretty good. At least better than the average King adaptation. The atmosphere of the town was nice and the effects were mostly not awful. I love watching Ron Perlman work, so that was nice.
Actually, I don't think I have much to say about this one. It didn't do much to set itself apart from the metric tonne of made-for-TV horror that we had this year (a great deal of which was King or Garris influenced). It was worth seeing and has reminded me I should go back and read those novels, but really, it wasn't strictly necessary and can probably be missed with relative impunity.
Posted: December 20, 2006

Rish Outfield's reviews
Wow. I'm ashamed to tell you this, but I have even less to say about Desperation than he did.
Yes, the book was released concurrently with The Regulators, and yes, I bought 'em both. But even then, before Uncle Steve's obsessive brush with van-wielding Death, King's best work was behind him. Not that Desperation the book was bad (and Desperation the movie isn't either), but it just wasn't really memorable. The most notable thing about it, a decade ago, was the ending, which, though not shockingly unique (remember the ending to Cujo?), was something I didn't expect. And the movie changes that. So, there's nothing very memorable here at all.
I like the cast (Ron Perlman was appropriately imposing, and I dig both Steven Weber and Tom Skerritt), and I like Mick Garris for the excellent "Masters of Horror" series he created, but this just wasn't noteworthy. Sorry.
Posted: February 12, 2007

Total Skulls: 20

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie		Tak, the Unformed Heart
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?