Opposite of Good

I got to talking about bad horror movies with one of my friends this week, and the subject of Stephen King's Dreamcatcher came up. I hadn't seen the film, but back when I was designing book club catalogs I was privy to a synopsis of the book when it first came out. It was a time when people wondered if the master had run out of ideas, if getting hit by a van and nearly killed while out on his morning jog had impaired his judgment. The basic premise had potential. Four friends save a mentally challenged boy from some bullies, and somehow these kids are rewarded with psychic abilities, bonded by their heroic act. When I reached a description of aliens, “sh*t weasels” that swim up and burrow into people while they're on the toilet, I decided I wasn't going to read the book. I had my illustrator depict the main characters gathered together in snowy woods, and avoided the weasels entirely for my artistic presentation.

Years passed, and while the film was on my Netflix queue, I had a lot of movies ahead of it. As my friend told me about the film this week, I knew I was right in not making it a priority. His description of the movie was worse than what I'd read about the novel a few years earlier. The cast sounded amazing, and it's rare that Morgan Freeman shows up in anything of lesser quality. In most cases, his presence elevates and legitimizes movies. An over-the-top general bent on destroying aliens at the cost of innocent civilians didn't sound like Mr. Freeman's usual fare. My friend also spent a lot of time talking about how bushy Freeman's eyebrows were, which seemed an odd criticism at the time.

When I got home, I decided to double-check if the film was in my queue and, if so, where. It was, surprisingly enough, in the top 20. Rather than delete it or move it down, I bumped it to the top. Maybe it would be campy fun, like Slither, though not intentionally funny. As I watched, I didn't think it was that bad. Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Timothy Olyphant, and Damien Lewis(Life) portrayed the four friends with special gifts from their childhood rescue. While on a trip, we see how they first met and saved “Duddits” in a flashback reminiscent in tone and setting of Stand By Me. I found it had all the qualities I enjoy about King's books and his characters. It took about 45 minutes before it went wrong.

Soon enough, the presence of parasitic aliens is made known. And yes, the discovery is made in the bathroom. It's loud and it's messy. When we meet Freeman's character along with Tom Sizemore, a staple of military roles, the flavor changes entirely. Cutting between the army scenes, the friends' plight in the present, and flashbacks to their childhood, the film becomes somewhat disjointed and frays at the edges. As for Freeman's eyebrows, I saw what my friend meant. He bore an uncanny resemblance to my cat. Not only were they not trimmed, but I suspect those forehead whiskers may have been added.

Eventually, Donnie Wahlberg joins the party as the adult Duddits, playing a mentally challenged man with all the respect and grace of Damon Wayan's Handi Man. There's a “twist” about his character's origins that's apparently a huge deviation from the novel, but I won't spoil that here. As the credits rolled, I pondered what I'd just seen. So much was right about the movie, about it's cast and characters. Probably the best aspect of the film was the visualization of a character's mind and memories, a “warehouse” he inhabits while his body is being controlled by one of the invaders. It's a shame that the alien had a villainously chipper British accent any time he spoke through his host. I understood the need to differentiate between two inhabitants of the same body, but the accent was an odd choice.

It's strange how we sometimes do the opposite of what instincts or trusted sources tell us. I knew what I was in for, and I opted to see the movie sooner rather than later. I also watched an interview with Mr. King, to see how the film stacked up with his vision. He spoke of course about his accident, but also where ideas come from. He felt all doors had been opened, and once the bedroom was no longer a taboo place for movies, there was almost no place left to go. He realized that the bathroom was the one door he needed to open. People often make horrific discoveries in there, such as learning if they're seriously ill. Recalling a personal near-death experience of my own, I knew he was right and that the bathroom is the last place you want to see blood. Hearing that he based an entire novel on that concept, built a story around the framework of blood in the toilet made me understand why the tale was so flimsy. He admits he wrote the whole thing just to get to a scene where a character sits on the toilet and tries to keep a monster contained. There was a lot that could have been explored with the friendships and special abilities of his main characters, and maybe the book did delve further into that aspect. The movie unfortunately did not.

Some of my favorite movies and miniseries had their origins in the works of King. Stand By Me. The Shawshank Redemption. The Stand. The Green Mile. The Shining. When they get it right, they get it so right. When they get it wrong, we get things like Rose Red, The Langoliers, and The Storm of the Century. The hits do outnumber the misses.

At least parts of Dreamcatcher are salvageable, and with a little less attention on the military and more focus on the psychic plane, I think there could be a decent cut of the movie. When you see a Stephen King movie it's usually really good, or the opposite extreme. I'll be heading to the theaters to see The Mist this weekend, and I'm hoping it falls in to the former category.