Product: Sometimes They Come Back [VHS] (1991)
Rating: 2.0
Not the best Stephen King adaptation, not the worst, either
This made-for-TV movie (given a fake "R" rating in a shameless attempt to boost sales) is one of many TV adaptations of Stephen King's work. Fans of the Master of Horror will be disappointed, but novices looking for a tame and relatively bloodless horror film will enjoy it. A schoolteacher (Tim Matheson) finds himself and his students stalked by the vengeful spirits of some nasty punks who murdered his brother and then got themselves run over by a train. The strengths of this movie are in King's storyline and the solid acting; the weaknesses are in the incredibly watered-down script and the bargain basement production values. This could have been a great miniseries, but the network obviously didn't want to spend the money, and slapped together this movie instead. A really low-budget effort that shows where the corners were cut. As for the DVD itself, the picture quality is as good as it can get for a telefilm, and the sound is rich and full. If you want to buy it, I say go for the DVD. For King completists, it's a nice way to kill some time.