Might have been good prior to 1980... but on second thought...

Rating: 5/10 (23 November 2007)

I wrote the Summary before I checked to see when the story was published. I never read the novella; however, the story overall is King-like from my other experiences.
Unfortunately (at least for me), this plot was neither suspenseful nor horrifying. The characters were cardboard, stilted, and annoying at best/worst (which added to the pre-1980 appeal). Actually, the logical inconsistencies throughout the movie made the ending somewhat unsurprising, even predictable, since they obviously had to deliver a "shocker" to rescue the rest of it - which I think is largely why they ended it the way they did. Having said that, it was the only thing I found truly King-like, and was the main redeeming part of the film - even though ironically, that was not Mr. King's original ending! It worked though - since the ending boosted my score, also, bringing my rating up to "2." (Addendum: See vote upgrade comment to follow)
Another reviewer labeled this 'Horrendous,' and I found most of those observations matched my own. Indeed, this was a movie during which I found myself checking my wristwatch to see when it might end. The first time I did this was when I saw - eghad... tentacles. Wow that is sooo scary. ...and again when I saw - oh no... big bugs. Someone save me. The movie "Alien" made it so that big bugs just aren't scary anymore - we're desensitized to that. Let's move on now...
I will agree that the bugs were secondary to the overall focus, which involved stupid people. For me, this movie did not deliver "horror" since it was a relief and almost cathartic to see stupid cartoon-like characters being cleansed from the gene pool, which might be what Mr. King intended all along. In that sense it was an uplifting movie after all. I'm upgrading my score to a 5 based on this recent revelation.