Desperation (2006)

When a sheriff arrests a writer, a family, a couple, and a hitchiker and throws them in a jail cell in the deserted town of Desperation, they must fight for their lives.

Director:

Mick Garris

Writers:

Stephen King (novel), Stephen King (teleplay)

Stars:

Tom Skerritt, Steven Weber, Annabeth Gish

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Skerritt	...	John Edward Marinville
Steven Weber	...	Steve Ames
Annabeth Gish	...	Mary Jackson
Charles Durning	...	Tom Billingsley
Matt Frewer	...	Ralph Carver
Henry Thomas	...	Peter Jackson
Shane Haboucha	...	David Carver
Kelly Overton	...	Cynthia Smith
Sylva Kelegian	...	Ellie Carver
Ron Perlman	...	Collie Entragian
Sammi Hanratty	...	Pie Carver
Ewan Chung	...	Shih
Alain Uy	...	Cha'an
Trieu Tran	...	Young Viet Cong
Tom Parker	...	Young Johnny

Storyline

En route to Lake Tahoe for a much anticipated vacation, the Carver family is arrested for blowing out all four tires on their camper. Collie Entragian is the arresting officer, the self-made sheriff of a town called Desperation, Nevada, and the quintessential bad cop. Unbeknownst to the Carvers, Entragian regularly sniffs out passerbys on this stretch of road, and in fact has done in nearly every resident of his hometown. He can also change form and summon the help of creepy creatures, including scorpions, snakes and spiders.

---

Plot Keywords:

sheriff | jail | nevada | writer | mine | 

---

Taglines:

Evil lives here.

---

Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and gruesome images

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 May 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stephen King's Desperation

Filming Locations:

Bisbee, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Television, Buena Vista Television, Sennet-Gernstein Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Stephen King was reportedly annoyed that the ABC Network decided to show the film on the same evening that the popular TV series American Idol aired. King blamed the Networks poor scheduling decision for the disappointing ratings that Desperation received.

---

Goofs

When Steve Ames first picks up Cynthia Smith, he tells her his boss is riding on a Harley Soft-tail. When they show the bike, it is a Harley Sportster made up to look like a soft-tail.

---

Quotes

Cynthia Smith: Are you going to smoke that or gum it to death?
Steve Ames: Eh... I quit. I still urge to keep the practice though.

---

Connections

References Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)

---

Soundtracks

"Fall To Pieces"
Performed by Velvet Revolver

User Reviews

For anyone who read the book before seeing the movie.

Besides a mediocre performance from Tom Skeritt this adaptation of Steven Kings 600+ page novel is up to par with some of his best big screen productions. Each scene is expertly crafted right out of the pages of Desperation (probably due to the fact that King wrote the screenplay). The police precinct including the desk and each cell seemed as if it were pulled straight from the novel itself. The characters appearances and each detail down to the smiley face on the bag of marijuana that lands Peter and Mary in the slammer were constructed with sheer perfection. If you read the book you'll notice that they changed little things to get with the times, like the hitchhikers shirt instead of being Pete Tesh is Bob Dylan, and there's a small reference towards the end to Donald Rumsfeld and Adam Sandler.

When I saw that there was going to be a TV movie version of this book I was worried because of the graphic sequences needed to do Desperation justice. I was not disappointed. The animal sequences were the most impressive, with vultures and dogs standing as an animal army together. The scene where the dogs line the road for miles was one of the eeriest animal sequences King has ever incorporated in a film (Others including: Cujo, The Night Flyer, etc.).

In my opinion no one was more suited for the role of Collie Entragian than Ron Perlman, he gave the best performance in the entire production in my opinion (not to insult Steven Webber). Though Tom Skeritt wasn't as good as he could have been, he was still the perfect person for his role. Skeritt just didn't come off as an asshole as well as he should have. Everyone else was good, down to the Chinese actors who had absolutely no lines.

In summary if you read the book you will like this movie the only thing that wasn't in the movie was the tree-house that David went to in his mind (not necessarily a bad thing). The director did great job of filling in the viewer on loose ends throughout the film, and it is a strict adaptation of the novel. I've heard critics comment on his use of left wing ideology in this screenplay but I have no idea what they're talking about, maybe I'm just not politically coherent enough to understand, but I feel that the movie deserves the recognition as a horror movie over that of political satire.

Thank you so much for reading my opinion I appreciate you taking the time of day to observe what I have to say.