Needful Things (1993)

A mysterious new shop opens in a small town which always seems to stock the deepest desires of each shopper, with a price far heavier than expected.

Director:

Fraser Clarke Heston

Writers:

Stephen King (book), W.D. Richter (screenplay)

Stars:

Max von Sydow, Ed Harris, Bonnie Bedelia

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Max von Sydow	...	Leland Gaunt (as Max Von Sydow)
Ed Harris	...	Sheriff Alan Pangborn
Bonnie Bedelia	...	Polly Chalmers
Amanda Plummer	...	Nettie Cobb
J.T. Walsh	...	Danforth Keeton III
Ray McKinnon	...	Deputy Norris Ridgewick
Duncan Fraser	...	Hugh Priest
Valri Bromfield	...	Wilma Jerzyck
Shane Meier	...	Brian Rusk
William Morgan Sheppard	...	Father Meehan (as W. Morgan Sheppard)
Don S. Davis	...	Reverend Rose
Campbell Lane	...	Frank Jewett
Eric Schneider	...	Henry Beaufort
Frank C. Turner	...	Pete Jerzyck
Gillian Barber	...	Myrtle Keeton

Storyline

Leland Gaunt comes to Sheriff Alan Pangborn's pleasant little New England town, and opens a store. What this kindly Satan sells is whatever you need, from a surcease from pain to an object which you have always coveted. The Faustian price is, of course, corruption, and soon the poor sheriff's town is wracked by jealousy, spite, and violence.

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Plot Keywords:

prank | sheriff | devil | pain | small town | 

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Taglines:

The town of Castle Rock just made a deal with the Devil... Now it's time to pay!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and strong language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 August 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Begærets butik

Filming Locations:

Gibsons Landing, Gibsons, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Gross:

$15,185,672 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castle Rock Entertainment, New Line Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 183 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the feature film debut for director Fraser Clarke Heston, who had played the infant Moses in The Ten Commandments. During the filming, he took Max von Sydow (who played Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told) aside to discuss how he would play the upcoming scene. One observer noted, "That's something you don't see every day - Moses telling Jesus how to play the devil."

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Goofs

During a flashback sequence that takes place in 1955, teenagers are driving around in a convertible as Jerry Lee Lewis's "Great Balls Of Fire" blares from the car radio. Lewis recorded, and released the song in 1956, one year after the events depicted in this scene take place.

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Quotes

Leland Gaunt: When I started out I was just a peddler moving across the blind face of a distant land. Moving, always moving. Always gone... and in the end I'd always offer weapons. And they'd always take them. Of course I was gone before they realized what they'd purchased.

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Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror VIII (1997)

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Soundtracks

"Achy Breaky Heart"
Written by Don Von Tress
Performed by Billy Ray Cyrus
Courtesy of Mercury/Nashville
By Arrangement with PolyGram Special Markets

User Reviews

I've always enjoyed watching this movie.

As an horror lover I never have been a too big fan of Stephen King or his horror movie adaptations, since I find his work to be very formulaic but I've always enjoyed watching this pleasant light little movie.

Without its fun the movie probably would had been a really terrible picture. If the movie had been all serious some of the moments within the movie for sure would not had worked out and would had been painfully bad and laughable instead. But it's as if the movie had foreseen this and went with an often light and pleasant approach instead. The movie never takes itself too serious, for which you can also thank director Fraser Clarke Heston, who indeed is the son of screen legend Charlton Heston.

The movie has a good story, in which the devil in flesh, played by Max von Sydow, is setting people up against each other by letting them perform tasks for them, so they can get their 'needful' thing from him. The story is nicely constructed and build up and shows a different but interesting portrayal of the devil, as a man who uses people their own sins to set them up against each other and let them commit horrible acts, without ever getting dirty hands himself.

The movie has a pretty amazing cast with actors such as Max von Sydow, Ed Harris, Amanda Plummer and J.T. Walsh all involved. Von Sydow plays a great role and so does Ed Harris, though for a 'main hero' he just doesn't have quite the screen time you would expect him to have. Also great was J.T. Walsh in a crazy role in which his character more and more starts to derail. These were the kind of roles he always was best at.

The movie has a kind of cheap look over it. A kind of look you would perhaps more expect from a TV movie, which might be due to Fraser Clarke Heston inexperience as a director, though it also is definitely true that this movie was just fairly cheap made and got never aimed toward a large audience and in many countries never made it to the cinemas.

Simply one fine and enjoyable movie, that you just don't need to take too seriously.

8/10

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