Le retour

The film Sometimes They Come Back explores the proposition that if you got a big enough grudge against someone, especially if they helped aid your leaving this mortal coil rather abruptly, you can come back for payback. Doesn't matter if you've been good or if you've been bad and these three were definitely bad.

Tim Matheson comes back to his hometown with wife Brooke Adams and their son Robert Hy Gorman for a teaching job at the local high school. Tim's got some anger management issues which is why he left the last school he taught at in Chicago. He's got no great attachments to his hometown with his parents gone and his older brother killed back in 1963.

That's what this story is all about. He and his brother were stopped by some hoods in a train tunnel and the brother killed, but so were three of the hoods when young Matheson played by Zachary Ball stole their car keys as he ran. It's these three who kill three of Matheson's students with him having some peripheral involvement even if its premonitions and take their place. The three hoods from hell are malevolently played by Robert Rusler, Bentley Mitchum, and Nicholas Sadler. All transfered from Milford, Milford Cemetery that is.

Tim Matheson and the rest of the cast give good performances in this film adapted from a Stephen King short story. Fans of Stephen King and the horror genre should really like this one.

I wasn't a huge fan of Sometimes They Come Back the first time I saw it about 4 years ago. Returning to it now I definitely appreciated it more. It's not one of King's best adaptations, and the fact that it's made-for-tv does hold it back when it comes to the really good stuff you like to see in horror movies, particularly gore. However, the film looks great and its performances and budget lift it into the quality of any normal theatrical movie, and being a car guy I absolutely loved the 1955 Chevrolet 150 that spits fire from the exhaust pipes. It sadly changes some things from King's original short story including adding on a sentimental happy ending which the short story didn't have. Despite this if your a fan of King's work or adaptations then its definitely worth a look.

"Sometimes They Come Back" by Tom McLoughlin("Friday the 13th Part 6-Jason Lives","One Dark Night")is an adaptation of the short story written by Stephen King.The plot is simple:a school teacher(Tim Matheson)is chased by the dead punks who killed his brother when he was a kid.The film is well-made and has some creepy moments.The direction is solid,the acting is pretty good,unfortunately I found climax to be the weakest part of the film.Still if you like horror movies give this one a look.Followed by two sequels!

It's not exactly terrible? It's just...it's not great either. The cast are decent - Tim Matheson, Robert Rusler, and Nicholas Sadler particularly are good here, as is Brooke Adams, as are the rest of the supporting cast. The plot is interesting, and the story is decent enough considering it's a short story that's been adapted rather than a novel. It's just...somehow lacking something? It really does just feel like a Midday Movie/Movie Matinee kind of deal. Which is a shame because if they'd put in just a little bit more money and a little bit more effort, this could have been really good.

As it is, it's still well worth watching for fans of King, or fans of any of the cast, just don't expect anything fantastic.

Another adaptation from the Stephen King staple, but this small story is given a little more weight and probably from that gets a little too bogged down and brightly overwrought. Making it somewhat irregular in tone, mainly around the jaded flashback sequences that always inter-cut the present time. Although atmospheric (those sounds we hear which are not there) and unpleasant in parts, it could have been a much darker journey than it was. Still what we got were some solid performances, creepy imagery of our demonic thugs and their done-up car, well placed suspense and a gripping little tale of history repeating itself, but with our protagonist trying everything to make sure it doesn't. A man and his family head back to his hometown for a teaching job, but are still haunted by the childhood death of his older brother caused by a teenage gang who died at the same time in a train accident. But then the heartache comes flooding back when he is harassed in and out of the classroom by the demonic teenagers that killed his brother wanting revenge for their deaths. The plot actually at first plays around with the idea that maybe it's all in the protagonist's weary mind after the first death, but soon enough that's psychological angle is shot down when the first dead teenager makes a classroom appearance. There the tension, while basic gradually builds up as Matheson's character goes toe to toe with the vengeful dead while no one around him believes him. Robert Rusler is truly menacing as the hot-headed leader and Nicolas Sadler is devilishly sly as one of the members. In their decayed make-up, it was a ghastly sight. Tim Matheson's tormented turn is very well pitched, as he battles past events and reality as the two come together in a nightmarish ordeal. Brooke Adams' is affably good and William Sanderson also shows up a minor part. Director Tom McLaughlin (who was behind other horror efforts "One Dark Night" and "Friday the 13th Part 6") gets the most out of this TV production, as while it looks cheap and it could have been much tauter it has some stylish touches, lyrical camera-work and a hankering for numerous slow motion reactions.

"I can't keep running."