I just reread this book as I've been gathering together all of the bits about Castle Rock to watch the show of the same name. I love the book. The characters are perfectly placed against each other and Leland Gaunt is a truly creepy character throughout. As I read the book I pictured Sheriff Alan Pangborn as portrayed by Michael Rooker in 'The Dark Half'.
When I finished the book I was excited to watch the movie as I'd never seen it before. I rented it and was Thoroughly disappointed. I know that a movie has a short amount of time (the book is massive) but the enormous changes they made to the characters was terrible to see. Also, while I like Ed Harris as an actor he didn't really match up to Michael Rooker. Rooker brings something grittier to the character. Also, one of the biggest problems was that they completely left out the Sheriff's pain from the death of his wife and son about 18 months prior to the events of 'Needful Things'. This adds another layer to the character that the movie is sorely lacking.
Also, Max von Sydow is possibly my favorite actor of all time but not even he could truly bring the evil to the character of Leland Gaunt that is shown in the book because the movie creators didn't use any effects to show showcase Gaunts's oddly shaped fingers, the changing color of his eyes or even his true demon form shown at the end of the book. How wonderful it would have been to see the 2 sides of von Sydow played off of each other as he was transformed into the kind of demonic evil that he fought as Father Merrin in 'The Exorcist'.
Also, for some reason I truly can't understand, they tried to create an affair between Polly and Gaunt. This was a huge disappointment as it then completely left out what happened in the book in regard to the charm that she buys from Gaunt to get rid of the painful arthritis in her hands. One of the best scenes in the book is when she throws the charm and it opens and a spider comes out. A spider which quickly begins to grow and Polly has to fight and kill. This could have been amazing onscreen but for some reason was just ignored and this weird tryst with Gaunt was inserted instead. Terrible.
The movie is a full 2 hours but the pace felt all wrong and the 2 hours were not used wisely. I think that this movie is ripe for a remake that would allow it to be much closer to the evil and tempo of the book. I hope that we see that sometime in the future.
When I finished the book I was excited to watch the movie as I'd never seen it before. I rented it and was Thoroughly disappointed. I know that a movie has a short amount of time (the book is massive) but the enormous changes they made to the characters was terrible to see. Also, while I like Ed Harris as an actor he didn't really match up to Michael Rooker. Rooker brings something grittier to the character. Also, one of the biggest problems was that they completely left out the Sheriff's pain from the death of his wife and son about 18 months prior to the events of 'Needful Things'. This adds another layer to the character that the movie is sorely lacking.
Also, Max von Sydow is possibly my favorite actor of all time but not even he could truly bring the evil to the character of Leland Gaunt that is shown in the book because the movie creators didn't use any effects to show showcase Gaunts's oddly shaped fingers, the changing color of his eyes or even his true demon form shown at the end of the book. How wonderful it would have been to see the 2 sides of von Sydow played off of each other as he was transformed into the kind of demonic evil that he fought as Father Merrin in 'The Exorcist'.
Also, for some reason I truly can't understand, they tried to create an affair between Polly and Gaunt. This was a huge disappointment as it then completely left out what happened in the book in regard to the charm that she buys from Gaunt to get rid of the painful arthritis in her hands. One of the best scenes in the book is when she throws the charm and it opens and a spider comes out. A spider which quickly begins to grow and Polly has to fight and kill. This could have been amazing onscreen but for some reason was just ignored and this weird tryst with Gaunt was inserted instead. Terrible.
The movie is a full 2 hours but the pace felt all wrong and the 2 hours were not used wisely. I think that this movie is ripe for a remake that would allow it to be much closer to the evil and tempo of the book. I hope that we see that sometime in the future.