Review – Needful Things

This is a fairly faithful adaptation of the Stephen King novel, which makes it a fairly long viewing experience. Not as long as it could have been, however, inasmuch as I’ve seen a version on television that contained some extra footage (and I think the extra stuff is also available on the DVD). Though I’m getting too willing to gripe about films being too long, some of the stuff they cut out of this one for the theatrical and video releases really did make a significant contribution to plot and character development. But even without the extra stuff, this film still holds together pretty well. Max von Sydow seems to be having entirely too much fun as the diabolical villain in this standard “be careful what you wish for” tale with some “meanness of humanity” stirred in for good measure. Mephistopheles never offered Faust anything quite so pedestrian, but in a way that makes it all the more real. However, there’s some dog violence in here so severe that I found it necessary to fast-forward for a few seconds. Worth seeing