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AICN reader reviews ABC's "Storm of the Century"
Glen here...
AICN reader CHARLIE TOWNSEND just had a chance to see the forthcoming ABC /
Stephen King opus Storm of the Century.
Coaxial is still awaiting the Angels' opinions...
CHARLIE TOWNSEND wrote:
I had a chance to watch Stephen King's made-for-TV movie "Storm of the
Century" this past Sat. night. It was shown as a benefit for the Harbor
House, a public service organization in Southwest Harbor, Maine, the
location of many of the movie's scenes and the model for Little Tall
Island.
This is a screenplay only and not an actual King novel. It will be
shown starting on Feb. 14th on ABC stations.
The story seems to be vintage King. Murder, horror, humor, and irony
intertwined. The physical storm scenes, some shot on location but most
shot in a huge sound stage created in an old steel mill north of Montreal,
are fairly convincing.
Most of it takes place at night. That along with
$2 million in potato flake "snow" makes it look pretty much like a real
blizzard, at least to the TV viewer but probably not for one who has
actually experienced a blizzard.
Tim Daly as Constable and shop keeper Mike Anderson does a credible
job although I doubt if it will go down in history as one of Daly's
outstanding performances.
Debrah Farentino also does a fairly good job but
certainly not a memorable one.
The star is Colm Feore who is sufficiently evil but even then falls just a
little short of creating shear terror. As a resident of a Maine island,
this reviewer has seen New Yorkers who were more terrifying than Linoge.
Over all, just sit back and enjoy the three-night series. If you are
a Stephen King fan this should be right up your alley, if not, then it is
just another horror story. Unfortunately this reviewer is a bit jaded have
seen several real storms-of-the century (in just the past 10 years) on a
Maine island so he kept comparing the production storm to real life...
Glen again...
Glen
Or call:
(512) 347-1992
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+ Expand All
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Great to hear that someone has seen this, but can we get some more info? What was the story (Outside of the being about "The Storm Of The Century") about? Any good scenes? Any mini spoilers to whet our appetites? Anything at all except who is starring it in? And I think the title refers to the fact that something really evil is going down, and not alluding to the fact that this is supposed to be the meteorological phenomena of the century. Also, has anyone read the "book" that was published? I didnt buy it cause it was a screenplay, and I felt that I was kind of misled- couldnt he have at least tried to novelize it?
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"Storm of the Century" is also a novel. Unlike other King novels, though, the screenplay was written before the book.
--davidh -
Okay, my fault for posting without double-checking. PatrickP is right; the "Storm of the Century" book *is* just the screenplay, and not a novel. Sorry for any confusion
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Forget Storm of the Century. The only thing I wanna see is the Gunslinger. But keep King and Mick Garris away from it. We all saw what happened to the Shining and the Stand. It's all too horrible...
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Like 'The Langoliers', this is an original production for TV written by King, not an adaptation.
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"The Langoliers" WAS an adaptation of King's novella from the "Four Past Midnight" collection. It was NOT written expressly for TV.
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Is there a Gunslinger film/mini-series being produced? At first this idea might sound really cool...but stop and think about it a minute. It really isn't a good idea at all. First of all it certainly is not a run-of-the mill King story, let alone a mainstream story, by anyone else's standards. Even if it were done flawlessly, it would only cater to a select few.
Second, there really is know way that this story could be done right..who would play Roland? It would have to be an established actor overflowing with screen presence to even attempt to capture the 'legend' that is the last gunslinger. The production values would have to be stellar to make his world appear the way it should.
Unless a very talented production team gets behind this and makes it a big budget, major FILM, the most we could hope for would be something as disapointing as the animated LotR film(s). Frank Darabount (sp?) are you listening? -
Hey, has anyone heard if King has started work on the fifth Gunslinger novel? Wizard and Glass was awesome (except for the "Wizard of Oz" references), but it left me hungry for more. Anyone have any info on a title, plot, release date???????
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Ye Gods! THREE NIGHTS. Nope. Won't watch it. I know, if I do, I'll inevitably hear myself say "they coulda done that in TWO nights!" THE LANGOLIERS could've been a one-night, three hour breathless thriller, instead of the listless, occasionally eerie essay it turned out to be - and I'll never get over that "Mod Squad" freeze-frame at the conclusion.
All I can envision is the typical pissing away of suspense and tension that is the hallmark of ABC's King miniseries productions. Do you think they'll maintain their own tradition of "mini-spoilers" by showing too-explicit teasers from the next segment before each commercial break? I don't have "the shine," but it seems likely!
I admit I'm still put out at King for the lousy job he did with THE STAND teleplay. He went to all the trouble of setting up Elliot Gould's Ullman as a major character, and then we never see or hear from him again. Instead we got brand-new added "idiot moments" like when the office doors slammed shut on DeMornay's Wendy, and she didn't bat an eye - and what about that wet fart of a hedge attack? That's right - they DIDN'T attack. It was a big tease. Network TV. Please, God, let there be more cable King projects, if they've got to be on TV at all!
And here's a suggestion. No more author cameos. You've had your fun, but now it's just disruptive and creepy.
Or, if you must put in an appearance, Steve, NO SPEAKING!
There! -
I picked up King's teleplay, and despite his claims to the contrary in the introduction, it seems to have been intended from the start to be a movie(King talked a bit about his creative process, how he doesn't know the format until he starts writing it). There are only three sets in the film where most major action seems to take place(town hall, Anderson's store/jail, and the street), though there is an occasional diversion, such as in the beginning with the old woman's house or Mike Anderson's home later on. So, a TV-level budget seems to have been in King's mind from the beginning. He usually doesn't force a limit on the number of locations in his novels(except maybe Cujo and one or two others).
King did mention that had ABC turned it down(they said yes the moment he pitched the idea) he would have turned it into a novel.
On the whole, I enjoyed it. I can't imagine how it'll play at a five-hour plus length(I breezed through the teleplay in a couple of hours -- waiting a day between segments will probably annoy most more than usual, the chapter breaks aren't very effective cliffhangers, and the delay will probably kill the momentum of the story). Considering the story takes place over the course of a day and a half, waiting longer than that for the entire story seems excessive.
The ending(and Linoge's identity) was rather bizarre, and I can't imagine it playing well on screen(the scene with Linoge and the kids flying seemed a bit pointless). Also, the lottery at the end...I mean come on. You'd think King(whose work I enjoy, mind you) would finally learn a little subtlety, at least in foreshadowing? I did like the explanation of Linoge's name, and the epilogue was cool. To quote Bret Easton Ellis, "This is not an exit."
I think it might have made a better novel.
MHpr -
I agree with alot of these comments- I mean Mick Garris has done more than his fair share of killing Kings work even more so than King himself, IMO. All these TV movies, with the exception being, oddly enough, "The Shining", have a cheap direct-to-video look to them. The Langolers- ick.. In the book, they were scary, but seeing those rabid pac-men "eat" reality was a bit too much. Maybe its just ABC. Wouldnt it be nice to let someone like HBO get ahold of a King mini-series? (Werent they supposed to do "Rose Madder?") Also, I think the *only* way to make the Gunslinger into a movie is as an animated series of films. Thats the only way that the scope could be realized. Although, to be honest, I really don't want them to make it into a movie. On another note, though- whatever happened to "The Mist"- wasn't Frank Darabont
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I was living in maine about 10 minutes from SWH when this was being filmed, And if i remember correctly During the filming in South West we were hit by the Ice Storm of '98 and they had to stop production since 99% of the island that SWH is on had no Electricity. Interesting that the film "Storm of the Century" had to stop production for the Storm of the century...
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seems the adventures of Roland and his ka-tet always come up when discussing Kings work or film or screen. It has always been a dream of mine to do the Gunsligner works as moives filmed in b/w or sepia but that's just me and I'm weird so...as for Rolans it took me years to come up with an actor to do it but after watching two, completly different movies, with the same actor I have come to the realszation that if Vincent D'Onofrico were older and perhaps a bit thinner that's who I would cast as Roland. Just a thought watch his work in The Whole Wide World and Full Metal Jacket to see what I'm talking about or if I"m just stupid as hell(whcih I'll admit is a possiablity).,,.as for info on the 5th Gunslinger bok I think the plan is to write 2 more gunslinger books, one taking palce entirely in Rolands world and the last taking place in New York. In book 5 we'll be taken to a town called Thunderclap and there'll we'll meet a familer "religous drunk" from 'Salem's Lot who we last saw on a bus. Look also, I'm predicting don't know for sure, for refrences to "Rose Madder".
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Everyone is going to have to keep on dreaming about a Dark Tower film, because here is a Stephen King Quote. "There isn't going to be any film of the Dark Tower books in my lifetime." This was said awhile after Sleepwalkers came out. Too bad, but you know that it wouldn't lived up to expectations anyway. My dream pick for Roland is rather obvious, Clint Eastwood, albeit a slightly younger one though.
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Who directed this one? God please let it NOT be Garris, he sucks ass (King's ass, to be exact) and cant direct worth shite. BTW has anyone else noticed that, like his novels, Kings TV projects keep getting longer and longer... what is it with all these King miniseries? TommyKnockers, the Stand, the Shining, Langoliers, It, and now this.... I guess after King got rid of his publisher's editors, he went right to work on gettting rid of his TV editors too. I could excuse it if all this extra time was used for something valuable (like character development, for example) but instead we get the same old cookie-cutter King stereotypes and the same basic plots. Hopefully this one will be different, but i doubt it.
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How annoying was it to have ABC running those stupid "Storm of the Century" crawls (along the bottom of the screen) during Wednesday's night shows. Wonder how long it'll take for them to get their message board running again? They must have taken it down because they knew how unpopular their decisions were going to be this past month and a half.
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If the Dark Tower series were ever to be produced for the screen, it would have to be a full series - the story is simply too long for a movie or even a miniseries. Stephen King is opposed to doing it, but that never stopped him before. One small thing that may delay the project is that Dark Tower is NOT DONE YET! Like someone else said, there are three more books to be published.
There's a little story that takes place in the Dark Tower universe in this fantasy collection called Legends, so this may make you a bit happy although it doesn't really affect the gunslinger story.
When I read the Dark Tower stories, I keep imagining Roland looking like an older Adrian Paul (Duncan Mcloud from Highlander: The series), who's not a good enough actor for the role in my opinion.
But how about something more feasible that could turn into a great movie, say, Needful Things? Oh wait a minute, aaaaarrrghhhhh........ -
Maybe I'm just a little nuts, but I could see Ed Harris playing Roland in any possible movies... But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
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Someone posting here got it wrong. Storm of the Century was directed by Craig Baxley. Thank God someone woke up and realized what a mediocre director Mick Garris is.
Look, Action Jackson and I Come in Peace weren't classics, but they were a lot of fun, and a lot more amiable than let's say... Sleepwalkers. When I saw I Come in Peace, the whole audience clapped after it was over... People were grumbling when the curtains came up over Sleepwalkers. -
I'll probably be watching Storm, but I'm not expecting a lot. Stephen King and screenplays seem to be a lethal combination. The guy can't seem to write a good one to save his life. RE: TV mini-series' It, The Stand, The Shining, his other original screenplay for the movie Sleepwalkers, the movies Pet Semetary, Maximum Overdrive, Cat's Eye, Silver Bullet, ect ect ect. What King fails to realize is that a wholesale transfer of book to film just doesn't work...what works great literally doesn't always work cinematically. Without the mental filtering that goes on when read, a situation that seems perfectly plausable suddenly seems ridiculous when presented visually. The best King adaptations have come to us via proficient filmmakers who bring their own interpretation of the original material: Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Brian DePalma's Carrie, David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone. It also probably doesn't help that the producers seem determined to torpedo these King adaptations by going cheap with the talent...Tim Daley is no Christopher Walken. While I love the guy, with his early works some of the best reads you'll ever find, Stephen King should stay away from the adaptations of his films, and leave them to people who know what works on the screen, as opposed to the skull cinema.
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