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The Tommyknockers |  | Director: John Power
Actors: Jimmy Smits, Marg Helgenberger, John Ashton, Allyce Beasley, Robert Carradine
Studio: Lions Gate
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $0.86
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Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 20000
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Languages: Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 0
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 181 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5 x 0.6
MPN: VMMD6842D
ISBN: 1573624098
UPC: 031398684237
EAN: 9781573624091
ASIN: 1573624098
Theatrical Release Date: May 9, 1993
Release Date: September 9, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
The Tommyknockers is a TV miniseries based on Stephen King's 1987 novel. An alien spacecraft has been buried beneath the Burning Woods near the small rural New England community of Haven for millions of years, but has now by chance been unearthed by Bobbi (Marg Helgenberger) while digging around in the woods behind her house. The structure in the woods begins to exert a glowing-green influence on the town, causing the people to invent Rube Goldberg-like gizmos, develop the gift of telepathy, lose their teeth, and form a hive-mind mentality bent on digging up the ship and revivifying the desiccated aliens within. Luckily, Bobbi's significant other is an alcoholic poet (Jimmy Smits) who needs to learn to face his fears. He also has a metal plate in his head that prevents the hive-minders from reading his thoughts and makes him immune to the neon-green influence of the aliens. Ultimately, it's up to him to save the day. Although the acting is topnotch, especially from Smits and Helgenberger, and there are plenty of gooseflesh moments, there are also enough plot holes here to fuel a very long and enjoyable evening's conversation. Why do the aliens start in at this time, when they've been causing legends in the woods for ages? Where does an alien ship buried for ages get all that dry ice? How does the Smits character make a living as a poet? One suspects that King's fine sense of New England characterizations is given short shrift here, and that the woods in his mind teem with more alien thoughts than the TV miniseries form could embody. Welcome appearances by congenial actors abound, notably Joanna Cassidy, E.G. Marshall and Robert Carradine. And there's a slutty postal letter-carrier played authentically by Traci Lords. --Jim Gay
Product Description
The small town of Haven becomes a hot-bed of inventions all run by a strange green power device. The whole town is digging something up in the woods, and only an alcoholic poet can unfathom the secret of the tommyknockers. Includes interactive menus, scene access, and trailer.
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Release Date: 30-JUN-2000
Media Type: DVD
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
 DVD review, not movie review February 6, 2010
T. Florio (USA)
I must have picked up a defective pressing of this movie but my DVD screwed up the sound/picture synchronization. Side two is worse than side one. This alone makes this DVD a one-star disc. I've never had a problem with this in a DVD ever. It really makes it unwatchable. BTW, I bought my copy at Walmart in the $5 display. By all appearances, this is not a pirated disc.
 Gripping movie by the master of horror! Great visuals... February 1, 2010
Betty L. Dravis (Silicon Valley, CA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Many years ago, I read the creative Stephen King book on which this movie is based and have always remembered it. King is a master at pacing, suspense and outright horror. This is one of his most unique plots, IMO. It kept me guessing...and reading long past my bedtime.
Now today was Stephen King Movie Day in my neck of the woods (no, not Maine, but Sunny Cali) and I just had to watch his Rose Red and The Tommyknockers. Both kept me on the edge of my seat, but I liked Tommyknockers best, so chose to review it first. I may review Red Rose later; it deserves it too.
I thought The Tommyknockers was a three-hour movie, but it lasted four hours. You can tell how much I was obsessed with it because nothing keeps me away from my computer for that length of time.
Of course, the movie was not as great as Stephen King's novel, but movies seldom live up to the books preceding them. I found The Tommyknockers very exciting, with so many twists and turns and "gory" visuals that it made me gasp over and over. Both Jimmy Smits and Marge Helgenberger were well-cast for their roles, making this science fiction adventure come to life for me. I couldn't believe what Helgenberger's character found in the woods and how it effected her and the entire Maine town where the action takes place.
I liked it so well, I went on Amazon.com and ordered a copy for a friend who was upset because she was out of town and missed this airing. When I like something well enough to put out hard-earned money, then that's a five-star recommendation to me.
If you decide to get your own copy of The Tommyknockers, be sure to lock your doors and keep some lights on. You will be THAT scared.
Reviewed by Betty Dravis, February 1, 2010
Author of "Dream Reachers" (with Chase Von) and other novels
a lousy stephen king adaptation February 1, 2010
ray musicman (washington dc)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Tommyknockers isnt a bad book, but this movie adaptation leaves a lot to be desired! What's wrong with just FOLLOWING THE STORY? What's the point of making changes that don't improve anything? The spaceship Bobbi digs up was supposed to be a flying saucer - what's the point of making it look like an overturned building? In the book, as Bobbi dug up more and more of the spaceship, she and the townspeople were gradually transformed into alien beings who were planning to leave earth and return to space - in the tv version, the aliens (who were still alive after a million years!) were only using the townspeople, making them smarter so they could dig the ship out of the ground! When the ship first crashed it couldnt have been buried underground, so why wouldnt they have just flown away? The tv version missed so much of the original story - for example, the aliens really werent smarter the way they appeared to be - they were more like idiot savants who could improve preexisting technology but who didnt really understand what they were doing. Also,some of the more interesting parts of the book, such as Bobbi realizing with regret that her individual identity was fading away and being replaced by an alien mass mind were left out.
I suppose they wanted to have a more "cheerful" ending instead of the one in the book where everyone dies after Gardener takes the ship out into space, but the original ending was better! Maybe one day someone will make a better movie out of this book.
Really, really lame. April 19, 2009
Amber (Georgia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This movie was very boring to watch, and I didn't care about any of the characters. I think I finished watching this movie just because I was too lazy to get up and take out the DVD. The special effects were really badly done--they used green light to excess, possibly just to cover up some of the worst "special effects". Lackluster story, characters with no chemistry, student-grade effects...pass on this one.
Best Horror September 10, 2008
Mary J. Majerko (Kenosha, WI. USA)
"The Tommyknockers" by Stephen King is one of the greatest movies. It will certainly give you the chills.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
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