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All Movie Info
Starring:
Timothy Daly, Colm Feore, Debrah Farentino, Casey Siemaszko, Jeffrey DeMunn, Julianne Nicholson, Dyllan Christopher, Becky Ann Baker, Spencer Breslin, Myra Carter, Nada Despotovich, Kathleen Chalfant, Jeremy Jordan, Ron Perkins, Lynne Griffin, Stephen King, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Denis Forest, Peter MacNeill, Richard Fitzpatrick, Soo Garay, Steve Rankin, Steve Rankin, Beth Dixon, Torri Higginson
Directed By:
Craig R. Baxley
Written By:
Stephen King
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Storm of the Century (1999)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
April 21st, 2008
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'Storm of the Century' was written by Stephen King exclusively as a TV miniseries, like Rose Red and Kingdom Hospital, and it is not one of his most compelling tales. The residents of Little Tall Island, off the coast of Maine, prepare themselves for a nasty blizzard, which turns out to be a lot nastier than they expected. They have grown accustomed to such weather conditions, though, but what they don't count on is the appearance of a mysterious stranger named Andre Linoge (Colm Feore), who knows everybody's deepest secrets, and is arrested and detained in the local jail after he is found sitting calmly in the home of the sweet old lady he bludgeoned to death with his cane. The sheriff, Mike Anderson (Tim Daly), also runs the grocery store, which doubles as the prison. His deputies are selected from the community, and there is a distinctive Mayberry vibe to it all. Anderson is married to Molly (Debrah Farentino), and they have a son named Ralphie, who has a little brown birthmark on his nose, a detail that becomes significant later on. There are many others on the island, and King spends a lot of time, especially in the first half, introducing us to them, their families, jobs, etc.
This is consistent with King's typical writing style. He understands the language and the customs, and everything looks and feels extremely authentic. Linoge is obviously the most interesting character, and one can easily tell he is not human, that both he and his cane have supernatural powers. He can control people and make them commit suicide, or kill others, and he also enjoys playing mind games. He incessantly claims there is something he wants, and if he gets it he will go away. The third part reveals to us what exactly that is. The third part is easily the best, but then it contains the climax, and King really delivers the goods there. It is never fully explained what Linoge is; he could be a sorcerer, but not a demon or some incarnation of Satan. He is not immortal; in fact, he seems to admit that he will die soon. The first half is perhaps the most lethargic, the second half accelerates the pace considerably, and the third half brings it all to a fine conclusion, marked by the townspeople making a terrible choice, one that ultimately drives Mike from the island into the outside world. In a community as intimately connected as this, such a choice is bound to be devastating, but seems necessary under the circumstances, lest the whole population is destroyed. That is, unless Linoge is lying.
The potential fate of the island and its inhabitants is clumsily compared to Roanoke, long thought to be a case of mass, unexplainable disappearance, but recent scholarship has suggested that the people of Roanoke likely migrated elsewhere, abandoning the colony for a larger, more productive one. There are also several religious references, scriptural passages tossed around by the townsfolk in an effort to understand Linoge in biblical terms, maybe the only terms they truly know. This goes along with King's attempt to make the small-town atmosphere as realistic as possible, and I think he more or less succeeds, especially in the way these characters talk to one another, their accents, their phrasing and word choice, their discomfort at the presence of a stranger, a stranger who knows much more about them than they do. The genuine interest, perhaps, in the business and affairs of their neighbors. Linoge brings many uncomfortable truths to light, maybe for his own sadistic amusement, or maybe out of a warped sense of justice. Colm Feore is the main attraction here, as the cold and almost robotic Linoge, no emotion is to be found anywhere in his eyes or voice. His personality and demeanor is similar to the swirling maelstrom blanketing the island in heaps of snow. 'Storm of the Century' may not be the best way to kill six hours (that is the length on TV with commercials, without commercials, it runs over four), but it is, at least, true to the nature of King's best fiction, fiction superior to this.
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