Needful Things- Movie of the Day (1/27/10)

Needful Things (1993)
-starring Ed Harris, Max Von Sydow, Bonnie Bedelia, J.T. Walsh and Amanda Plummer
-directed by Fraser C. Heston

-If there's one author that has lived long enough to see his name become synonymous with a particular genre of film, its Stephen King. The horror maestro has seen nearly 100 of his novels, short stories, and poems adapted to film and television ever since Brian De Palma adapted King's debut novel Carrie to great critical and audience acclaim in 1976. Alongside Carrie, other titles such as The Shining, Cujo, Pet Semetary, It, Misery, and The Green Mile, among countless others, have all gone on to cement the author as his own sub-genre of horror films.

One such title however that probably doesn't come up too often whenever King's name is brought up is the 1993 thriller Needful Things. Set against the backdrop of a quiet New England town (a familiar setting in King stories), the story deals with a mysterious stranger named Mr. Leland Gaunt (Max Von Sydow) who comes to comes to the small town of Castle and opens up an antiques shop called Needful Things. Inside the store lies each person's most desired possession. A signed first edition novel, a painting from a world famous artist, a charmed necklace, a vintage board game; whatever a person's most desired item is, Needful Things has it in stock. As far as the price is concerned, all Mr. Gaunt asks for payment is a bit of money and a favor which differs from customer to customer and which he asks to keep a secret. At first everything seems fine until a double murder makes the local sherrif (Harris) question who Mr. Gaunt really is.

On the surface, Needful Things does not read as a typical entry into the Stephen King genre of horror films. More of a thriller than a horror, the film serves to remind us of the ordinary person's feelings of greed, hate and fear. I suppose the original novel might have been written as a sort of attack on the materialistic 80s, but the film's release in the early 90s, after the country was recovering from a recession, seemed a bit out of place. And yet the motif of the film rings true. The idea of how even the most moral and good person could suddenly turn bad, how a good man would slay his neighbor in an instant for the promise of his most desired object is indeed a frightening prospect. In this sense, Needful Things is one of the more psychologically and spiritually horrifying King entries to date. Also, though its never outwardly mentioned, it doesn't take long to discover the Mr. Gaunt is indeed the devil himself, who with copius amounts of charm and sophistication, is able to sit back and watch the good people of Castle Rock tear each other apart. The scene in which two local women who each believe the other to be responsible of crimes neither has committed, kill each other with a butcher's knife and an axe while superimposed shots of Mr. Gaunt smiling and laughing slightly as Ave Maria plays in the background is both well-made and equally disturbing.

While the completely game Harris is meant to be the star of the film (as is evident by his requisite speech at the climax), its Von Sydow who steals the show. As Mr. Gaunt, Von Sydow is extremely convincing as the mysterious stranger who skillfully straddles the line between an evil being and a kind, worldly old gentleman. The supporting characters also do noteworthy work with their roles. Walsh, as a local businessman who becomes Mr. Gaunt's puppet impressively goes from pompous oaf to sniffling weakling while Plummer gives one of her better screen performances as the timid and vulnerable baker Nettie. Only Bedelia as Harris' girlfriend fails to bring any life to her role; a shame given the actress' past track record.

It should be noted that before the release of Needful Things, the studio made the decision of trimming over an hour's worth of footage from the film; leaving the final running time at just over an hour and a half. While the original cut has been broadcast on cable, I feel the loss of the footage, which included more screen time for certain characters' stories and an exciting chase scene, was the reason for the film's failure with both critics and audiences. Although, a film about the devil taking over a small town is not one which I'm sure was an easy sell to begin with. And yet Needful Things does stand out as a truly entertaining psychological thriller about the age old battle between good and evil. If anything, the film should leave each viewer pondering: what is our needful thing...and what would we do to get it??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ9n4Md16PE