• 177.923 movies
  • 12.203 shows
  • 33.971 seasons
  • 646.932 actors
  • 9.370.308 votes
Avatar
Profile
 
banner banner

Needful Things (1993)

Horror | 115 minutes
2,91 503 votes

Genre: Horror / Thriller

Duration: 115 minuten

Country: United States

Directed by: Fraser Clarke Heston

Stars: Ed Harris, Max von Sydow and Bonnie Bedelia

IMDb score: 6,3 (30.005)

Releasedate: 27 August 1993

Needful Things plot

"Buy Now. Pay Later."

Leland Gaunt is a diabolical antiques dealer who supplies his customers with exactly the things from their childhood that they have been looking for for years. He apparently asks for small rewards, which, however, develop into the greatest atrocities. For example, Brian Rusk spreads turkey poop on Wilma Jerzyk's clean laundry and then Netty Cobb's dog is skinned. Coincidentally, both ladies hate each other, with all the consequences that entails... The only one who is satisfied and needs nothing from Gaunt is Sheriff Alan Pangborn. But after several murders, an attempted suicide and a burned down church, he is forced to take action...

logo tmdbimagelogo tmdbimagelogo tmdbimagelogo tmdbimagelogo tmdbimagelogo tmdbimagelogo tmdbimagelogo tmdbimage
Full Cast & Crew

Actors and actresses

Leland Gaunt

Sheriff Alan J. Pangborn

Polly Chalmers

Netitia 'Nettie' Cobb

Danforth 'Buster' Keeton III

Deputy Norris Ridgewick

Hugh Albert Priest

Wilma Jerzyck

Brian Rusk

All Media

Trailer & other videos

Reviews & comments


avatar

Guest

  • messages
  • votes

Let op: In verband met copyright is het op MovieMeter.nl niet toegestaan om de inhoud van externe websites over te nemen, ook niet met bronvermelding. Je mag natuurlijk wel een link naar een externe pagina plaatsen, samen met je eigen beschrijving of eventueel de eerste alinea van de tekst. Je krijgt deze waarschuwing omdat het er op lijkt dat je een lange tekst hebt geplakt in je bericht.

* denotes required fields.

Pay attention! You cannot change your username afterwards.

* denotes required fields.
avatar van Chainsaw

Chainsaw

  • 8845 messages
  • 3576 votes

Needful Things, one of those films that doesn't really have a genre to stick to. The film isn't exciting, let alone scary, nor is it funny or action-packed. And yet it all works.

Needful Things seems to want to tell you that the devil can bring out the worst in people and make them do things they would never have done otherwise. Despite this, the town in Needful Things is so full of idiotic stereotypes and wacky characters, that without the arrival of Max van Sydow, the mess would have broken out. From overly pissed off rednecks to stingy entrepreneurs with a short fuse (a funny over the top role from JT Walsh). Ed Harris is the "normal man" in this madhouse and things only get worse when the extremely charismatic Max von Sydow shows his face. Von Sydow as Leland Gaunt is fantastic by the way, a wonderful role as the antique dealer from hell. Needful Things is nice and noisy and works fine as bite-sized entertainment, but don't expect high-quality cinema with deep characters or dialogues. Just a charming Max Von Sydow who turns a typical Stephen King village full of idiot village idiots even more upside down.

3 stars.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van scorsese

scorsese

  • 13155 messages
  • 11068 votes

Reasonable film about an antique dealer who opens his new shop and takes care of his customers' needs. A nice set-up that is also fairly entertainingly worked out and also with an entertaining role by Max Von Sydow. The town and its inhabitants are typical Stephen King. It doesn't really get exciting, because it's all a bit too thick on top of it. The movie is also on the long side.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van H€yoka

H€yoka

  • 51 messages
  • 202 votes

When I finished the book, I just wanted to see the movie. That must have been about 20 years ago and a lot has changed in the meantime, both in my taste and in the film world.

Needful Things is therefore a classic 90s straight to vhs film. At that time, I devoured this sort of thing during school holidays at the rate of three pieces a day. Get three, pay two at the local video store, you know. Then you're not looking at Jumanji, Dracula: Dead and Loving It or Robin Hood: Men in Tights more or less. Ah nostalgia Some films survive the test of time well, others less so and this one clearly belongs to the second category.

What then has changed? Well, first of all, I'm no longer putting everything from Stephen King on a pedestal. I really don't want to watch films based on King's books anymore, although you never know that one day Misery will come out. And oh, who am I fooling? I saw the DVD of this film in the library and immediately took it with me. And next week I'll be tackling Pet Sematary on Netflix, so that's it for this theory.

The unfortunate thing is that despite the duration, this film brings some things too quickly. The boy's obsession with the Micky Mantle ticket is much better fleshed out in the book. In the film he only briefly mentions his father, suddenly does everything Gaunt tells him and moments later he tries to commit suicide again. Pangborn sees this happening and suddenly makes ends meet effortlessly. He then bounces and bounces from one place to another, and the apocalypse actually breaks out in the city centre, which Pangborn effortlessly counters with a speech.

Reading the book before watching the movie seems absolutely necessary to understand some of the admiration for Stephen King. If you only have to do with the film, it gets a bit reeling. 2.5*

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original