Sometimes They Come Back
No matter how much you spray.

My reaction to this movie -- once the credits started rolling, that is -- was, "Stephen King writes for Lifetime?" I mean sure, there were really bad guys who came back from the grave and wreak havoc, but the whole point of the movie turned out to be some touchy-feeley morality tale about facing up to your fears, something I still don't think the lead character did very well. But what do I expect from a TV movie, right?

The story begins with Jim Norman (Tim Matheson) returning to the small town where more than 20 years earlier his older brother, Wayne (Chris Demetral), and a group of thugs were killed in a train tunnel. Due to money woes he has had to take a job at the local high school and uproot his family from the big city of Chicago -- where they obviously didn't pick up that nifty trick of locking doors and closing windows. One by one Jim's favorite students, including the There's Something About Mary-looking coifed Kate (Tasia Valenza), are killed and replaced by the spitting image of one of his brother's killers, who have purportedly transferred in from "Millford".

The fact that nobody in this small town remembers that "Millford" is the name of a local cemetery is a bit hard to swallow. Even more so than the idea that no one would comment on these 50's-era greasers' hair and clothes. Oh, and no one but Jim seems perturbed that they have no reflections. Then there is that pesky appearing/disappearing hot rod they drive around in that can spit fire from behind, but somehow manages to not torch surrounding fields and wooden bridges. But I'm nit-picking, so I'll move on.

So teenagers are killed, the bad guys return from the dead where they picked up some really annoying laughter, Jim's wife (Brooke Adams) and son act like morons, and then, with the help of his dead brother, Jim sends them past the gauzy regions where their rage had been simmering and straight on into hellfire and eternal damnation. Awright! Score one for the cry-baby, in-desperate-need-of-anger-management, previously-headed-for-the-crazyhouse guy and his deceased bro!

If you want to see Brooke Adams in a good movie based on a Stephen King book/story, go rent The Dead Zone. But if you want to see a young Tasia Valenza (aka Lt. Kelly Winslow from Space: Above and Beyond) sporting a hairdo that would mark her as a first cousin to Maria on Roswell, or even get a glimpse at what William Sanderson (aka J.F. Sebastian in Blade Runner, and Larry of Larry, Darryl and Darryl on Newhart) has had to do to pay the bills, well, then this is the movie for you.

DROOL FACTOR: Even back when he was slick operator, Eric 'Otter' Stratton in Animal House, Tim Matheson was never my cup of tea and the corduroys and dad-sweaters he wore in this film didn't help any either.

GROSS-OUT FACTOR: The BBQ-ed bad guys were pretty icky, but more funny than anything else. Especially the one with his jaw half-hanging off. That was sort of cool looking.

STRONG CHICK FACTOR: It doesn't even really have a STRONG DUDE FACTOR so...

-- Linda M. Najera

Sometimes They Come Back is currently available on video.

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