

When a sheriff arrests a writer, a family, a couple, and a hitchiker and throws them in a jail cell in the deserted town of Desperation, they must fight for their lives.
Acting
Ron Perlman goes FULL unhinged as demon sheriff.
Practical Effects
Gnarly body horror that aged better than the digital stuff.
Writing
King's religious guilt trip wrapped in desert noir.

Director
Mick Garris
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mick Garris has directed more Stephen King adaptations than anyone else—this was their sixth collaboration. King himself wrote the teleplay, notoriously refusing to let other writers touch his dialogue.
The novel was part of King's 'desert duology' paired with The Regulators (written as Richard Bachman), both exploring evil in isolated American nowhere-towns. The TV movie's 131-minute runtime was brutally chopped for ad breaks, destroying its already shaky pacing.