A bullied girl with telekinetic abilities wreaks a terrible revenge on her tormentors. A bloke goes nuts in an isolated hotel. A murderous car speeds off on the rampage… Adapting the work of Stephen King for the big screen used to be a spooky but straightforward affair.
Nowadays though, the horrormeister’s output is considerably more convoluted. There’s always at least one bunch of maurauding aliens or rampaging demons with their hearts set on world domination or opening the seven gates of hell. Add to this the now inevitable dollop of nostalgia that King serves up alongside whatever galavanting evil is abroad, and it’s immediately apparent why so many movies that bear his name are so bloody awful.
Though Dreamcatcher unquestionably fits this offending profile (epic battle with evil juxtaposed with golden tinted childhood), it gets away with it. Just about. The plot sees four longtime mates meet up in the woods for some bonding and such like, only to find themselves beseiged by a flesh-eating fungus, terrorised by shameless Giger rip-off ‘phallus with teeth’ alien lifeforms that burst forth from their unfortunate human hosts’ rectums, and surrounded by more unidentified goo than one could reasonably expect to find on a porn set. Of course, it helps that our heroes were all endowed with supernatural abilities as children. This not only gives them a headstart with the alien invasion, but gives them the edge with the sinister military cover-up being orche ted by Morgan Freeman as well.
The resulting film is nonsensical, but entertaining enough horror, and if that isn’t enough to get the niche audience in, the fact that Dreamcatcher is being shown as a double bill with The Last Flight Of The Osiris – an animated prelude to the two Matrix films due out this year – is certain to do the trick.