Tuesday, October 31, 2017

NETFLIX AND KILL: 1922 (2017) ***


Thomas Jane has a pretty good track record when it comes to Stephen King adaptations.  I happen to think Dreamcatcher is a bug-nuts minor classic and The Mist has one of the best horror movie endings of all time.  I’m happy to report that 1922 is another winner from King and Jane. 

Jane stars as a proud farmer whose wife (Molly Parker) wants to sell off her family’s farmland.  Jane won’t hear of it.  Farming is in his blood and he doesn’t want to give the land up.  Besides, it’s all he knows.  She’s headstrong though and won’t budge.  He soon begins plotting with his son (Dylan Schmid) to bump her off in order to preserve their way of life. 

Screenwriter/director Zak Hilditch does a good job of painting the characters in short, economical strokes.  They are desperate and conniving people driven by greed and the way they lie and corrupt to get what they want evokes the work of Jim Thompson.  Hilditch’s use of dark colors and placement of shadows in the early going is more Film Noir than horror movie.  Farm Noir, if you will. 

The second act is when the horror elements start coming into play.  There’s even a subplot about killer rats that may or may not be a reincarnation of Parker’s vengeful spirit.  The sounds of the rats running, screeching, and scratching behind the walls are quite effective.  Anyone who’s ever had a rodent problem can feel some empathy for Jane’s plight.  (Well, with his rat problem, that is.)   

The Farm Noir first half was a tad more successful for me than the stuff with the killer rats.  Both portions of the film have their moments of quiet eeriness though.  It’s just when I think back to the movie, it’ll be the early scenes of Jane manipulating his son that I’ll remember.  Some of the detours 1922 takes in the second act (like Schmid’s evolution into a ruthless bank robber) are a bit unnecessary too, and it probably runs on a good ten minutes longer than it needed to.   

If anything, 1922 is a reminder of how great Jane can really be.  With his steel-eyed stare and speaking out of clenched teeth with a thick country drawl, he does some of his finest character work of his entire career.  Heck, he even makes you feel a little sympathy for him, which considering what a cold-hearted bastard he is in the movie, isn’t an easy feat.

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