Ruth_91
So, I had just watched Stephen King's IT, and I saw the DVD of this for only ten dollars - I thought why not? The only thing I really knew about it was an actor that I'm a fan of (Craig Parker in case you were wondering) had the tiniest of bit parts in it, and I have a friend who likes Stephen King novels. Bobbi (Marg Helgenberger) digs up a strange artifact in the woods - soon the whole town (small and isolated - who knew?) starts acting very strangely, inventing things they'd never normally be capable of. The only person apparently immune is Bobbi's partner, Jim 'Gard' Gardner, a poet who is a recovering alcoholic. Sadly, this was a bit of a joke after IT. I could see the potential, can still see the potential - maybe a remake should be attempted. The beginning of the film (I should say mini-series or telemovie I guess) drags and drags. Cheesy love scenes, bad acting, worse special effects. Even the name Tommyknockers (once you find out what it means) is ridiculous! I had to laugh sometimes at how bad it was. The only thing I can't really complain about was Jimmy Smits as Gard. He was obviously trying his best with the material they had.Ten dollars wasted.
Tom van der Esch
The story: The Tommyknockers is a pretty interesting movie about a quiet, friendly town called Haven. Everything's peaceful and perfect until a woman uncovers a strange rock in the woods. Slowly, yet surely, strange things begin to manifest amongst the townspeople. People are disappearing into thin air, people are inventing new, unbelievable machines, people are acting really strange all of a sudden... One man is skeptic about all of this and decides to put a stop to this madness. Only one problem: the whole town turns against him. I won't spoil how it all ends and how the mysteries are explained, since that would destroy the purpose of watching this.I liked the acting; it's pretty solid and all the characters do their part well. There's the local sheriff, the seducing femme fatal, the kind grandpa, the ambitious kid, the alcohol addict and so on. It may be not Shakespeare, but I think they did a good job.I also have to note the music. It fits the movie and it adds a certain creepiness to the whole story. If I have to name a bad thing, I have to look pretty hard. Maybe the last few scenes are a bit.. off compared to the rest of the film, but that's just me. For some reason they didn't seem to fit in the story. When everything is explained, it took away a part of the charm this movie had for me. I liked it better when it was all a mystery.Last, but not least, I must mention the duration. The Tommyknockers is about 3 hours long, so just make sure you got the time for watching it.I give this 8 out of 10 stars.
Aaron1375
Granted, the book in this case was not much better. This movie just did not have the best scenes from the book, it tacked on an ending that was just a bit to happy, and it was horribly miscast as when I read the book the pictures of the characters I got in no way resembled what we got here. Sometimes they get it near perfect, here they were off by a whole lot. The story is basically taken from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" with some Stephen King twists and perversions added to the mix, the book has the perversions, the movie takes all that kind of stuff out. In the end the movie is a dried husk of the book which was not particularly strong either. Jimmy Smits is awful in it, but then so is everyone else, and the fact it is a two parter and extended needlessly does not help matters out either. So all I can say is be prepared to see a lot of green light, a very toned down ending (granted I can see why they could not do the whole woman being naked at the end), and also be prepared for a very unmemorable ride. I would suggest reading the book instead, but it is not really all that worth finding either.
Bozo
Why on Earth does this only have a 5.1? In my opinion, this was much better than Storm of the Century, which has a 7.1 (all ratings as of 5/30/08).The plot is very well written. A buried alien craft slowly turns the citizens of a small town into mind-reading, odd-gizmo-inventing slaves.The acting was excellent. Great performances by Jimmy Smits, Marg Helgenberger, John Ashton, Robert Carrdine, Joanna Cassidy, and Allyce Beasley.The music was very creepy, and very fitting.The CGI was very good also, especially for a 1993 TV movie/series.There were some very shocking scenes, and a lot of interesting little plots here and there. All of these together make a King Classic, but it doesn't seem to get the recognition it deserves. 8/10.
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