novoten

The connection to Salem's Lot begins and ends with the book source material. It has my favorite team dynamics out of all Stephen King's works, where a disparate group of heroes struggles with unknown evil and in the end comes to bloody terms with it. This is where my beloved writer first used it, and although all of Salem's Lot (especially in the finale) is a bit rough, I like it a lot, precisely because of this crucial role. And the adaptation is similar, it loves the source material, wants to present everything and everyone from it, but has so little time that the movie becomes a montage show. Ben is an indistinct writer who inexplicably leads the group, Susan is an indistinct local flirt who inexplicably is part of this group, Mark is an indistinct know-it-all who inexplicably withstands all dangers. On the other side of the barricade, it's not any better, as Pilou Asbæk exaggerates the mysterious Straker to the point of being Dracula-esque, and Barlow is anything but scary. Gary Dauberman wanted the movie to be three hours long, which I fully understand. However, it fails to become the next It, and in less than two hours, there is a bare-bones chase where everyone knows everything too soon for the information to have any impact on the viewer. Rounded down for the emptiness of the shortcut scene through the forest, where I almost climbed the walls with nervousness while reading, and for the action-packed finale, which maybe has a few gory ideas but feels like it's from a different movie.

Firestarter is one of the most widely popular Stephen King books and I understand that it deserved a new version. It has visually leaned on Stranger Things in popularity, which is only fair, given that the first season of ST borrowed the topic to a large extent. I enjoyed the book Firestarter slightly less due to a more wild finale than I expected, but I understand why the paranormal theme still attracts after years. The adaptation sells that theme decently, unfortunately stumbling in terms of acting. Ryan Kiera Armstrong is surprisingly awkward in key moments, Zac Efron is poorly cast. At least the part on the farm has enough tension, emotions, and heat within. Unfortunately, the last part, disproportionately stretched in the source material, lasts only a few minutes here, and all characters in it must have undergone a lobotomy off-screen. The conclusion is so messed up that I would expect it in a parody, and during the closing credits, I just widened my eyes, wondering if anyone involved seriously took this seriously.

Intense. No image slackens in its effort to be perfectly polished, and no matter what's happening, I feel like I can't take my eyes off even for a second. Despite the gilding, every additional explanatory memory is better, and the final scene, despite perhaps deliberate exaggeration, is very clever. Love is everything until suddenly it's not. Friendship is everything until suddenly it's not. Success is everything until suddenly it's not. But passion is everything always in this world.