1 9 9 5 (USA)
This two-part television film based on the novella by Stephen King and directed by Tom Holland presents a small group of passengers who wake up on a plane and discover that everyone else has vanished.
They land the plane – thanks to airline pilot passenger Brian Engle (David Morse) – at a small airport in Maine but bizarre events puzzle them when they arrive.
Matches do not light, food and drink tastes off or flat, the sun goes up and down too quickly, and sound does not echo. What on earth is going on?
The Langoliers is rather like a long Twilight Zone episode and while the premise is stretched almost to breaking point by the length, the mystery is enjoyable and strange enough to hold one’s interest.
It’s a bit much to swallow Dean Stockwell’s mystery writer character making these huge deductive leaps of imagination to work out what is going on but there’s a decent cast on offer here with Patricia Wettig as a school teacher and Bronson Pinchot (pictured at left) as a yuppie businessman who cracks under the strain. Pinchot’s bonkers performance gets the film through a few lulls.
The special effects are rather poor at times but are not without their dated tv budget charms. The Langoliers is decent fun on the whole if you like strange mysteries and Stephen King stories.
Harker
Tom Holland
Laurel Stevenson
Patricia Wettig
Dinah Bellman
Kate Maberly
Nick Hopewell
Mark Lindsay Chapman
Aunt Vicki
Julie Arnold Lisnet
Don Gaffney
Frankie Faison
Rudy Warwick
Baxter Harris
Richard Logan
Michael Louden
Albert Kaussner
Christopher Collet
Doris Heartman
Kymberly Dakin
Bethany Simms
Kimber Riddle
Brian Engle
David Morse
Danny Keene
David Forrester
Craig Toomy
Bronson Pinchot
James Deegan
Chris Hendrie
Gate Agent
Jennifer Nichole Porter
Bob Jenkins
Dean Stockwell
Roger Toomy
John Griesemer
Craig (9 Years)
Christopher Cooke
Tom Holby
Stephen King
