Tommyknockers - The monster

Movie
German title	Tommyknockers - The monster
Original title	The Tommyknockers
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1993
length	171 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	John Power
script	Lawrence D. Cohen
production	Frank Konigsberg; Larry Sanitsky
music	Christopher Franke
camera	Dan Burstall ; David Eggby
cut	Death of Feuerman
occupation
	Jimmy Smits : Jim 'Gard' Gardner; Marg Helgenberger : Roberta 'Bobbi' Anderson; John Ashton : Butch Dugan; Allyce Beasley : Deputy Becka Paulson; Robert Carradine : Bryant Brown; Joanna Cassidy : Sheriff Ruth Merrill; Annie Corley : Marie Brown; Cliff DeYoung : Joe Paulson; Traci Lords : Nancy Voss; EG Marshall : Ev Hillman; Chuck Henry : Chaz Stewart; Leon Woods : Hilly Brown; Paul McIver : Davey Brown; Yvonne Lawley : Mabel Noyes; William Johnson : Elt Barker; John Steemson : Barney Applegate; Rick Leckinger : Jingles; Peter Rowley : Benton Rhodes; John Sumner : Mr. Arberg; Elizabeth Hawthorne : Patricia McCardle; Craig Parker : Bartender;

Tommyknockers - The monster is a horror film from the year 1993 , which on the novel by Stephen King -based and was originally produced as a miniseries for television.

action

One day the writer Roberta Anderson finds a mysterious metal object sticking out of the ground in the forest behind her house. She decides to expose the green shimmering something. Soon after, it turns out to be of extraterrestrial origin. A mysterious power begins to take possession of the inhabitants of the place without them noticing.

First, some citizens invent incredible everyday tools, such as a typewriter that can be used to telepathically write novels or an automatic mail sorting machine. Hilly Brown, who had just presented himself as a little magician at school, accidentally conjures up his little brother into "nowhere" using the magical powers. The parents are desperately looking for the boy and half the place helps. For Hilly it is clear that the Tommyknockers have brought him, as it is written in an old nursery rhyme:

“ Last night and the night before - Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers knocked on my gate. "

His brother also speaks to him from the “afterlife”, but Hilly does not manage to conjure Davey back. After the local police officer Ruth Merrill wants to do something against Roberta Anderson, who has changed mentally ill, Ruth also disappears from the city without a trace. More and more the inhabitants of the city are beginning to change and to oppose everyone who wants to do something against the new power. Two more police officers disappear without a trace and Hilly Brown falls into a coma. The residents of the city begin to communicate with each other via telepathy , but are also subject to a physical process of decline. The whole city is drawn under the spell of mysterious power and turns the small town into a place of horror. The residents seal themselves off from the outside world, block the access roads and prepare for the "final phase" of "unification".

Only Roberta Anderson's alcoholic partner James Gardner is spared due to a metal plate in his head. He recognizes the danger and tries to stand in the way of the all-appropriating power and to save the city and its inhabitants. However, he is also hunted by the residents who see him as an enemy. Only Elt Barker, Hilly's grandfather, is also looking for an explanation for the mysterious incidents of the last few days. In old newspapers he finds reports that the forest was already considered cursed in the times of the Indians. When he talks to the sheriff about it and wants to do something, the sheriff is killed by a malfunction of a coke machine. He himself is lured by the people into a barn, where James Gardner later discovers him trapped in a green glowing crystal block. Gardner is close to relapsing and drinking again, but he remains strong. In order not to be rejected by the people, he pretends that he too has been seized by power. He persuades Roberta to go alone with him to her find, most of which is still in the ground. You can find an entry point and get into the interior of a spaceship. There they discover numerous mummified corpses of the former residents. James tries to make Roberta realize that she and the others are only used by the beings to suck out their energy. After one of the Tommyknockers wakes up, Roberta now also realizes the truth. James fights with the creature and can kill it. In crystals similar to those in the barn, there is little Davey that Roberta takes to the surface. Then she frees Davey's grandfather from the crystal in the barn. James, meanwhile, disables the control center of the spaceship, which destroys the entire object and kills him.

background

According to Stephen King's novel, the canine creatures of the Tommyknockers came to earth thousands of years ago when their spaceship crashed into "Big Injun Wood". All the beings living in it perished, but the ship continues to send its signals into the atmosphere, which led to strange occurrences in this forest earlier and it was considered cursed. After Roberta Anderson exposes more and more of this UFO, the influence of the spaceship increases and the transformation of the inhabitants of the place begins.

The story of the book, and thus that of the film, shows clear influences from H. P. Lovecraft's The Color from Space and the film The Demonic (also known as the invasion of the body eater ). Stephen King confirms these influences in his autobiography.

criticism

Lexicon of the international film : “What begins as a delightful horror story, which describes the dangers that can emanate from mass madness and intolerance, develops in the lengthy television film into commercial film spook, which finally slips into common channels, as monsters in the earth are tried to to explain the horror. "

Kino.de came to the conclusion: “The fan won't care much that the King version of the SF classic 'Die Körperfresser Come' needs a little start-up. Only in the second half, which is reminiscent of Romero's 'Zombie' classic, does the horror fan get their money's worth. The top line-up with Jimmy Smits [...] and Traci Lords [...] ensures an additional top hit guarantee "

Awards

Tommyknockers was nominated for an Emmy in 1993 for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Editing for a Miniseries or a Special .

literature

Stephen King : The monster. Unabridged edition. Ullstein, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-548-26311-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Background to the Tommyknockers at kingwiki.de, accessed on March 7, 2018.
↑ Tommyknockers - The monster. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
^ Film review from 2013 at Kino.de , accessed on March 8, 2018.

[1] Background to the Tommyknockers at kingwiki.de, accessed on March 7, 2018.

[2] Tommyknockers - The monster. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .

[3] Film review from 2013 at Kino.de , accessed on March 8, 2018.


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