33) Desperation (2006) - Obscure Stephen King Flick #10

Cans't thou say who made thee...Tak!

Director
Mick Garris

Cast
Ron Perlman - Sheriff Collie Entragian
Steven Weber - Steve Ames
Tom Skerritt - Johnny Marinville
Matt Frewer - Ralph Carver
Charles Durning - Tom Billingsley
Henry Thomas - Peter Jackson

The last movie I wanted to review in my search for obscure Stephen King movies is this 2006 TV movie starring Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Tom Skerritt (The Dead Zone), Henry Thomas (E.T.) and Steve Weber (Dracula, Dead and Loving It). 

There are definitely other obscure, or less popular, King titles out there - Willa, Night Flier, Graveyard Shift (with Brad Dourif - the man who single-handedly made The Exorcist III the only good sequel in that franchise), and Sometimes They Come Back. There's a bunch more.
Desperation seemed to be the best fit for this blog of obscure, or b-horror films, especially when considering its cast.
I didn't know this story was a movie until a few years ago. I happened to stumble upon it while flipping through used DVDs at a Vintage Stock.
Its teleplay was written by Stephen King. It was directed by Mick Garris who also directed other made-for-TV King movies such as Riding the Bullet, Quicksilver Highway, (both of which I reviewed earlier), The Shining, The Stand, and Bag of Bones.
He also directed Sleepwalkers which was written by King but not based on any of his published works at the time. So, he's no stranger to King stories. Those adaptations are hit or miss. I'd say The Stand (1994) is his best King movie - the closest one to a grand slam. Anything else that might be a hit doesn't come close.
Desperation gained poor ratings when it first aired on ABC thanks to more TV audiences tuning in to American Idol on Fox. But it's not like Desperation was the major television movie event of the year.
The movie starts off well with Peter Jackson (Henry Thomas) and his wife, Mary (Annabeth Gish), driving through the Nevada desert.
Their solitude on the lonely highway is interrupted as a police car soon lands on their tail.
The officer pulls along next to them to get a good look, and then pulls back behind them. Confused, Peter takes it slow until the police lights come on.
Sheriff of Desperation, Collie Entragian (Ron Perlman), a towering behemoth of a patrol officer with rimmed hat, black sunglasses, and leather legs, approaches their vehicle.
He's calm, collected, and intimidating as goes through the usual cop stuff. He finally asks the couple to open their trunk. When they do, he finds a huge bag of marijuana.
Entragian flies off the handle and begins shouting at them with insults and demands. Of course, he arrests them and hauls them back to town.

Ron Perlman as Sheriff Collie Entragian, Desperation.

While they're in his cruiser, it's clear there's something not right about this cop.
He tends to blank out,
and also ends his statements with "tak." His mood and mannerisms change on a dime.As he's telling them their Miranda rights, he nonchalantly throws in, "I'm gonna kill you."
When they get back to the station, they find a dead little girl inside the entrance.
Entragian then shoots Peter several times point blank in the chest, leaving him to die as he takes Mary to the holding cells.
Others have already been taken and locked in different cells by Entragian - the parents of the dead girl down stairs along with her older brother David (Shane Haboucha). David "talks to God" as he previously swore to maintain a close relationship to the Almighty after praying his friend would be o.k. after he was hit by a car while riding his bike. We see this in a expository flashback. There's also Tom Billingsly (Charles Durning) who's an old veterinarian from town.
Meanwhile, Steve Ames (Steven Weber) is driving a truck down the same stretch of desert road. He's assisting famous writer, Johnny Marinville (Tom Skerritt), who's several miles ahead of him on his motorcycle. Steve picks up a young female hitchhiker named Cynthia (Kelly Overton).
The scene cuts to Johnny as he pulls his bike over to urinate. He doesn't notice Entragian has pulled up, too, catching him in the act.
He soon recognizes Marinville and asks for an autograph. He later checks his motorcycle bag and finds a bag of marijuana - the same bag he found in Mary and Peter's car. It's obvious now where the stash came from.
Entragian beats up Marinville, hides his bike in the desert several feet from the road, and takes him to the holding cells. While he's hiding the bike, Marinville is able to contact Steve on his cell phone despite bad connections, to tell him what went down.
When they get to the police station, Entragian takes David's mom with him to a huge mine in town called "The China Pit."
The sheriff happens to be possessed by a spirit named Tak, and he needs a new body to take over as Entragian's body is deteriorating.
Back in the police department, the ghost of David's deceased sister, Pie (Sammi Hanratty), appears to him and shows him a bar of soap in his cell. David lathers himself up so he can slip through the bars.
He sets everyone free, and they attempt to find a place to hide.
At this time, Steve and Cynthia find an abandoned RV in the desert, along with Marinville's bike. They suspect something foul, so they drive into Desperation. The place has become a ghost town of dead residents, and buzzards feeding on remains.
The pair decide to explore an abandoned building where they find some historic artifact that momentarily possesses them and ignites their passions, but they overcome this trance fairly quickly. The role of this artifact and others like it is never really explained.
They run into the group from the jail, and together hide in a theater and try to find a way out of town without running into the sheriff.

Kelly Overton, Annabeth Gish, Steven Weber, and Matt Frewer in
Desperation (2006).

David see's the ghost of Pie again who leads him to a projection room where he sees old footage from the early days when Chinese men were taken to the mine and forced to work.
It's related through the footage, the film perspectives of which are not well thought out, that the miners accidentally released the demon monster, Tak, who had been dwelling deep underground.
Now the group realizes they have to fight Tak and put him back where he belongs.

Ron Perlman is laudably daunting as Sheriff Entragian. His presence
makes me want to keep watching. I found it funny every time he'd finish a sentence with "Tak." I don't think I was supposed to laugh at that. Nevertheless, he pretty much makes the movie. But once Entragian is no longer in the film, it completely falls apart, leaving me bored.
The dialogue scene in the theater is just not interesting and drags on for too long.
As the movie starts off strong and promising, it quickly rolls downhill with some dragged out scenes- particularly the scenes inside the theater. There, the group waits for...something to happen while the find a bag of sardines to survive on (for just a few hours) while they prepare for their next move.
The actors just don't seem very invested in their roles. They lack the right emotions at the proper time, except for Sylvia Kelegian as Mrs. Carver who yells at her son harshly for praying to God. Otherwise, Perlman seems like the only actor bring on the scares.
By the end of the movie, I already lost interest in what was happening, or in the characters themselves.
This is a story that would probably do better on the big screen without the limitations of what is allowable for the small screen.
I think TV audiences in 2006 got more out of watching American Idol. This is a weak movie.

Coming Up Next...
Boris Karloff is famous for his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the classic Universal monster movie, Frankenstein.
But he also did some directing as well. And my next movie from 1961 is one of his, starring Ronnie Burns (the adopted son of the late comedian legends, George Burns and Gracie Allen.)