Sometimes They Come Back (1991)

A man and his family return to his hometown, where he is then harassed by teenagers that died when he was a kid.

Director:

Tom McLoughlin

Writers:

Stephen King (short story), Lawrence Konner (teleplay)

Stars:

Tim Matheson, Brooke Adams, Robert Rusler

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tim Matheson	...	Jim Norman
Brooke Adams	...	Sally Norman
Robert Rusler	...	Richard Lawson
Chris Demetral	...	Wayne Norman
Robert Hy Gorman	...	Scott Norman
William Sanderson	...	Carl Mueller (age 44)
Nicholas Sadler	...	Vinnie Vincent
Bentley Mitchum	...	David North
Matt Nolan	...	Billy Sterns
Tasia Valenza	...	Kate
Chadd Nyerges	...	Chip
T. Max Graham	...	Chief Pappas
William Kuhlke	...	Principal Simmons
Duncan McLeod	...	Old Officer Neil
Nancy McLoughlin	...	Dr. Bernardi

Storyline

Desperate for a job to help him support his family, Jim Norman takes a position teaching high school in the town where his brother was murdered in front of him by teenage bullies twenty-seven years before. The teens who committed the crime are long dead, but now the kids in Jim's new class keep dying and being replaced by new students who look like the deceased hoodlums.

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Plot Keywords:

evil | cigarette smoking | child murder | four word title | murder suspect | 

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for terror violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 May 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sometimes They Come Back

Filming Locations:

Kansas CIty, Kansas, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Come Back Productions, Dino de Laurentiis Communications, Paradise Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

It snowed on the first day of filming.

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Goofs

At the cemetery, the headstones of the greasers say they were born in 1946 and died in 1963, that would make them 16-17 at the time of death. The three actors Robert Rusler, Nicholas Sadler and Bentley Mitchum were all aged in their mid-20s at the time, which is obvious.

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Quotes

Vinnie Vincent: [to Jimi] Speaking of family, how's that kid of yours?
David North: I bet he's chicken; just like his old man.

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Jerry Seinfeld/Brooke Adams/Rod McQueary & Colin Sweeten (1991)

User Reviews

Slightly flawed but highly enjoyable effort

Returning to his home-town, a teacher and his family find that the traumatic incident involving his big brother while he was growing up has caused the greaser-gang also included in the event to come back and torment them forcing a final showdown to right the wrong.

This one here wasn't all that bad even though it does have some issues. One of the film's biggest positives is the fact that this one really manages to get the fear of being involved in a traumatic incident from the past in a small-town. The fact that the initial accident itself feels like the kind of accident that really could happen in such a location, with the greaser gang tormenting them and then getting caught up in the train coming through the tunnel does come off like a rather enjoyable setup for later, and with the way this holds up the different incidents later on that trigger the incidents later on. From the dropped set of car-keys to the shoes and the kids coming one-by-one into the classroom, the set-up from these incidents plays a great part in how this one manages to come off when it starts to reveal what their actual purpose is for returning. Those are quite fun as the different variations of them appearing as students in his classroom while taunting him in the town, the ways in which they manage to fool everyone in class as well as the town who constantly think he's having mental breakdowns based on his past history which comes into play quite nicely and overall manages to give this one a great build-up for the story to play out in the later half. With the group out and tormenting him and his family with some rather impressive stalking scenes of the family at the house and the later scene in the church where they get taken away leading into the final confrontation in the tunnel once again as this makes for a rather thrilling and engaging finish that plays out the fateful accident that came through in the rest of the film. With these action-packed scenes that come together into giving this a lot to like alongside the few fine make-up effects on the ghouls who look quite creepy and chilling, there's enough to like here that really manages to hold off the few minor flaws present. The film's biggest issue is the fact that we're not given a reason to care about why the greaser club is seeking revenge, as the film makes the point of them coming back for him killing them only they deserved their fate so it's really troubling to get into the story. The gang is a total joke that simply act like tough-guy greasers but are just so over-the-top in their silly threats that it makes for a pretty hard time to find fear in them for the whole film as they're return doesn't make any sense. The other big issue here does manage to carry on about that with there not being any real reason stated about why they come back to begin with as there's just nothing explained about why they come back to life here at that point in time. By simply showing up saying they want revenge but never explaining how they manage to do so when they clearly never deserved to do so in the first place makes them so simply non-threatening that as a whole the film really stumbles with the main villains. That it also gets a little too schmaltzy with the fantasy-driven finale that looks quite goofy and silly against the more realistic elements, these here do hold it down somewhat.

Rated R: Language and Violence.