Archive
NEEDFUL THINGS – Patrick Doyle
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Needful Things is a cautionary drama film with a horror-supernatural twist, directed by Fraser Heston (son of legendary actor Charlton), and based on a 1991 novel by Stephen King. The story revolves around a mysterious shop owner named Leland Gaunt (Max von Sydow), who opens a store called ‘Needful Things’ in the small town of Castle Rock, Maine. Gaunt sells various items to the townspeople, each one seemingly fulfilling their deepest desires and fantasies. However, these apparently innocent transactions come with a sinister price – they require the recipients to perform increasingly malevolent and destructive acts against their fellow townspeople. As the town becomes divided and chaos ensues, local sheriff Alan Pangborn (Ed Harris) starts to investigate the bizarre occurrences and tries to uncover the truth behind Gaunt and his shop. The film co-stars Bonnie Bedelia, J. T. Walsh, and Amanda Plummer, and was a reasonable success at the box office in the late summer of 1993, although it was less popular with critics – Roger Ebert famously compared watching it to enduring ‘Satanic water torture’. Read more…
Shop at the Movie Music UK Store
Member of the
MOVIE MUSIC UK 