Product Description

A small maine town is in jeopardy from a source of evil power not of this earth. When the town is overtaken by the force in the woods just out of town one man fights back and enters into its source for the final conclusion. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 08/16/2005 Starring: Jimmy Smits Marg Helgenberger Director: John Power

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20444 in DVD
• Brand: Lions Gate
• Released on: 1998-09-09
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 181 minutes

Amazon.com
The Tommyknockers is a TV miniseries based on Stephen King's 1987 novel. An alien spacecraft has been buried beneath the Burning Woods near the small rural New England community of Haven for millions of years, but has now by chance been unearthed by Bobbi (Marg Helgenberger) while digging around in the woods behind her house. The structure in the woods begins to exert a glowing-green influence on the town, causing the people to invent Rube Goldberg-like gizmos, develop the gift of telepathy, lose their teeth, and form a hive-mind mentality bent on digging up the ship and revivifying the desiccated aliens within. Luckily, Bobbi's significant other is an alcoholic poet (Jimmy Smits) who needs to learn to face his fears. He also has a metal plate in his head that prevents the hive-minders from reading his thoughts and makes him immune to the neon-green influence of the aliens. Ultimately, it's up to him to save the day. Although the acting is topnotch, especially from Smits and Helgenberger, and there are plenty of gooseflesh moments, there are also enough plot holes here to fuel a very long and enjoyable evening's conversation. Why do the aliens start in at this time, when they've been causing legends in the woods for ages? Where does an alien ship buried for ages get all that dry ice? How does the Smits character make a living as a poet? One suspects that King's fine sense of New England characterizations is given short shrift here, and that the woods in his mind teem with more alien thoughts than the TV miniseries form could embody. Welcome appearances by congenial actors abound, notably Joanna Cassidy, E.G. Marshall and Robert Carradine. And there's a slutty postal letter-carrier played authentically by Traci Lords. --Jim Gay

Customer Reviews

Disappointed
First of all let me say that I am a HUGE Stephen King fan. I love his books and some of his movies. But I don't love this movie. I don't know how someone could come up with this bad of a movie from a pretty good book. First of all, without giving too much of the movie away let me say this, in the book they uncover a flying saucer. Whatever the thing in the movie is, it isn't a flying saucer. It blows my mind that they would change something this central to the point. And as some other reviews have stated, by just watching the movie, you have no idea why some of the characters are not affected by the ship like the others. My recommendation would be to take a little more time and read the book. You will be better off if you did. If you want to watch a Stephen King movie watch It, The Shining, Pet Semetary, Storm of the Century or the Stand.

Alien Savants Run Amok!
The book and the miniseries differ, but both are quite good. For the jaded veterans among you, it's essentially Five Million Years to Earth, served up a la King.

Marg Helgenberger trips over an ancient flying saucer in the woods one day while walking her dog, and decides it might make a nice private playground centerpiece if dug out and spiffied-up a bit. She starts experiencing a creative psychic brain-boost during the lengthy process, which is shared by a few of the nearby townsfolk. Her old lover, Jimmy Smits, however, an alcoholic poet of some former reputation with a metal plate in his skull, is left cold by Marg's new pet project - the saucer gives him a headache, literally.

Pretty soon, the nearby isolated small town begins splitting-up into two factions - those who are sympatico with the saucer's psychic space-vibes, and those who aren't. Those who are become inventive geniuses, and those who aren't start more and more looking like dinner. Only Jimmy Smits is sufficiently immune to the nasty thing to exercise his presence of mind, and somehow stop the saucer and its long-mummified occupants from revitalizing themselves off Marg and the other infected townsfolk.

This is a very handsomely produced piece, and sufficiently close to Stephen King's original novel that the changes made in the script - which are only done to simplify (and under-grue) the action, and allow a little alien activity - are more welcome than not. The cast are all terrific, especially leads Helgenberger and Smits. Helgenberger's transformation due to her dangerous alien exposure is nicely counterpointed with Smits' alcoholism, the saucer's influence acting like a drug to those who respond to its emanations. The special effects are great, and the inclusion of the revitalized aliens on the saucer in the finale is a nice touch - they're pretty cool, really. The suspense works well. The only real flaw with this piece is a bit too much padding, but the same can be said of most of Stephen King's work in general, and certainly this production has less of it than the novel on which it is based.

WHO'S THAT KNOCKING IN THE WOODS
THE TOMMYKNOCKERS is one of the more unsuccessful of Stephen King adaptations to hit the screen. Originally a 1993 tv miniseries, the movie suffers from lackluster direction, mediocre performances and no sense of true suspense or horror. Typically set in a homey little New England town, the plot centers on the discovery of a mysterious object in the woods by a local writer (Marg Helgenberger) who along with her alcoholic poet boyfriend(a poorly cast Jimmy Smits) decides to keep it a secret until the whole thing is unearthed. Meanwhile, a ghostly green light emits from the object, causing the townspeople to go bonkers in one form or another, whether it be by inventing stupid gadgets or wandering around with glowing green eyes. At three hours, THE TOMMYKNOCKERS definitely overstays its welcome and that is one problem in watching a miniseries in one take; it can become redundant. Tighter direction and a more focused cast could have helped but aside from John Ashton, EG Marshall and Joanna Cassidy in supporting roles, most of the performances seem phone in, and Traci Lords is ridiculously hilarious as the postal slut. A real misfire.