Black River

As a reader of Dean Koontzs' work I looked forward to seeing Black River (originally created as a mini-series but shown in the UK as a short movie). I have always found his work fast paced and well constructed, but I was a little disappointed with this offering as there seemed at times only a tenuous link running through the plot. To me Bo (Jay Mohr) seemed a little 2 dimensional and somewhat lacking in substance. He seemed more interested in finding out who was behind what was going on rather than "getting out of dodge", an aim he professed throughout. I feel that the concept put forward by the author was interesting and could have been handled in a slightly better way. Jay Mohr has in the past delighted me with his performances, however in this case he seemed to have the aspect of someone running around like a headless chicken who shouted all his lines. All in all, a bit of a disappointment.

Yes, first and foremost, DO NOT even look at the titles here because you can always count on some Dip$h*t Numbnut giving everything away, just in their title. So, just a kind warning...

A basically good story, fairly decently executed. The main guy is OKAY in his role. The supporting characters I thought were actually better. But, even so... a fairly clever idea moderately well executed. I think that if the writing and direction had been just a little sharper, then this story could have had more impact, but the idea is good.

Again, a moderately entertaining Telefilm based upon a Stephen King short story, one of his more fun ones.

It you are not expecting full theatre grade quality and enjoy a good little mystery of what the hell is going on in this town, then you should enjoy this movie somewhat.

Again, DO NOT read the other review titles unless you want the entire story SPOILED!

Yes I can be a bit snotty sometimes about movies, but this obvious mini movie (scenes fade black for the ads) made for enjoyable if semi-predictable viewing. Call me naive but this did last the distance interest wise for me. Maybe my 'Big Brother' dark side was calling? Comparisons to the more darkly humourous 'U-Turn' immediately rise, but what the hell, its' an engrossing subject trapped inside a crazy town... I hope I'm not the only one? Was it just me or everytime Jay Mohr, (seen him before on something?) actually had a good facial expression, they pull a wierd camera angle and lose it? Lisa Edelstien has an attractive allure and made her character the most believable in my opinion. Overall worthwhile, with time to kill afterwards... 6/10

Is there some type of written rule in American TVMs ( And for the sake of argument I class this as a TVM - not a mini series ) that there must be a tear jerking scene included ? I`m just curious because BLACK RIVER opens with a man called Bo Aikens burying his dog and boy is the sentiment laid on with a trowel . Am I supposed to empathise with Bo because his dog died ? Well I don`t and even if I did any sympathy I might have had for him would have disappeared a few minutes later when he confesses he worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood , lived in a big house with his beautiful wife with a big car parked in a big garage , but decided to give it all up because he wanted to be taken seriously as a writer . So let`s see now , he was working as a Hollywood screenwriter ( And getting big bucks for doing so ) and gave it all up because he wasn`t getting enough critical acclaim ! In other words he`s a schmuck and deserves everything that comes his way in my opinion .

I`ve heard the name Dean Koontz but have never read any of his novels and couldn`t tell you anything about the author and it wasn`t untill I looked up his profile on this site that I found he was American born . Watching BLACK RIVER I wouldn`t have believed it because the American stereotypes of middle America in general and Black River in particular seem somewhat overplayed with American pie hospitality and the occasional redneck scumbag in a premise that would have probably worked better as an episode of THE X-FILES. In fact I`ve seen this type of story umpteen times in that show

My wife and I have seen this movie more times than the people who made it. We watch it every night before bed. We even created a Facebook group about it that we are the only two members of. I don't actually know if Black River is a good movie it's just our movie. We quote it to each other daily. Were actually watching it right now. For a TV movie based on a koontz book this thing has legs. I just wish we could connect with like minded black river fans and maybe have a yearly gathering where we.... you guessed it.. watch black river. As I read back this review I think maybe I have gone insane and need to seek help. Or I can just watch it again and when it's over and I get up to pee in the middle of the night I just hit play again. I'm going to get a tattoo of the movie poster.

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