In the 90s, Stephen King adaptations were be-coming as common on TV as in theaters, which is just as well since many of the TV adaptations turned out better than their theatrical counterparts. The setting is a familiar one, Little Tall Island, a small wintery town off the coast of Maine where citizens prepare for a record-setting snowstorm. Everyone's trapped, so it figures when creepy, polite stranger Anton Linoge (Colm Feore) wanders into the quaint town, begins a supernatural murder spree and proclaims, "Give me what I want and I'll go away!" Linoge turns out to be some kind of murderous, demonic entity (sometimes with fangs and red eyes) who knows all about the evil in their past, can predict their futures and cause them to kill each other (or themselves).
Feore is first-rate in this difficult role, showing the same kind of quiet intensity that made Anthony Hopkins' performance in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS so enjoyable. Tim Daly is very good, too, as the perplexed, sharp-minded constable. The story is interesting, there are some effective, though sparsely used, FX (some CGI to bring a silver wolf's head cane to life that possesses victims, plus some morphing), good production values and appropriately bleak blue-tinted photography. Unfortunately, the films impact is muted by sheer over length (4 hours!) and things get real silly when the little kids start flying around in the sky like rejected PETER PAN extras. King (who has a token cameo on a busted TV screen) scripted and was co executive producer of this three-part miniseries. Director Baxley returned with another TV King adaptation; ROSE RED (2001). Steve Johnson worked on the special effects.
Feore is first-rate in this difficult role, showing the same kind of quiet intensity that made Anthony Hopkins' performance in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS so enjoyable. Tim Daly is very good, too, as the perplexed, sharp-minded constable. The story is interesting, there are some effective, though sparsely used, FX (some CGI to bring a silver wolf's head cane to life that possesses victims, plus some morphing), good production values and appropriately bleak blue-tinted photography. Unfortunately, the films impact is muted by sheer over length (4 hours!) and things get real silly when the little kids start flying around in the sky like rejected PETER PAN extras. King (who has a token cameo on a busted TV screen) scripted and was co executive producer of this three-part miniseries. Director Baxley returned with another TV King adaptation; ROSE RED (2001). Steve Johnson worked on the special effects.