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
Tom Skerritt
John Edward Marinville
Steven Weber
Steve Ames
Annabeth Gish
Mary Jackson
Charles Durning
Tom Billingsley
Matt Frewer
Ralph Carver
Henry Thomas
Peter Jackson
Shane Haboucha
David Carver
Kelly Overton
Cynthia Smith
Sylva Kelegian
Ellie Carver
Ron Perlman
Collie Entragian
Sammi Hanratty
Pie Carver
Ewan Chung
Shih
Alain Uy
Cha'an
Trieu Tran
Young Viet Cong
Tom Parker
Young Johnny
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.
US
