Powerful

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It's 1969. Alan Parker (Jonathan Jackson) is an art student at the University of Maine obsessed with death. His girlfriend Jessica (Christensen) throws him a surprise birthday party and finds him attempting a suicide by slicing his wrist in the bath tub. He decides to go to a John Lennon concert in Toronto with his friends. Then he gets a call that his mother Jean (Barbara Hershey) had a stroke and is in the hospital. He hitchhikes and encounters strange events.The constant imaginary edits keeps faking out the story. It disrupts any flow to the movie. It's a mess. Jonathan Jackson lacks the charisma to lead a movie. He is unable to draw me into the story and provides next to no energy. The movie limps along without much drive as Alan deals with one character after another. It's like a random collection of horror stories from the road. It's probably one of the worst Stephen King adaptations I have ever seen.

Barbara Hershey was about age 56 when this film was released but she appears younger than in 'The Right Stuff' (1984). In fact, her face looks like a female Kenny Rogers bot-ox job. Her lips are full, cheeks puffy, nothing like the salt-of-the-air earthy looks she had during filming of 'The Right Stuff.' She looks almost like a computer animation.As far as Allen is concerned, he is paranoid, but matures normally and becomes a solid citizen, without any medical intervention. Every time he becomes stressed, his alter-ego tries to tell him what to do and he ends up hallucinating. The longest hallucination is when he bumps his head in a cemetery and is out for a prolonged period of time as he meets George, the Elvis wan-a-bee driving the Plymouth Fury.I didn't read the Stephen King story so I don't know if this was a good or bad screen adaptation. It certainly isn't 'Cat's Eye' or 'Storm of th Century.'

This movie keeps you interested. The young actor Jonathan Jackson is great to watch, very expressive. Barbara Hershey is also wonderful to see. There are moments of pathos that sometime are a bit over the top. As usual. Stephen King has a tendency to be overly nostalgic, but that is to be expected. Stephen King fans will not mind, it is standard. My family and I enjoyed this movie. We felt that it was well worth the time. I think that perhaps the previous posters were being too critical. The flashbacks were sometimes a bit confusing, but if you pay attention, it makes sense. Rent it, check it out. You might be pleasantly surprised.

As a horror film it doesn't scare.As a psychological thriller doesn't get you anxious.I think that they tried to balance between them and fell into the river.The acting though wasn't bad.Music was good too.Haven't read the book to know if the plot sticks to the movie but it was a little swallow.It is a bad replica of the shining with the other characters except the main having anything to offer.Especially the grim reaper character who was just for laughs.Do your self a favor.Don't lose your time watching this movie.I like horror movies but this ain't one.It is more like a comedy with bad acting except the main character who wasn't anything special either.