Since I am an avid Stephen King fan, I of course loved this short movie rendition of the short story. However, there was one major factor that kind of let me down and away from the movie and that was the acting in this one. The photography, lighting, feel and atmosphere of the entire thing were outstanding. The one thing that separated this movie from all of the other movies was that the undertone / theme of this one was not given right away nor was it hidden in some cryptic context. I think films like that should be made more often.
The plot of this one follows an author, who finds out that he's very sick, that buy a mysterious painting from an artist who killed himself by hanging from a chain. The painting shows a devilish looking character driving across a bridge; however this person eventually becomes a breathing entity that kills and each place that he kills at, the setting changes in the overall painting. The reason why I like this story so much is because the villain turned out to be something that is very natural and the obvious metaphor that everybody thinks he is, turns out to be wrong.
The acting was somewhat okay, I think that this should have been a very emotionally driven movie but the performances were not there as it should be. The lead character, who is a writer, should have been in more depth with his character since his persona, like the antagonist, is a very tortured man who is slowly dying, a tortured "artist" who is scared of what he may become. Some of the supporting cast had better performances but I would not jump the gun on that. Despite the lack of emotional characters, it was really good acting for a TNT horror / drama.
The technical aspects of this film were a wondrous spectacle that I rarely see in Stephen King adaptations. The cinematography was amazing; it had great establishing shots and a mix of complex angular shots, scenery shots and hand-helds. The lighting reminded me highly of The Hills Have Eyes, in the sense that the contrast of the lighting was very high. Not that it is a bad thing; it really worked with the theme and plot of this story.
I will not bore you wit the details and technical ingredients but I will say this. For a TNT horror suspense, it was very well crafted aside from some pretty wooden acting. I would recommend this movie to horror fans but mostly for those who enjoy horror "light." It was a very well crafted story.
The plot of this one follows an author, who finds out that he's very sick, that buy a mysterious painting from an artist who killed himself by hanging from a chain. The painting shows a devilish looking character driving across a bridge; however this person eventually becomes a breathing entity that kills and each place that he kills at, the setting changes in the overall painting. The reason why I like this story so much is because the villain turned out to be something that is very natural and the obvious metaphor that everybody thinks he is, turns out to be wrong.
The acting was somewhat okay, I think that this should have been a very emotionally driven movie but the performances were not there as it should be. The lead character, who is a writer, should have been in more depth with his character since his persona, like the antagonist, is a very tortured man who is slowly dying, a tortured "artist" who is scared of what he may become. Some of the supporting cast had better performances but I would not jump the gun on that. Despite the lack of emotional characters, it was really good acting for a TNT horror / drama.
The technical aspects of this film were a wondrous spectacle that I rarely see in Stephen King adaptations. The cinematography was amazing; it had great establishing shots and a mix of complex angular shots, scenery shots and hand-helds. The lighting reminded me highly of The Hills Have Eyes, in the sense that the contrast of the lighting was very high. Not that it is a bad thing; it really worked with the theme and plot of this story.
I will not bore you wit the details and technical ingredients but I will say this. For a TNT horror suspense, it was very well crafted aside from some pretty wooden acting. I would recommend this movie to horror fans but mostly for those who enjoy horror "light." It was a very well crafted story.
