Director: Mikael Salomon
Cast: Rob Lowe, Andre Braugher, Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer
Have I Seen it Before: Never. Had it not been included with a DVD set along with IT (1990) and The Shining (1997) (no, not that one) I likely never would seen it. If I wasn’t trying to do my level-headed best to get through my pile of unwatched DVDs, I may still have never seen it.
Did I Like It: Let’s put it simply: I was half-considering not writing a review of this at all, seeing as it was a television miniseries that aired on TNT. Since I already reviewed those other two films in the set, consistency alone has brought me to this low point.
One can’t imagine that the film’s failing are entirely its own fault. The prospect of a two-part television movie based on a Stephen King novel is not exactly the stuff of high quality. The only exception is the aforementioned IT, and that is a four hour journey through mostly dullsville, punctuated by a legitimately terrifying performance from Tim Curry. It also helped that I first saw fleeting images of that one when I was five.
There is not much to recommend the proceedings here, then, aside from the always welcome presence of Andre Braugher. It’s interesting to note that this is another vampire film starring Sutherland and Hauer, but this barely about vampires, and it wasn’t exactly like their first team-up worked out so hot. The production value is embarrassingly cheap when it isn’t spectacularly boring. Seriously, Rob Lowe left The West Wing for stuff like this? Even the fifth season of that show is more memorable than this. It actually inspires me to actively avoid the novel on which it is based. It’s a real shame.