The Langoliers

Plot synopsis:
On a cross-country fight from Los Angeles to Boston, a group of passengers awaken to find that the majority of the plane's passengers and all of the crew have disappeared. Just before taking off, the flight captain, called Brian Engel (David Morse), is told that his ex-wife and son have died in a fire at home. Because off the shock, he won't be able to, and becomes one of the passengers. A blind girl, Dinah Catherine Bellman (Kate Maberly) who is travelling with her aunt Vicki (Julie Arnold Lisnet), mentions that he gets weird vibrations from one of his fellow passengers.Dinah wakes up on her own. She tries to find somebody else and calls out for "Anyone here?" several times. She finds only the loose personal objects from missing people: watches, loose change, passports, glasses, even a wig. When she touches the latter, she screams out, waking up Engel and the remaining survivors. All the rest of the people have disappeared. They are 10 people, all in all. One of the passengers, Bob Jenkins, (Dean Stockwell) tries to peer out of the windows, but he can only see darkness.While the majority of the group intends to find out what is going on, the only one who is not as concerned about their current predicament is a businessman named Craig Toomey (Bronson Pinchot). He was the person who gave out bad vibes to the little boy. In fact, he is going to a meeting to explain some weird accountancy which has been taking place in his office and has just been found out, but strangely enough, when he is told so by his assistant, he seems quite happy and satisfied about it, and not worried the slightests bit. A rather irrational businessman, Toomey is more concerned about making his business meeting on time, seeing the events at hand as some form of major inconvenience on his part.They have to use some force to calm him down, although he only ends up with the minor problem of a blood running nose .They force the cockpit's door open, and Engel tries to radio out for help, but nobody is listening. The passengers introduce each other, with nothing better to do. Bob is a mystery writer, the blonde lady is Laurel Stevenson (Patricia Wettig), a school teacher; a cute young man, who is a college student of music called Albert Kaussner (Christopher Collet) and who can play the violin; Bethany Simms (Kimber Riddle), a young female student who was going to spend some days with some relatives on vacation; Don Gaffney (Frankie Faison), who is an aircraft mechanic, travelling to Boston on his first assignment. The rude businessman does not want to say his name to the others, and he shouts that he has no time to lose, he needs to arrive to his destination. The rest of the passengers threaten to hit him if he doesn't stop scaring Dinah. At that moment, he suffers a hallucination in which he sees everybody as a kind of human-form gelatin. Then, the attack passes. It looks like all the surviving people had been sleeping while the woken-up people were the ones who mysteriously disappeared; at least, that's Bob's deduction.Eagle, manages to pilot the plane to an airport in Bangor, Maine. However, noone from air traffic control answers, and noone is found at the airport. Dinah can't hear or smell anybody, but she also cant' feel any insect, bird or crawling bug. As the group continues to explore the abandoned airport, Craig Toomy remembers an occasion in which he was a small boy (Christopher Cooke) and he got a B+ on an examination, and his father, Roger (John Griesemer) went banabas over it, calling him a loser, a nobody, and punishinghim. snaps and attempts to take one of the survivors hostage, demanding to get to his appointment on time. Using a gun, it surprises everyone when the trigger is pulled, but no bullet is released. This causes the others to overpower Toomy and tie him up.Upon further inspection, they find that there were bullets in the gun, but the gun still doesn't discharge. As well, going to a food stand, food and drink appear to have no taste or reaction when exposed to the air. Bob Jenkins, a mystery-writer who was on the plane as well, surmises that somehow, they must have flown through a time rift. On the flight leaving Los Angeles, Brian recalls that a stewardess had noted to him that the Aurora Borealis was spotted over the Mojave Desert on their flight path, and they might pass near it.Mark Lindsay Chapman... Nick HopewellBaxter Harris ...Rudy WarwickTom Holland... HarkerMichael Louden ... Richard LoganKymberly Dakin... Doris HeartmanDavid Forrester... Danny KeeneChris Hendrie... James DeeganJennifer Nichole Porter... Gate AgentStephen King... Tom HolbyDavid Kelly ... Little BoyStephanie Dunham ... Little GirlJohn Winthrop Philbrick ... Father

Tags: murder, flashback

Review:
THE LANGOLIERSAs soon as I read the novella "The Langoliers" by Stephen King, I knew it would make an amazing movie.
People complain about the crappy computer FX and the bad acting, but if you pay attention to the amazing storyline and the logic and thinking that went into this story, you'll find that it is an enjoyable movie that will keep you glued to the screen..
She nails acting blind, but is otherwise terribly distracting (rather like Kimber Riddle's hippy breasts).The plot is involving, the concept intriguing and the whole thing unravels from the characters' perspective so you're never that far ahead and waiting for the movie to catch up with you if you start sussing things out.
If you can get past the trappings of a TV movie straining at the sides of its budget and you're prepared to watch with a pinch of salt, you'll get an interesting take on time travel adequately presented.
When I was 8 years old (10 years ago) I watched an interesting movie late at night.It was a two parter but I did't know that,so after the first part ended I went to sleep (thinking what a stupid movie it was).The next day I found out I missed a complete second half.Over the years I forgot about it.Until a week ago I stumbled on it on IMDb.Without a second to waste I went and downloaded it.And I have to say it was worth the time and effort.
I loved every minute of it,including the part I already saw.It held me in suspense for all 3 hours.The acting was excellent.Only minus (if you could call it that regarding it was filmed in 1995) are the special effects.As someone on this board so excellently described The Langoliers quote:"they looked like giant meatballs with buzz-saw teeth" I just wanted to say this movie brought me back to when I was 8 and I enjoyed watching every minut of it..
As many have noted, the acting is mostly horrible, but the dialog was far worse, and I can't bring myself to think the actors weren't cringing inside while filming.By far the most annoying and destructive aspect of the script is the huge number of scenes where the plot would seem to dictate great screaming urgency but the characters waste time with blank stares or senseless pauses.
Some passengers on an overnight red eye flight awaken to discover most of their fellow passengers inexplicably missing, as if whisked away in some sort of biblical rapture.This is a delightfully creepy mystery, as is the abandoned airport where the plane lands, but the film bogs down in its irrationally slow reveal of the facts.
Not really just certain people who disliked it a little didnt want to review this and say " I disliked this movie a little.......erm" The Langoliers did also look pretty poor, but the build up to the Langoliers was more important.Very Good and certainly not worst movie ever.Have you people ever seen Death Wish 3 and 4 or Titanic or Hobgoblins?
David morse, Dean stockwell and especially Bronson Pinchot produced good performances as usual and i have to say that this movie is underrated.
The only negative thing to say is that the film is maybe a little too long, but overall a good movie which is a must for Stephen king fans!.
This is really a film I could see over and over again.It's about ten people on a flight to Boston that fall asleep,and when they wake up they discover that all other passengers are vanished,because they passed through a time warp,and the other passengers were awake.One of the ten survivors is a pilot,and flies the plane to Bangor,Maine.When they land and they realise that they are completely alone,the real horror begins.The only living sound left, catching up with them is that of the Langoliers,the scary creatures that have to erase the history.
The only way to return to normal life is to go back through the time warp,if they can move fast enough....The acting was pretty good, and I especially liked both the the mystery writer (Dean Stockwell),he was so calm and clever, and the British fellow (Mark Lindsay Chapman).
I mean, I thought that honor went to "House of Death" (aka "Death Screams"), but after three hours of the worst film quality, lack of plot and dragging pointless dialogue, "The Langoliers" easily gets my personal Razzie Award.So much is wrong with this movie, I cannot hope to list every last thing in this review.
The whole first hour is the same line over and over again ("where is everybody?") and this whole movie could have been made as a one-hour episode of "The Twilight Zone" with better acting, better directing and probably a bigger budget.A time travel aspect comes into play, and it makes very little sense.
The fact I could sit through such vile waste of film is a miracle, and I certainly hope they never let Stephen King get involved with horse apples like this again (I mean, he made "The Stand" and "It" for TV, how did they botch this one?)..
The acting is about what you'd expect from a TV movie, the dialogue is slightly corny at times, and the special effects aren't great, to say the least.However, I thought the Langoliers succeeded in doing something that you rarely see in horror films in that it successfully took that slow-building feeling of fear and dread that you get when you read a scary novel and transferred it to the screen.
Generally speaking, horror movies these days tend to rely on shocks and scares, but the Langoliers is a slow-paced mystery thriller, kind of like a really creepy Twilight Zone episode, where our heroes spend much of their time trying to piece together the clues in order to solve the mystery of their predicament, all while an ominous feeling of oncoming danger just grows and grows.
Never mind the video effects or anything like that - they are not the main point in this impeccable version of a Stephen King's classical novel.
Otherwise, I'd say that this is a fairly good Stephen King movie.
Stretched into a two parter to better tell its story, the movie shows the range of Bronson Pinchot's acting abilities as he plays a major jerk; he later goes on to play Stan Laurel.
There, they try to find out where all the people went and why they are the only ones standing.It's an exciting unpredictable mini-series full of plot twists and surprising moments, from the suspenseful investigation scenes around the mysterious airport to the eerie and horrific sounds that they hear approaching them.Supported by some pretty good acting, a fast-paced plot and bone-chilling action, this mini-series is one thriller you don't want to miss!
But that doesn't make it good, in my opinion The Langoliers is a very problematic adaptation and probably the only Stephen King adaptation I've found difficult to rate.I do give it plaudits for some decent filming, a good story that I appreciate for being faithful to its source, an atmospheric score and good performances from David Morse, Dean Stockwell and Bronson Pinchott.However, The Langoliers's biggest flaws are in the CGI, length and I think pace as well.
The pace is often slow and meandering with a lot at first not happening, and the fact that the adaptation is too long doesn't help either.The story is a great idea and it is great to work from, but in execution The Langoliers leaves a lot to be desired.
I had not read the King book before watching this, which made the movie better, IMO.
I originally watched movie because it has Dean Stockwell on it, the star of my still-favorite show Quantum Leap, and the film itself is so much more than just the actors.
Patricia Wettig, David Morse, Dean Stockwell-- all good actors that try their best, but still can't salvage it from that bland B-movie feeling.
I can't understand how Stephen King has some of the best and worst film adaptations of his work-- all at the same time.It does have one thing going for it, though.
The flaws mentioned by one of the previous reviewers are not flaws - the little blind girl was reading the time on her braille watch, not setting the time, and the passengers who were awake when they went through the rip vanished, they did not continue on to their destination since the plane itself had gone into the past.Overall a great story but a lousy adaptation.
Average and slow sci-fi tv movie about time travel.The horror factor attempt is weak and this movie could have been much better if it had a better screenplay and CGI effects.The story was not all that bad as the time travel concept here is quite different.If one does not mind slow time wasting scenes,this movie will entertain any sci-fi tv movie nut.Very TWILIGHT ZONISH.If not into that kind of style and genre,stay away from this one as it could mean wasting your time (4 hours) just to see what happens in the end (which is not much).......
having read the short story i ignored my initial instinct (they never make good stephen king conversions) and hired the movie and invited over two of my friends  having got past the first hour and a half i told my friends that there were some good bits coming up with mad men and monsters in it (it's stephen king after all) as it was the film progressively sucked our will to live to the point that none of us could get up and turn it off.
The characters are basically intact, as is the plot itself, so if you can look past everything else you'll get a fun "what if" out of it.The problem, of course, is that 'everything else.' I say this is decent fare for younger fans because I enjoyed it in my early teens, but upon re-watching in my mid-20's, I have a hard time getting past the acting, the dialog and the computer animation sequences.
The shots of the plane in flight are pretty comical; the worst of it is the langoliers themselves, which are modeled with all the skill and subtlety of a construction worker playing the xylophone with a wrecking ball.That said, there ARE good things about this movie.
However, the acting in the movie carried it through, our favorite characters being Mr. Toumey and the airline pilot who just happened to be on the plane (thank goodness).
If you want to see a good Stephen King movie watch "The Shining" or "Carrie." The only reason I'm typing a review is in hopes that someone will read it and trust my word and not watch this POS..
While I enjoyed reading the story more, this movie is a very good adaptation of it.
"The Langoliers", the TV-movie adaption of the short novel of the same name by Stephen King, suffers from that same difficulty along with moments where the actors come off too much like they're "acting".
Despite these reservations, the story is interesting enough and the characters real enough that the experience is still reasonably entertaining, maybe worth a viewing on free on-demand but not quite good enough for a DVD purchase.The story is about a group of airline passengers that wake up after having had a short nap and find they have gone either into another time-dimension or another dimension altogether, which is never quite fully explained.
The remaining passengers have to figure out what has happened and how to get out of this dilemma.The elements of your typical Stephen King horror-fantasy are all here: A group of characters caught in a supernatural situation, very similar to "The Stand" and "It", dream and/or hallucinatory sequences, and ultimately some kind supernatural baddie, in this case the dreaded Langoliers.
I love the whole movie, and the first time i watched it when i was little, i didn't quite get it, but now i understand everything, but i never noticed the goof, till i read it on this site..i found that quite funny.I love all Stephen king movies!!~!!.
Man i must say that it's one of my favourite films.And the thing is that i don't have many favourite ones.In fact along with this one, are also Final Destination 2,On the Beach,The Butterfly Effect and some other great movies.I gave a 10(excellent)vote for this film and i really think it's worth of it.The first and only time that i saw the film was about 3 years ago while i was inside my house late on night without having anything better to do than just turn on my TV and run into that superb film.I didn't know apsolutelly nothing for the film and after that night i tried to look for it with no success.Than 2 months ago just from curiosity i started searching it again and 3 days ago i finally found it and i was surprised to see that it was Stephen King's and i haven't realised it.Anyway it surly is one of my top films!!!.
The Langoliers is another one of those TV movie/straight to video Stephen King adaptations, very cheap and visibly so, its charm lies deep in its trashiness.
One think I ask GO AND TRY TO DO THE ACTING STUFF THEY DID YOURSELF, I mean I got stuck to my screen watching this film such that Idid not notice time passing THE MOVIE IS Awesome so if you saying it is bad I consider you go get an acting course or a film critic CRASH course as soon as possible.
I would like to say that maybe special effects were not that amusing but the whole structure of the film is very good.
I liked a lot that effect of suspense especially when the little blind girl speaks during her last scenes she was so convincing and really scary I think that was really good acting and good facial expressions to..
What I saw was a TV movie that wasn't perfectly close, but was, in fact, closer than most adaptions I've seen.The Langoliers tells the story of a group of people on a late night plane trip across the country.
The Langoliers is an effective Stephen King miniseries.It starts off as a mystery involving a group of people in a plane and later an airport,and gets creepier and scarier as it goes along.The cast is excellent with special notice going to Patricia Wettig,David Morse,Dean Stockwell,Mark Lindsai Chapman and Kate Maberly.
I don't look to this movie (or the Tommyknockers, which gets the same mixed reviews) for the special effects or the best acting in the world.
These movies are made to get your imagination pumping, and make you think about other situations rather than our own current situations.Immerse yourself in the film's story, not in the acting, or the music, or the plot holes that may or may not exist.
As a totally Stephen King fanatic, I can only tell one thing about this movie: It's so great.The plot, the filming, the effects, everything.....
Kate Maberly was just awful in this movie and Stephen King gave her an insult by putting her in this film.
This film was way to long and boring,the acting by most actors was awful,so were the computer graphics,i mean how fake could it get,i gave the movie a chance till the Langoliers appeared.So they appeared and i spewed in laughter at what a waste of time the entire film was,i mean what were they thinking,they would have done better if they dressed a guy in a gorilla costume.
Everything just stopped they couldn't light a match or anything there were no echoesSo this little girl she is blind and your hearing is like 10 times better and she heard this munching sound and it scared the ____ out of her she tried to tell people that it was comming closer but they didn't listen till it was too lateit's a good movie.
As many avid Stephen King fans know, many of his stories have been butchered when they were made into films.
Good news in the Langoliers: there aren't any changes in the plot or in any characters, at least not that I noticed.The acting, except for a few times, was commendable.
David Morse, who played Captain Engle and went on co-star with Tom Hanks in Stephen King's The Green Mile, also did an outstanding job.The movie overall was good, except for some cheap special effects.
Still, if you feel like watching three hours of good movie followed by about half an hour of silliness, give it a go.
SO very disappointing, in fact, that it is one of the few Stephen King short-story-made-movies that I do not own, am not in search of, and not interested in owning.
But myself they have to fight for their lives and try to go back into our dimension.During this time, they encounter terror, special effects, and some wierd going-ons.Patrcia Wettig, Dean Stockwell, and Brosnan Pinchott round the cast in this enjoyable yet tiring, and boring sci-fi rather than horror.So the movie was entertaining, but the story and dialogue isn't so I give The Langoliers a 5 out of 10.Good acting though.
I remember seeing this movie when it first came out, this is the first Stephen King movie I ever seen and was very impressed, I thought, what a brilliant idea: being out of sync with time and the langoliers.
This is again a great Stephen King movie.
This is again a great Stephen King movie.
I should also point out that a great actor like Dean Stockwell deserves much better than this.By the climax of this cheap thriller  (which is packed full of dull-looking computer animation)  the film has spun hopelessly out of control.Oh, well.May it rest in peace with the other bad King adaptations..
let's say, most productive mini series/movie of all time, it still has a very special and important place in history of King adaptations.