A B-movie that actually works

Rating: 7/10 (7 March 2008)

Good Stephen King movie adaptations are quite rare. I have not read the story this is based on, so can't comment on it. The story is far from original, it's the doomsday/apocalypse stuff all over again. But those, to me at least, are always interesting.
At first this movie seemed almost like a made for TV one, with no known actors and a seemingly low budget. However, as time went by, the movie got better, which is quite rare. The special effects aren't necessarily top notch, but they do their job. Acting by most people was quite weak as well, except for Marcia Gay Harden.
I liked the attack on religion, or religious zealots, as it's quite rare in an American movie. I think the movie wanted to have a big message(TM), but it sort of delivered it in this B-movie style. The characters aren't very deep, but I think the way the people reacted is pretty believable. Who knows how you would react in a situation like this? It's quite clear this was written in 1980, and the story would have needed some restructuring to be more believable. There wasn't a single computer in the store with Internet? No one desperately twiddling their mobile phones? The ending... well it's hard to say anything about it without spoiling, but it's certainly shocking. I'm a bit divided if I actually liked it or not. But it certainly ain't no Hollywood ending.
This ain't a typical horror movie of today. There's some gore but not that much. There's virtually no "jump" scares. It's quite refreshing actually. The scares are more in the psychological level. But I don't think anyone except the ones most easily scared will be scared by this flick.
Anyway, the movie certainly surprised me in a good way.