Four boyhood pals perform a heroic act and are changed by the powers they gain in return. Years later, on a hunting trip in the Maine woods, they’re overtaken by a vicious blizzard that harbors an ominous presence. Challenged to stop an alien force, the friends must first prevent the slaughter of innocent civilians by a military vigilante … and then overcome a threat to the bond that unites the four of them.
Credits: TheMovieDb.
Film Cast:
- Col. Abraham Curtis: Morgan Freeman
- Dr. Henry Devlin: Thomas Jane
- Joe ‘Beaver’ Clarenden: Jason Lee
- Gary ‘Jonesy’ Jones: Damian Lewis
- Pete Moore: Timothy Olyphant
- Lt. Owen Underhill: Tom Sizemore
- Douglas ‘Duddits’ Cavell: Donnie Wahlberg
- Young Henry: Mikey Holekamp
- Young Beaver: Reece Thompson
- Young Jonesy: Giacomo Baessato
- Young Pete: Joel Palmer
- Young Duddits: Andrew Robb
- Roberta Cavell: Rosemary Dunsmore
- General Matheson: Michael O’Neill
- Rick McCarthy: Eric Keenleyside
- Barry Neiman: C. Ernst Harth
- Stranger on Curb: Michael Dobson
- Army Truck Driver: Ty Olsson
- Conklin: Michael Daingerfield
- Old Man Gosselin: Campbell Lane
- Trish: Ingrid Kavelaars
- Maples: Darrin Klimek
- Rachel: Bailee Reid
- Tracking Technician: Kevan Ohtsji
- EMT #1: Marcy Goldberg
- EMT #2: Dion Johnstone
- Josie Rinkenhauer: Shauna Kain
- Edwards: Colin Lawrence
- Helicopter Sentry: Jordan Walker
- Defuniak: Jonathan Kasdan
- Woman in Crowd: Carolyn Tweedle
Film Crew:
- Casting: Ronna Kress
- Screenplay: William Goldman
- Original Music Composer: James Newton Howard
- Production Design: Jon Hutman
- Director of Photography: John Seale
- Novel: Stephen King
- Producer: Lawrence Kasdan
- Producer: Charles Okun
- Construction Coordinator: Doug Hardwick
- Editor: Carol Littleton
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Tim Alexander
- Supervising Art Director: W. Steven Graham
- Set Decoration: Rose Marie McSherry
- Dialect Coach: Tim Monich
- Makeup Department Head: Bill Corso
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Greg P. Russell
- Production Manager: Casey Grant
- Costume Design: Molly Maginnis
- Art Direction: Helen Jarvis
- Assistant Art Director: Roxanne Methot
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Stefen Fangmeier
- Editor: Raúl Dávalos
- Makeup Artist: Victoria Down
- Hairstylist: Sandy Monesmith
- Makeup Effects: Christopher Mark Pinhey
- Makeup Effects: Joel Echallier
- ADR Editor: G.W. Brown
- Dialogue Editor: Wayne Griffin
- First Assistant Editor: Lucyna Wojciechowski
- Makeup Effects: Ryan Nicholson
- Stunt Coordinator: Jacob Rupp
- Second Unit Director of Photography: Roger Vernon
- Stunts: J.J. Makaro
- Visual Effects Producer: Rodney Montague
- Script Supervisor: Barbara Tuss
- Special Effects Coordinator: William H. Orr
- Creature Design: Mark ‘Crash’ McCreery
- Set Designer: Anneke Van Oort
- Camera Operator: Paul Mitchnick
- Art Direction: Kendelle Elliott
- Foley: Dan O’Connell
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Mark Freund
- Music Editor: David Olson
- Sound Designer: Robert Grieve
- Foley: John T. Cucci
- Sound Effects Editor: Ai-Ling Lee
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Kevin O’Connell
- Scenic Artist: Lynn Chaulk
- Still Photographer: Doane Gregory
- Camera Operator: Trig Singer
- Greensman: Glenn Foerster
- Camera Operator: John Clothier
- Unit Publicist: Patricia Johnson
- Visual Effects Editor: Michael Gleason
- Scenic Artist: John B. Keys
- Property Master: Bryan Korenberg
- Gaffer: David Tickell
- ADR Supervisor: Darren King
- Sound Designer: Yann Delpuech
- Visual Effects Producer: Lindsay Hallett
- Assistant Art Director: Marion Kolsby
- Makeup Effects: Toby Lindala
- Set Designer: Allan Galajda
- Set Designer: Michael Toby
- Makeup Effects: Céline Godeau
- Hairstylist: Deena Adair
- Rigging Gaffer: Jarrod Tiffin
- Makeup Effects: Rob Hinderstein
- Dolby Consultant: Bryan Pennington
- Set Decoration: Amber E. MacLeod
- Hairstylist: Sherry Linder-Gygli
- Makeup Artist: Nancy Hancock
- Greensman: Jay Hall
- Greensman: Darrin Massey
- Greensman: Kevin Clark
- Scenic Artist: Lynn-Anne West
- CG Supervisor: Curt I. Miyashiro
- Visual Effects Editor: Brigitte Daloin
- Visual Effects Producer: Jeff Olson
- Animation Supervisor: Hal T. Hickel
- Stunt Coordinator: David Jacox
- Transportation Coordinator: Rob Vreugde
- Location Manager: Connie Kennedy
- Boom Operator: Chris Glyn-Jones
- First Assistant Camera: Stewart Whelan
- Storyboard Designer: Rick Newsome
Movie Reviews:
- furious_iz: Doesn’t quite deserve all the hate…
A group of friends with a long history are pitted against an invading alien force, and they use their special gifts and talents to try and save the world.
Sure it is not the best Stephen King adaptation, but it is far from the worst. Some fairly hammy acting, dodgy CGI and tonnes of cliché Stephen King tropes don’t stop this film from being lightweight fun, so long as you are not expecting a work of art.
Damien Lewis is a stand-out, especially when he is being the Mr Gray personality and most of the rest of the cast do well enough, with a little bit of coasting from Tom Sizemore and Morgan Freeman. It is however hard to look past the patronising and mildly offensive portrayal of the idiot savant Duddits, and the ending is completely stupid. But if you have a spare couple of hours there are worse ways to spend time.
B grade film with an A grade cast and a budget somewhere in between.
- Martha: This is all I have to say… Butthole-cock-monsters.
- GenerationofSwine: Compared to the book, yeah, it stinks…but that’s really only because it got lost somewhere in translation from prose to screen.
Take it as it is, take it as a movie and its not half bad, the problem is that, once you leave the book behind what you have is an old fashioned B horror movie that is trying to sell itself in an era where B horror movies need the special effects of modern super hero movies and the basic plot of a Dick and Jane novel.
And then, in many ways, it’s just too expensive. It feels like a classic Drive-In horror flick, but it looks like a block buster. Tone down the budget by a few million and make it a direct to video movie and it would have cult classic status already…despite the people that actually read the source material.
The acting is good, the special effects are too good, the setting is cool, but the plot hurts a bit and the fact that Duddits is Intellectually Disabled is inevitably going to put off more that a few viewers.
Really though, what you have is a great B Movie Drive-In fair that somehow got an actual budget wot work with. And you could do a lot worse in this Post New Hollywood day and age.