A
family man Jim Norman (Tim
Matheson) is troubled by his past after
he experiences his brother being killed
by a steam locomotive in a tunnel in 1963
while he was bullied by a group of older
greasers lead by Richard Lawson (Robert
Rusler) in which the tracks have been
taken out when he arrives to his old home
but the memory remains the same.
He teaches at a local highschool and
witnesses the punk's cadillac rolling by
and killing some of his students in which
he is to blame for these murders since
the car is only revealed by him and the
victim they plan on killing.
Eventually they come back to haunt him as
new students at his school planning to
seek revenge on him as well as
terrorising his family so Jim must try to
meet ends with these people as well as
trying to resurrect his dead brother to
help him overcome his fears on this gang.
A nicely done film
based on Stephen King's short
stories and it certainly has those spooky
and strange elements like in all of his
work which it boggles your mind as to how
these punks came back from the grave.
Plus it does show a nice fear in a dark
railroad tunnell wondering if a train
will come since there's no escape if it
does come charging. It was a perfect
touch.
To top it all off the film does show
great horror's if you were bullied by
older kids and being relieved they're
dead but only to come back and to haunt
you if you had a profession as a
highschool teacher.
There's nice special effects for a made
for cable tv movie which looks better
than your typical one showing the
cheesiness to it which this one doesn't
show that at all.
The film was quite original and keeps you
glued to watching the cadillac chasing
after it's victims in which you wonder if
these people will survive this car
chasing after them which at times can
seem spookier than in Christine.
Also it's nice looking at the abandoned
railroad tracks that were taken out on
present day which makes you wonder if a
ghost train will occur since the ghosts
of the punks arrive there close to the
end of the film.
There's a
good scene with two children walking on some railroad tracks
heading towards a tunnel with Jim Norman
behind them calling out in fear. Then
there's many good shots on them inside
the tunnel with a car storming in the
middle of the tunnel with punks tormenting them which looked
quite well done. There's also a nice
moment with one of the children after he's
stabbed and falling on some tracks with
him weakly telling the other to get
some help as well as a nice distant shot
on a steam locomotive chugging along and
great panicking reactions on the other punks trying to get into their vehicle as well
as a great close up shot on the
locomotive coming in full speed and
smashing the car with a nice shot in the
tunnel showing an explosion on the
vehicle.
There's a good moment with a car charging
full speed ahead towards Jim at his vehicle and stopping right in
front of him as well as an obnoxious student storming
out of his car getting aggressive towards
him.
A nice shot on someone riding his bike with the black
cadillac terrorising him along with him
screaming in fear which looked good as
well as him falling off a cliff which
looked terrorising.
There's also a good moment with Jim trying to teach his class and a good shot
on Richard Lawson turning around and
introducing himself as a new student
which looked creepy on how he was
presenting himself along with sticking
out his switchblade knife as well as a
good moment with Jim having
his head turned to the blackboard and Chip throwing something towards him.
A good moment with Chip trying to talk to Jim at
his house with his words choked up and
acting nervous as the moments on this
looked very energised plus a good moment
with Chip himself running along in a
street with the cadillac charging at him
and his body on the front of the car
speeding along the road with him. Plus
there's a good moment on him in the
passenger seat with some of the punks being rough with him asking
if he's scared along with a good shots on
their ghoulish faces cackling crazily
which was very spooky like.
A good nightmare sequence and
good quick shots on a girl getting
slayed with nice close up shots on the punks laughing
and doing evil actions as well as a nice
jump up shot on Jim from his bed
with Sally Norman trying to confront him but him snapping at her showing good timing.
There's a good moment with the punks driving
towards a house with Jim trying to
get him and his family to run in leaving
it that haunting like feel to it.
A nice aggressive moment with Jim being forceful towards Carl Mueller to do something with him
as well as a nice creepy dark shot on the
two of them at the dark abandoned tunnel
with him trying to call to
the punks to show themselves.
A nice silent moment with Scott Norman walking home from school
and suddenly the cadillac leaping to life
charging at him which is a nice jumping
moment.
A good moment with Jim at a
gravestone trying to talk to his dead
brother and to try and resurrect him
along with great haunting shots on the punks taunting
him.
There's a good moment surrounding Chip and Scott Norman in a house with the punks looking
ghostly and coming into the house from
the windows and terrorising her which
brought a perfect horror feel to it as
well as them trying to get physical
towards Scott.
There's a nice final confrontation with
everyone at the tunnell which looked
adventureously done as well as the head punk approaching to do battles with Richard as well as a nice touching discussion
towards Jim towards the end of the
scene which was very emotional.
Bottom line is that this film is
incomparable to any other ghostl like
horror film which doesn't have to look
bloody to be good along with being in
touch with your fears on bullies from
your past returning in your adult
lifetime to still do this to you now
which isn't a pretty site. Plus, this
story has a very touching ending with a
ghost of a kid who died from a train
accident in his time and makes you
believe the people who are no longer in
your life are still with us in their
spirits.
The film was followed by two sequels
which seems necessary since this film was
considered a cult classic especially to
the Stephen King fans who
enjoyed his other flicks based on short
stories like Children of the Corn
and Maximum Overdrive
although not a nationwide classic in the
same veins as Carrie, The
Shining, Christine or
Pet Semetary. But the
film is dark and gloomy in alot of spots
like the one's recently mentioned which
was perfect.
The acting is in
great shape in which Tim Matheson
(Jim Norman) really brought out everything in his role
as someone troubled by his past in which
he shows some nice fearful expressions
along with great aggressions too. He does well
snapping at his fellow actress by not wanting to dream
which looked well performed. He
studied his part quite well and knew on
how to behave disturbed by all what's
happening to him.
Brooke Adams (Sally Norman) really was powerful
with her actions in the film and had a
nice tough attitude in the film instead
of someone crying in fear by all that's
happening along with showing a good
strong sympathetic and concerned
attitude. She was realistic in her role.
Robert Rusler (Richard Lawson) played a perfect head
greaser punk in the film showing a good
bad ass behavior and coming across very
aggressively and violent too. He
certainly brought to your attention that
you's wanna kill this person for his evil
doings and was a great horror character
too.
Robert Hy Gorman (Scott Norman) has a great charm
as the pre-teen of the married couple
having an innocent but sneaky behavior in
which you see in most kids that age and
really pulls this part off very well. He
shows great energy when he is scared by
the surroundings of these ghostly punks
too.
William Sanderson (Carl Mueller) did his part well
as an eccentric one in the film bringing
his fears across perfectly along with a
great paranoid attitude too. A
good paranoid reaction by trying to get away on a certain madness. He often
played these types of roles in TV and
film since he knows his craft by doing
so.
Chad Nyerges (Chip) didn't have a huge role
in the film but thought I'd mention him
regardless since he showed a nice
versatality in his role as a bad ass jock
just coming across that he is about to
hit you when he's mad and later on
showing his fears in the film making him
seem harmless when this moment happens.
There's alot of great
classical low bass violin tones along
with some high pitched violin music too.
We hear all sorts of adventurous playing
with alot of trombone playing too as well
towards the end some nice soft touching
music with the odd piano playing too all
done by Terry Plumeri. |
