The Tommyknockers (1993) (TV)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

John Power

Writers (WGA):

Stephen King (novel)
Lawrence D. Cohen (teleplay)

Release Date:

9 May 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

A chilling thriller from the master of horror.

Plot:

A buried UFO slowly turns local inhabitants into gizmo-building alien mutates.

Plot Keywords:

UFO | Alien | Invention | Alcoholic | Small Town

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Jimmy Smits	...	Jim 'Gard' Gardner
Marg Helgenberger	...	Roberta 'Bobbi' Anderson
John Ashton	...	Trooper Butch Duggan
Allyce Beasley	...	Deputy Becka Paulson
Robert Carradine	...	Bryant Brown
Joanna Cassidy	...	Sheriff Ruth Merrill
Annie Corley	...	Marie Brown
Cliff De Young	...	Joe Paulson
Traci Lords	...	Nancy Voss
E.G. Marshall	...	Ev Hillman
Chuck Henry	...	Chaz Stewart
Leon Woods	...	Hilly Brown
Paul McIver	...	Davey Brown
Yvonne Lawley	...	Mabel Noyes
Bill Johnson	...	Elt Barker

Also Known As:

Stephen King's The Tommyknockers

Runtime:

181 min | 120 min (cut version)

Country:

USA | New Zealand

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:Not Rated (uncut version) | Australia:PG | Germany:16 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Auckland, New Zealand

Company:

Konigsberg/Sanitsky Company

Trivia:

The films Italian title is "Le Creature del buio", meaning "The Creatures of Darkness."

Goofs:

Continuity: When Gard and Bobbi are first lowered into the ship, Gard has nothing in his hands. On the way down, he suddenly has a flashlight.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinemania: Stephen King: O vasilias tou tromou" (2009)

Review of shortened video version.

One of King's lesser novels is transformed into one of the worst adaptations of his work so far. King's incredible imagination has always proved difficult to translate to the screen, which seems too small to contain everything on the page. There have been, literally, a handful of decent adaptations of his work, but it is usually the less graphic stories, or those dealing with a psychological horror rather than a physical presence that transfer best.

'The Tommyknockers' treads familiar King ground, and is very reminiscent if 'Needful Things', with an unknown force entering the lives of the community and turning one against the other for it's own end. There is a tormented and fallible hero, innocence is lost and found, there's an old codger with tales to scare the kids, and strange goings-on down at the old Indian burial ground. All par for the course then. The version I've seen was a shortened video version, which made no sense at all. Characters and events seemed to materialise without warning and act without any compulsion at all. It appears that most of the plot development has been removed too, but, to be honest, sitting through another 60 minutes would've only induced more boredom, not enlightenment. The result is an amateurish, uninteresting, and frightless mess.