Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8993 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-10-22
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 126 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Director Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers), also recruited by Stephen King to remake The Shining, knows how to capture King's horror aesthetic on film. Desperation, based on a more recent King novel, is a pastiche of earlier King novelties, such as the psycho in uniform, this time Sheriff Collie Entragian (Ron Perlman), and dogs summoned by the devil, this time by TAK, an ancient Chinese demon. A town called Desperation in Nevada has a collapsed mine full of Chinese immigrant ghosts, whose spirits are trapped with TAK until they're accidentally unleashed. The TAK-possessed local sheriff is killing everyone, save a few travelers who stumble through on road trips. In the opening scene, Mary (Annabeth Gish) and her beau are pulled over by Sheriff Entragian, framed by his placing of marijuana in their trunk, then read their rights with a Satanic "I will kill you" thrown in. Later, Steve (Steven Weber), Cynthia (Kelly Overton), and Vietnam vet John Marinville (Tom Skerrit), ride into town, and they too encounter the evil policeman's wrath. They all meet a brave, imprisoned boy, David (Shane Haboucha), with whom they team up to end the mayhem. Desperation uses blue and green lighting to embrace the funhouse look, and camera shots highlighting the Sheriff's deranged face make the film occasionally spooky. But the rehashed plot detracts from the fear-factor, leaving one to pine for earlier King story adaptations, such as Misery or Cujo. --Trinie Dalton

Synopsis
In this TV adaptation of Stephen King's book, Ron Perlman (HELLBOY) plays Collie Entragian, a possessed cop in the desolate town of Desperation. A self-appointed authority in this tiny bend in the road, Entragian arrests an entire family in one night, as well as four other people passing through, and throws them in jail. Gradually, it emerges that the policeman is in need of bodies to contain the evil demon that now occupies him, and that the only hope for the captives lies in the strange powers of a little boy.

Customer Reviews

Great story, great acting and a great film
'Desperation' is one of the very few Stephen King books that I haven't read, so I didn't know what to expect when I watched this adaption, but thankfully I was surprisingly impressed. When first hearing this had been made with director Mick Garris behind it all, I was really put off seeing it as his last King adaption, Riding the Bullet, one of the worst films I've ever seen (King adaption or otherwise) although I did enjoy his version of The Shining, so I did give it the benefit of the doubt and was not disappointed in the slightest, with the turnout being one of the best thrillers I've seen this year.

The film begins when a couple driving through Nevada on their way to New York get pulled over by Collie Entragian, a strange police officer who arrests them after planting a bag of weed in their trunk. He then takes them to his town called Desperation where it would seem that everyone is dead...and the deaths seem to be at the hands of the cop. Other travellers have also been held captive at the police station including a family whose daughter has been already killed by Entragian, best-selling writer and Vietnam vet, John Edward Marinville and an older resident of Desperation, Tom Billingsley. Elsewhere, hitch-hiker Cynthia Smith gets picked up by Marinville's roadie, Steve Ames and after a distressed phone call from Marinville (made whilst being taken by Entragian), the couple head to Desperation to try and help him.

First of all the story is very good and although not that original, it gives a new twist on this type of genre (with films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Children of the Corn being pretty similar), and the screenplay is also written by King himself, so he really knew what he wanted from this movie, with the outcome being a creepy and exciting thriller that would be worthy of the big screen if it was ever given the chance. There's enough tension and suspense to keep you interest thoughout the whole two hours and the acting is also above the quality you'd normally expect from a TV movie (and a King adaption on top of that!). Ron Perlman's performance as Entragian is truly scary and unnerving.

Overall this is a great horror flick that fans of the genre should love and isn't too wierd to put off viewers who are not too familiar with other works from Mr King (which can be quite strange and an acquired taste). I thorughly enjoyed it and now look forward to reading the novel, as King's books are usually better than his films, so going on the quality of this film I know it should be good!

Entertaining, but lacking something.....
Being a big fan of Stephen King in general, and having enjoyed the book 'Desperation', I had to give this a look. It began life as a movie,then was converted to a mini-series, then converted again to a tv movie. As such, the budget limited the extent to which the book could be faithfully converted to film.
The writing and direction are good (Stephen King wrote the screenplay, and streamlined his book pretty well), although there are some quick jumps indicating some hasty editing, and papering over of cut out plot, and the acting is good, espercially Ron Pearlman as TAK, and Shane Haboucha as David Carver. The location is fantastic, and the town looks exactly as I pictured Desperation in the book.
My only real issue is with pacing. The first 30 minutes are excellent sweeping you along with the story, but once the plot slows, it never really regains enough momentum to be as exciting as it should be; the final 15 minutes expecially lacked something.
Overall, a decent stab at one of King's second tier books, and its production as a good tv movie tells you what was expected of it.

I Just Wish Tak Had Won
Unusually with Stephen King Films, I found myself liking about the film exactly what I liked about the book. I found myself equally irritated by things that I disliked about the book - which the film really could have taken the opportunity to address.

Set in a former mining colony in the desert, the best part of the film (and book) is the first part. Here we have plenty of weirdness and tension as a sinister (and huge) cop, excellently realised by Ron Perlman, patrols the outskirts of town hauling in travellers and visitors on trumped-up charges and displaying a marvelously acted mania, jumping from easy chat to screaming insanity and back again as he grills his victims on just what exactly they are doing in town.

The second part of the film deals with what this cop actually is, and why the town's population lie butchered and strewn around (in scenes slightly reminiscent of the 1980s Stephen King film "Children Of The Corn").
But my major gripe, notwithstanding the excuse that someone was trying to keep close to the original story, is the heavily layered preaching from the smart-arse boy. It became pretty wearying pretty quickly. Despite the survivors having lost wives, husbands, baby daughters within the last 12 hours, the boy's frequent reminders about why it's ok for a loving wonderful God to be so cruel (Conclusion: it's because he's God - well, that's alright, then) someone should have kicked him up the arse and straight down the mine shaft.