I never get tired of repeating that Stephen King is a terribly overrated writer. But, by some irony of fate, it is Comrade King who is perhaps the most famous creator, in whose works from time to time appear the very guys who like to put grease on their hair, listen to rock and roll and drive fast cars. This type in Steven’s works always – that is, absolutely always – corresponds to the antagonists. And by the word ‘antagonists’ I mean real villains, whose sole purpose in life is to bring suffering to people around them in general and to the main character in particular. The work Sometimes They Come Back (Sometimes They Come Back) I have already casually mentioned in an article about Christina Carpenter – it is “Sometimes They Come Back” that is the apogee of Stephen King’s idea of the briolinists. In this story, rock and roll fans hate the main character so much that as soon as he returns to his hometown, the rebels begin to literally resurrect for no reason, if only to finally get rid of the protagonist from the light.
Attention! The review contains small spoilers!
It is this thesis that remains unchanged both in the original story and in its film adaptation. In many other moments, the film goes its own way – it is obvious that due to the difference in formats, the plot of any film adaptation will be somewhat different from the story that underlies it. However, in the case of this film, the story has undergone very significant changes – and this, in my opinion, is for the better. I can’t say anything about the screenwriters Lawrence Conner and Mark Rosenthal, since I haven’t seen any of their films, but either they know their stuff, or it’s not so difficult to improve what Comrade King wrote.
Actually, the biggest advantage of the film compared to the story is the fact that the scriptwriters were not too lazy to prescribe to the villains a reason to hate the main character. If in King’s story the antagonists die somewhere behind the scenes, and return simply because they listened to Gene Vincent too much during their lifetime, then in the film the protagonist is the direct cause of the death of the briolinists – and, of course, they want revenge. There are a lot more relationships in the film adaptation in general, but it’s quite difficult to tell about them without spoilers. Let me give you an example: if in King’s story the ending was a piano in the bushes in the form of occult rituals and demons, then the last minutes of the film honestly play by the rules set from the very beginning, and do not invent any additional magic and crystal balls with books.
It is also worth mentioning that the phrase “Sometimes They Come Back” in Stephen’s story refers more to the demon summoned by the protagonist. In the film of the same name, these words still refer to the dead people, and even though I haven’t read any for a long time… There is no near-mystical literature, but as far as I remember, this is a very classic thesis: a restless, unsatisfied death can lead to a person returning from the other world. Fans of esotericism in general should like the film – there is a lot that corresponds to the canons and there is something to watch. There is, for example, an object to which the risen from the dead are extremely attached – this is, which is very suitable for the briolinists, their car. And if in order to walk freely around the world of the living, each deceased, accordingly, must first take someone’s life, then all three of them are present in the car from the very beginning – even during the first one… Ahem, chases, when a Chevy is chasing a student on a bicycle, you can see all three silhouettes in the car. And there are a lot of such little things, but, again, spoilers. So you’ll have to look for them yourself.
But since we’re talking about the car, it’s worth saying that this Chevrolet is one of the strongest aspects of the film. At first glance, it can be seen that the car of the briolinschikov, on the one hand, has completely retained its classic lines – and at the same time, a sufficient number of details have been changed, it will no longer be possible to name the exact model of the car. 150? 210? No, this is definitely a custom car, its owner spends a lot of time in the garage. And all this is just a first impression – pretty soon it becomes clear that in “Sometimes They Come Back” the connection between the briolinschiki and their cars is twisted by 11. Chevrolet literally dies and resurrects together with its owners. Some scenes are carefully shot as if the car is acting on its own, like Peterbilt from Spielberg’s “Duel”. Plus, someone came up with the idea to fit the roar of animals into the engine sound, as a result of which Chevy is increasingly perceived as something alive, as an independent character, rather than just a tool of antagonists. And it sounds something like this:
The engine of the Chevrolet car from the movie Sometimes They Come Back
It should also be noted that the scriptwriters were not too lazy to prescribe the corresponding slang of the 50s to the antagonists – in the Russian voice acting, of course, this feature was lost, but in the original this fact adds charm to the characters. Unfortunately, at this point the pros of the film end, and I still have to move on to the cons. Let’s start with the same sound… I think it’s time to say that Sometimes They Come Back – this is a TV movie. Of course, telelents can also be quite good – California Kid, for example, is a real masterpiece. Nevertheless, the harsh and unchanging reality of such a movie is a low budget, and therefore, despite all the talents and efforts of the sound engineer, the rock and roll of the 50s remained somewhere behind the scenes. It’s not that it’s not Christina’s soundtrack– there is not a single piece of music here at all. Only the standard cheap something, a kind of off-screen noise that doesn’t even really create tension – the composer’s salary was clearly saved.
Savings can be traced not only in the sound, but also in some other moments. For example, on the one hand, quite a good make-up appears in the film, on which there is enough artificial blood and other details… but on the other hand, when the protagonist’s brother is stabbed in the stomach – was it ketchup or jam?
It doesn’t help that director Tom McLaughlin seems to be a guy with some talent, but still not John Carpenter. Although, maybe he still pumped up the script? Just how many pleasant little things there are in the film is just as boring as the picture as a whole. Shots and plans full of interesting events and details connect completely different scenes – dull and protracted. Or, for example, the ending – I previously praised her for following the rules of the film, but at the same time I can’t say that she looks good. It’s just that visually it is extremely fantasy and very much out of the general narrative, which until the last minutes remains purely realistic, as far as it is possible in horror about the living dead. Surely it was possible to come up with something to make everything look better… but this was not done.
By the way, I just called the movie horror… and, officially, he is considered such. But in fact, it’s unlikely that anything will scare you here. First of all, probably because… Are the antagonists overplaying? Or is that what the director wanted? That is, yes, it seems like our undead briolinschiki remained twenty-year-old hooligans-students, but… again, was it really impossible to somehow moderate their ardor? And it seems like sometimes something sane turns out, some hint of a serious, frightening villain appears – but after a second it all dissolves into hyena laughter again. As a result, the most terrible threat for the entire timekeeping becomes the repeatedly mentioned Chevrolet – silent, chrome-plated, growling and spitting fire.
I hope you see the main problem of this film: there is not a single plus without a solid minus. Yes, there is a scene here that deserves the title of death for at least a decade, but it is the only one here, and to become a good slasher, the film clearly lacks dismemberment. Yes, Chevrolet looks stylish and cool, but it makes a maximum of one spectacular jump and rides aggressively around the city for a short time – there is little automotive action here. Yes, if you compare it with the original story, it’s very good that the scriptwriters prescribed motivation for the antagonists, but speaking generally, then prescribing motivation is in the order of things. Or here, I talked for quite a long time at the beginning about the ghostly canons observed by the film – so, I knew about them initially, but in the film none of this is explained to us from the word at all. And I can assume that to a person ignorant of mysticism, everything that happens on the screen may seem like sheer nonsense. Well, even with my dubious knowledge, I would still like to have at least one thing explained to us: do people around see a black Chevrolet? Or do they not see? Or can a machine become invisible whenever it pleases?
In general, Sometimes They Come Back – this is a very average film in which the number of pluses is not inferior to the number of minuses. But, of course, for us, first of all, the fact that this film is an opportunity to see representatives of your favorite subculture on the big screen is important – while the number of these opportunities, unfortunately, can be counted on the fingers. Moreover, despite the constant laughter and, apparently, madness picked up after death, the antagonists of the film are shown… more or less adequately. An accidental murder committed by them during their lifetime causes fear and denial in them. In the end, even for a moment there is some hint of an internal conflict in their company… In general, in spite of everything, quite human emotions slip through in negative characters, and it’s quite pleasant to watch them.
So the film is recommended for viewing. And as an afterword, I will mention that the film has two sequels: the second part, in fact, can hardly be called a sequel and is just another attempt to film Stephen King’s story in a slightly different way. There are also briolinists there, but instead of a custom Chevy, they were given a regular factory Ford Thunderbird, and in general, according to the plot, they are not so much pushing their subculture and connection with the car. The slang of the fifties disappeared, more elements of a typical slasher appeared, and this time the ending remained almost the same as Stephen King’s.In general, nothing interesting. The third part is completely an independent horror with the American military in the title role, so having nothing to do with the creation of Comrade King that our localizers for once did the right thing and removed the phrase Sometimes They Come Back from the title. Because sometimes it’s better not to come back.
It’s like this is the only film adaptation of King in my memory that wins over the original source. At the end of the story, some kind of undisguised game is happening.