Mostly faithful to book, but character development and ending disappoint.

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2007)

Having read the story and listened to the unabridged audio many times, this film version leaves me flat. Character development of David, especially the removal of the narrative style of the story in the book, hollows-out the characters, leaving the relationship of David and Amanda out altogether (which had been one of the best parts of the story). The death of Norm portion in the loading dock/storeroom was especially faithful to the story, however, and shines as the best portion of the film. The suspense of the scene is carried off well as is the pharmacy scene. Yet again, the book makes the pharmacy seem to have been a smaller store than depicted with the addition of the MP death by baby spiders scene being wholly gratuitous. The race to David's truck was nicely carried out, with the reverses well played. It surprised me that the screenplay author felt it necessary to leave out the faint hope of Stephanie Drayton yet being alive by the return to the Drayton's house and the discovery of her body there. A constant in the plot had been of David visualizing Stephanie working in the garden as he had left her on that first morning. This was a source of guilt on David's part because of the developing relationship with Amanda. But, the most galling portion was the murderous end of the movie! This was a complete opposite to the book, which had the survivors holed-up in a hotel some distance from their hometown at the end of the novella. A feeling of hope was given in the book, whereas the movie left one with a feeling of pointlessness, especially when the woman who had gone to find her children early in the movie turned up alive and well with her kids. When the book had her as one of the first to die. Overall, a movie that showed promise at first, but leaves a lot to be desired at the end. SK's books are always a lot better than the movies accredited to them.