alexanderdavies-99382 "Needful Things" is the kind of horror film you can't forget. Its shocking scenes of violence and the way in which so-called civilised people tend to be amongst each other, gave me a slight chill (not many horror films can do that). Max Von Sydow takes the acting honours as the supernatural and sadistically evil creature in human form. He oozes a kind of demonic charm that most of the locals can fail to resist. He was born for this role. Ed Harris as the police officer who welcomes the change of pace after being transferred to a seaside town, is ok but I've never really been a fan of his work. The atmosphere is carefully created and sustained throughout and the climax is unforgettable. The only thing that I would have liked, would have been for the film to have been made into a mini series. Doing this would have meant that more story from the novel could have been included. One of the better cinema adaptations from a Stephen King book.

zetes An adaptation of the only Stephen King novel I've ever finished (the only other one I started - and gave up on - is The Tommyknockers), Needful Things stars Max von Sydow as the Devil. He opens a new shop in the town of Castle Rock, selling people's deepest desire for them on the cheap. Well, not really. The asking price is always some bit of mischief that ends up turning neighbors against each other until they're ready to murder. From what I gather, this isn't one of King's better novels. I remember quite enjoying it back in the day, or at least it being a quick, fun read despite its excessive length. The film version hews fairly close, as far as I recall. It's overlong for what it is and it starts off a bit slow. It has several really good scenes and the cast is mostly very good. Von Sydow is a lot of fun as Leland Gaunt. Ed Harris stars as the sheriff and Amanda Plummer is memorable as one of the first citizens to go off the rail. Other good performances include those of Ray McKinnon and JT Walsh.

classicsoncall There was a time I used to force myself to read Stephen King books at night in the dark with no one else in the house just to see if I could do it. 'It' was the creepiest and 'The Shining' was a close second, but 'Needful Things' was a pretty good contender even if it wasn't an outright horror story. I survived those days pretty well, so now I'm watching this flick in the dark, by myself, and it manages to block out the creaky noises in the rest of the apartment. So far, so good.I was a little surprised to see the amount of negative reviews for this picture by other reviewers on this board. A lot of them have to do with not following King's novel all that closely, but it's been so long since I read it that it doesn't make much difference to me now. The one thing I remember though has to do with the baseball card; in the book I think it was Koufax, not Mantle. I could be wrong, but when the scene came up I was expecting a Sandy Koufax card, so maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, maybe not. Perhaps some day I'll check it out to be sure.The interesting thing about this story was the way old Leland Gaunt (Max von Sydow) got all the folks in Castle Rock to turn on each other by not pitting likely adversaries against one another. Sort of like a domino effect where one unsuspecting citizen tripped up the next one in line with more and more disastrous results. The backdrop of the curiosity shop was a cool one for me because I like antiques and old things myself. The collecting urge isn't there any more though, so chances are I would have been a casual observer with all the insanity going on.There was some good casting here besides Sydow who appeared to be having a devil of a time. I enjoy Ed Harris and Bonnie Bedelia in most any other movie I've seen them in, but I have to say, Amanda Plummer as Nettie and Valri Bromfield as Wilma were perfect for their roles. Their vicious tete a tete with the strains of 'Ave Maria' in the background was an inspired piece of work. Even old Raider managed to do a good job with his limited involvement. If you stuck around to catch the full credit roll, you'll notice that he was portrayed in the movie by a canine named K-Jin. Stuff like that just interests me to no end.

loomis78-815-989034 This Stephen King adaption tells the story of Leland Gaunt (Von Sydow) an elderly man who happens to be the devil himself. He invades the small town of Castle Rock and opens a unique antique store called 'Needful Things'. Gaunt lures each town member into the store by displaying an item they can't refuse. Instead of money, Gaunt asks each person to play a practical joke of sorts on another person in the town. He cleverly makes the deed sound harmless, but makes sure clues are left behind that will point the finger of blame at the victim's arch enemy in town. The enemy retaliates and soon the entire town is tearing itself apart from within. The only person who seems to see gaunt for what he is, and avoids the temptation himself is town sheriff Alan Pangborn (Harris). He tries to convince the town that there is a devil among them. This is a very subtle tale of horror from Stephen King. Instead of using demons or possession to do his dirty work, the devil uses intellect to do his damage. It is played out in a very clever way and screen writer W.D. Richter certainly makes the script and film fun and amusing. However, there isn't much horror in this film outside of the scary idea of the devil pitting people against each other. Entertaining from start to finish, and all the amusing bits work, but the subtleties of the story and the lack of any true out in the open horror may turn off horror fans looking for gore and slit throats. Director Fraser Heston uses his talented cast well and the actors breathe life into the characters with Max Von Sydow making a great Leland Gaunt. Nice locations make the small town feel authentic. For those not looking for a gore show this horror film is for you.