Needful Things (1993)

A mysterious stranger (Max Von Sydow) arrives in a small town in Maine and opens an antiques store. Soon after, violent and destructive actions begin to occur and the townspeople start turning against each other. Coincidence? Based on the novel by Stephen King and directed by Fraser C. Heston (Charlton's son). This black comedy starts off promisingly and its first hour sets up the premise and has us anticipating the mayhem but the second hour is a huge letdown. Heston can't quite seem to balance the inherent unpleasant undertone of the situation with the over the top slyly comic wickedness. Is skinning a dog out of spite ever funny? There's apparently a longer cut that has been shown on TV but I suspect that it just extends the unpleasantness. As it is, the film is highly watchable though bordering on overstaying its welcome. Some of the performances are very good. Von Sydow of course but you expect that but also J.T. Walsh and Amanda Plummer stand out. There's also a marvelous score by Patrick Doyle that aids the film immeasurably. With Ed Harris, Bonnie Bedelia and Ray McKinnon.