Stephen King's Desperation on DVD

Description

Director Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers), also recruited by Stephen King to remake The Shining, knows how to capture King's horror aesthetic on film. Desperation, based on a more recent King novel, is a pastiche of earlier King novelties, such as the psycho in uniform, this time Sheriff Collie Entragian (Ron Perlman), and dogs summoned by the devil, this time by TAK, an ancient Chinese demon. A town called Desperation in Nevada has a collapsed mine full of Chinese immigrant ghosts, whose spirits are trapped with TAK until they're accidentally unleashed. The TAK-possessed local sheriff is killing everyone, save a few travelers who stumble through on road trips. In the opening scene, Mary (Annabeth Gish) and her beau are pulled over by Sheriff Entragian, framed by his placing of marijuana in their trunk, then read their rights with a Satanic "I will kill you" thrown in. Later, Steve (Steven Weber), Cynthia (Kelly Overton), and Vietnam vet John Marinville (Tom Skerrit), ride into town, and they too encounter the evil policeman's wrath. They all meet a brave, imprisoned boy, David (Shane Haboucha), with whom they team up to end the mayhem. Desperation uses blue and green lighting to embrace the funhouse look, and camera shots highlighting the Sheriff's deranged face make the film occasionally spooky. But the rehashed plot detracts from the fear-factor, leaving one to pine for earlier King story adaptations, such as Misery or Cujo. --Trinie Dalton Product Description American mini TV horror series based on the novel by Stephen King. In the town of Desperation, Nevada all is not what it seems. En route to Lake Tahoe, the Carver family is pulled over by local sheriff Collie Entragian (Ron Perlman) on a trumped up charge and taken back to the jail at Desperation. On arrival the family's concerns turn to fear when they notice that the town's streets are littered with corpses and the jail is full of other travellers picked up in the same way. It's not long before they discover the town's grim secret and are forced to fight for their lives against an ancient evil.