He moved from the town after he witnessed his brother, Wayne, murdered by a group of thugs. Three dead hoodlums hanging around in limbo just to avenge their deaths makes for a creepy show. Soon Jim's best students mysteriously die and are replaced by Billy, North and Vinnie that claim they are from Milford and harass Jim and his family. Decades later the young boy now grown and a school teacher returns home. You must log in or register to reply here. In the case of Tom McLoughlins Sometimes They Come Back, however, the discussion is focused on what could be called one of the most mediocre King movies. What I liked about this film was the grimness/ darkness of the movie, which brings a shiver in my skin every time I watch it. Taken from the Stephen King short story about a school teacher's return to his home town where his brother was killed by hoods, the hoods died in the freak train wreck along with his brother. Language. Adapting Stephen King's Sometimes They Come Back: A 1991 TV Movie Ends An Era For Stephen King Adaptations By Eric Eisenberg published 6 October 2021 Sometimes They Come Back marks a. . Some film makers manage to get that feeling, that Stephen King-feeling across very well. Originally airing on May 7, 1991 on CBS, this TV movie adaption of King's short story was originally going to be part of Cat's Eye. I am also of those who think several of the movies based on his stuff, are pretty good. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Stephen King's Sometimes They Come Back English audio R CC Buy Tim Matheson ("Sleeping With The Devil") stars as the troubled Jim Norman who moves back to his hometown with his wife Sally. Jimmy sees Lawson for the first time since his brother's death. Which is amazing because all this would never happen in real life, other than the part when Jimmys brother was murdered. They were pet peeves that irked me. The rest of the cast are decent. Jim finds that something is blocking Wayne's return, and must cooperate with the thugs in reenacting the murder. Could have been really creepy or as normal as the next guy. Have the spirits of those killed come back to haunt Jim? Is he imagining it? Loved it. In Sometimes They Come Back, Tim Matheson is made to relive a boyhood tragedy that claimed the life of his brother when the group of bullies who waylaid him in a train tunnel way back when come back from the dead to settle an old score. Here you will find unforgettable moments, scenes, and lines from all your favorite films. I won't give you spoilers but a very satisfying ending is in store. I realize that it is a television movie, but it is only slightly above average. Years later Jim ended up married with a young boy of his own and became a school teacher. Sometimes They Come Back (1991) - Back to the Tunnel Scene - YouTube The film is based on a short story by Stephen King that was first published in the March 1974 issue of Cavalier, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift. The town holds painful memories for Jim which come flooding back, all those years ago Jim's Brother Wayne (Chris Demetral) was killed in a train tunnel along with three teenage bullies who were trying to steal money off them, Jim was the only survivor. These greasers ended up stabbing Wayne in a train track tunnel one day, a train came and during the madness all were killed except Jim and one of the greasers - both got away safely. Brian Parkinson/Flickr Its 243 feet are lined in brick, stone, mortar and earth. Much better than the 5.7 average when I left this review, "You know how you're saying that history repeats itself? Here's the Google map coordinates 38.977891, -92.569520. Lewis and Clark camped along the bluffs were this tunnel now is.There used to be some Native American cave drawings and pictographs on the bluff. What changes there are and there are quite a few make sense for the medium change. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. A 4-10-2-type steam . Sometimes They Come Back is about Jim Norman, an English teacher who moves with his wife to a new town to find a job following what he describes as a breakdown brought on by outside stress and a violent confrontation with a student. NY 10036. Also, why does Jim have visions in a telepathic sort of way with the hoods? A decade-plus CinemaBlend veteran who is endlessly enthusiastic about the career hes dreamt of since seventh grade. Edmund Burke. Sometimes They Come Back is a short story which was published in King's Night Shift collection, which was then adapted for a TV movie back in 1991. Sometimes They Come Back (TV Movie 1991) - Plot - IMDb It's located just west of Rocheport in central Missouri and is the only stone tunnel on the Katy Trail. A young man returns to teach in his old home town, where he was terrorized as a child. | For an ad-free experience, you can either digitally rent or buy it from major retailers, including Amazon (opens in new tab), Vudu (opens in new tab), and Apple TV (opens in new tab). Transferred From Milford, The Hoods From Hell, Slightly flawed but highly enjoyable effort, The worst of the worst when it comes to Stephen King adaptations. The film was directed by Tom McLoughlin from a screenplay by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal. It has a narrator - not a professional writer, but at least an English teacher - looking back on his childhood (in this case in the early '60s, if you do the math). He is able to successfully land a position at the local public high school and likes most of the classes he teaches with the exception of the remedial Living With Literature.. Another adaptation from the Stephen King staple, but this small story is given a little more weight and probably from that gets a little too bogged down and brightly overwrought. Lawson laughed as Vinnie grabbed her. He pulled out his knife a couple of times to kill Jimmy's students and even to scare his son Scott, but mainly he would pull it out in anger when he would get punched. As weve seen in many adaptations discussed in this column thus far, the biggest deviations can be found in the ending though when you consider the small screen origins of the project, its understandable why the production opted for the conclusion that is featured. Twenty-seven years ago, his family left the town when Jim and his older brother Wayne were bullied and Wayne murdered by a four-teenager gang in a lonely train tunnel. He was the mastermind behind the murders of Wayne, Billy Sterns, Kate, and Chip. Him and his gang refused as the other gang member Vinnie Corey (Vinnie Vincent as he is known in the film) grabbed Wayne where they started to push him around. It sadly changes some things from King's original short story including adding on a sentimental happy ending which the short story didn't have. Familiar to avid Katy Trail bikers but not many others, the Rocheport tunnel has historical (if a little unfortunate) significance. One of Jim's new students Billy Sterns (Matt Nolan) is killed when his bike is forced of the side of a bridge by a car, then a new student named Richard Lawson (Robert Rusler) takes Billy's place in Jim's class but Jim is shocked to recognise him as one of the bullies from the day his Brother died. Brooke Adams' is affably good and William Sanderson also shows up a minor part. Jim and his family move into a house there, but the entire atmosphere of the town fills Jim with dread. Stephen King's Sometimes They Come Back / Sometimes They Come Back He has recuring nightmares about his brother's murder as he starts teaching in the town. Such is the nature of life that all things end, however, and the relationship between Dino De Laurentiis and the works of Stephen King is no exception. The deaths of the two students are blamed as suicides. With Lawson being dead he was an evil arrogant demon who stopped at nothing to torment Jimmy and the ones he cared about and loved. There is a lot of history and some controversy surrounding this tunnel. Country. He conveys the proper emotions when needed and I liked him a lot. Sometimes They Come Back is a made-for-TV adaptation of a Stephen King short story that I might have enjoyed a little more if the actors playing the bad guys hadn't laughed, jeered, whooped and hollered quite as much as they do. A young boy witnessed his older brother murdered in a train tunnel while trying to protect him from the high school bullies. To Jim's horror, he finds that the teenagers have returned to town as they appeared before they died, and are transferring into his class. Sometimes They Come Back (film) - Stephen King Wiki Dark Side Of The Ring Season 4: Which Wrestlers' Stories Are Coming Next? Now the the vengeful greaser ghosts are wanting Jim dead - they will stop at nothing. Though not as terrifying as "It" or "The Shining", this picture still manages to capture that Stephen King quality of fear and anxiety right around the corner in the midst of normalcy. What Shows Have Been Renewed or Canceled. I was surprised to see this was merely a TV movie, there's always a diamond in the rough and this is one of them. Sometimes They Come Back (film) - Wikipedia "Hope is the light at the end of the tunnel guiding the way.". One by one 'til they're all back! This feeling brings upon me a sense of realism as though what happened to Jimmy Norman as a child when his brother was murdered by the 4 gangsters and when they came back to haunt him years later has actually happened in real life. I'd just like to know where the imagination came from. Contents Synopsis Cast Reception Sequels References Synopsis But then the heartache comes flooding back when he is harassed in and out of the classroom by the demonic teenagers that killed his brother wanting revenge for their deaths. English. 1991 made-for-TV horror film directed by Tom McLoughlin, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Stephen King Week: Robert Rusler Reflects on SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK", "TV Reviews: Teen-Agers Come Back From the Dead to Torment History Teacher", "Stephen King's Sometimes They Come Back", Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sometimes_They_Come_Back_(film)&oldid=1150777799, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2013, Wikipedia articles with plot summary needing attention from April 2022, All Wikipedia articles with plot summary needing attention, Rotten Tomatoes template using name parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 20 April 2023, at 03:00. Originally optioned as a segment of the feature film Stephen King's Cat's Eye, producer Dino De Laurentiis developed it into a separate feature instead. The storyline could have been something riveting and chilling, but it ended up going the routine route in every way. Especially since this is branded as a horror movie and it being based on a Stephen King novel. I wasn't a huge fan of Sometimes They Come Back the first time I saw it about 4 years ago. When his students start dying off, Jim becomes the prime suspect.CREDITS:TM \u0026 MGM (1991)Cast: Robert Hy Gorman, Robert Rusler, William SandersonScreenwriter: Lawrence Konner, Mark RosenthalDirector: Tom McLoughlinWatch More: Fresh New Clips: http://bit.ly/2taDWqW Classic Trailers: http://bit.ly/2qTCxHF Hot New Trailers: http://bit.ly/2qThrsF Clips From Movies Coming Soon: http://bit.ly/2FrP8VL Indie Movie Clips: http://bit.ly/2qTZMRE Deleted Scenes: http://bit.ly/2ARbLPJ Bloopers: http://bit.ly/2qYmBnc Celebrity Interviews: http://bit.ly/2D4tzw4Fuel Your Movie Obsession: Subscribe to MOVIECLIPS: http://bit.ly/2CZa490 Watch Movieclips ORIGINALS: http://bit.ly/2D3sipV Like us on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/2DikvkY Follow us on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2mgkaHb Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/2mg0VNUThe MOVIECLIPS channel is the largest collection of licensed movie clips on the web. He describes in On Writing that the stories he was selling at the time provided him with just enough to create a rough sliding margin between [his family] and the welfare office. It was a difficult period, and King specifically remembers that his daughter Naomi at one point got an ear infection, and they couldnt afford the medicine to treat it (what he refers to as THE PINK STUFF). Otherwise, you and I might have a little fun of our own" followed by him licking her face. I was impressed with Tim Matheson's performance, although I'll forever link him to Animal House, but he portrays a serious role in fine form in this film and is very convincing. Only recommended for dedicated King completionists. [citation needed] Plot [ edit] Part three of this fantasy horror trilogy was made in 1998. . Drama Horror Thriller A man and his family return to his hometown, where he is then harassed by teenagers who died when he was a kid. If youre more into physical media and/or are presently trying to build the Ultimate Stephen King Collection, youre going to want to get the Blu-ray (opens in new tab) that Olive Films released in 2015. Tim Matheson's tormented turn is very well pitched, as he battles past events and reality as the two come together in a nightmarish ordeal. It is script contrivances like that, which make me shake my head. Jim visits Wayne's grave seeking his help, but something blocks Wayne's return to the world of the living. This is the only tunnel along the trail.The tunnel was used as a key setting in the 1991 Stephen King movie, \"Sometimes They Come Back.\" Overall, Lawson was a sinister punk, alive or dead, who enjoyed making others' lives miserable even if the film didn't go to much of its extremes. The tunnel was built by men and mules in 1893 for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad. The film adaptation was filmed in Kansas City, Kansas, and Liberty, Missouri.[1]. The best moments in the film are when the gang begins to appear in Matheson's class and he can't believe it. The film was directed by Tom McLoughlin from a screenplay by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal. But sometimes they come back. Unfortunately, after an interesting first hour, the film begins to fall apart in the second half. United States. However, the film looks great and its performances and budget lift it into the quality of any normal theatrical movie, and being a car guy I absolutely loved the 1955 Chevrolet 150 that spits fire from the exhaust pipes. [2], Ray Loynd of the Los Angeles Times called it "a tight, moody work". Jim Norman, a high school history teacher struggling with emotional problems, returns to his old hometown after accepting a teaching job there. Our prime purpose in this life is to help . This is the only time that Tim Matheson has starred in a Stephen King adaptation, but its a shame since he has the capacity to hit a kind of fragile-but-trustworthy everyman level that works well with the authors voice and storytelling. Because the Stephen King story is kept in Jims perspective, you only hear about the students dying instead of seeing them but the TV version expands on that greatly, including sequences such as Jims psychic vision of Kate (Tasia Valenza) being attacked in a field, and Chip (Chadd Nyerges) being dismembered. Jim then tracks down Mueller, who panics and flees thinking Jim wants revenge. Its a much happier ending than what unfolds in the actual story. The bluff's limestone walls featured large cave drawings and pictographs - all destroyed by the tunnel's construction. The steam locomotive used in the film was Southern Pacific 5021 using Norfolk and Western 1218's whistle. The teens who committed the crime are long dead, but now the kids in Jim's new class keep dying and being replaced by new students who look like the deceased hoodlums. | Not being in his hometown, Jim doesnt go to the train tunnel, but instead goes to his classroom and brings a record with train sound effects. A very below average adaptation of a Stephen King short story, hindered by being a TV movie. BUY THE MOVIE: https://www.fandangonow.com/details/m. The gang tries to escape in their car, only to have it struck by a ghost train that resembles the same one that killed them in 1963, which sends them to Hell. JavaScript is disabled. Sometimes They Come Back | VERN'S REVIEWS on the FILMS of CINEMA Thank you! Some suspense, not very much gore, and a slow moving plot keeps this from being a pretty decent movie. Lawson was also known to have a short temper as he would pull out his switch blade when he would get punched in the face. Before too long, Jim realizes that each of these new arrivals are dark figures from his childhood specifically a gang of punks who murdered his older brother during a mugging in a train tunnel. Nice little TV movie. He got punched a second time when Jimmy's wife Sally punched Lawson, so he won't kill Scott. This starts with the fact that Sally is killed in Stephen Kings version, giving the protagonist nothing left to lose. Jim gives the gang back their car keys. In case you all were wondering, where the "Train Tunnel" is located (that is IF you didn't know). It is the straight-to-video sequel to the 1991 horror film Sometimes They Come Back . As a horror buff, let me add that this isn't very scary, but as a stand alone film it isn't that bad. However, the gangster's car was hit by a train and exploded, killing Billy, North and Vinnie; only Mueller survived. Jim finds Carl, who panics, thinking Jim wants revenge. Robert Lawson (Also known as Richard Lawson in the movie) is the main antagonist of the short story "Sometimes They Come Back" and its movie adaptation.Robert was the leader of the evil greaser gang who killed Wayne Norman, Jim Norman's older brother, in 1957 (1963 in the movie). This is triggered by his short temper again when in the previous scene Jimmy grabs Lawson into the lockers as he told him to leave his family out of what his gang has planned for their revenge on Jimmy for their deaths. They moved back to Jim's hometown where his older brother and the greasers were killed. Three of the murderers Richard Lawson, Vinnie Vincent, and David North were killed shortly afterwards by an oncoming steam train, having parked their 1955 Chevrolet One-Fifty on the tracks. The students that the protagonist actually likes in the class are mysteriously killed one by one, and each time it happens their seats are filled by new arrivals to the school. He wanted Jimmy dead the most but wanted to do all he can to torture him mentally and physically to the best of his ability first. He is joined by Mueller, who apologizes for Wayne's death and offers to help. The greasers plan to kill Jim the same way they murdered Wayne and take Jim with them, but Mueller switches sides and is killed by Lawson. A doorway to the afterlife opens, allowing Wayne to return. Based off a short story by the master of horror, Stephen King. Sometimes They Come Back is a 1991 made-for-TV horror film based on the short story of the same title by Stephen King. A man and his family head back to his hometown for a teaching job, but are still haunted by the childhood death of his older brother caused by a teenage gang who died at the same time in a train accident. 98 minutes. A man and his family return to his hometown, where he is then harassed by teenagers who died when he was a kid. He broke into Jimmy's home terrorizing Sally and Scott until Jimmy arrived to stop him and his gang friends of doing whatever they had planned to do to them. User Ratings Another example of his short temper was when one of Jimmy's students Kate said that Lawson, along with some troublesome classmates, was idiots which caused him to stare at her. Robert Rusler is truly menacing as the hot-headed leader and Nicolas Sadler is devilishly sly as one of the members. With The Good Doctor Losing A Character, How Worried Should Fans Be For The Season 6 Finale? Arsenal transfer news: Kieran Tierney told to 'train harder' as Despite this if your a fan of King's work or adaptations then its definitely worth a look. Returning to his home-town, a teacher and his family find that the traumatic incident involving his big brother while he was growing up has caused the greaser-gang also included in the event to come back and torment them forcing a final showdown to right the wrong.