I missed this movie when it came out on television late last Spring. When it came out on DVD, I bought it knowing that I had a 50/50 chance of feeling disappointed. That’s been my experience with Stephen King movies. They’re either very good (i.e., The Stand) or very bad (i.e., Maximum Overdrive). Desperation fell in between.

The movie begins with married couple, Peter and Mary driving across the Nevada desert. Mary spots a dead cat hanging from a speed sign and is properly spooked. Their situation goes from ho-hum to bad in a big hurry when they are pulled over by Sheriff Callie Entragian, who promises to kill them. He hauls them off to jail, where he shoots Peter before he takes Mary up to the holding cells.

Mary finds a family and an old drunk huddled in the cells. A short time later, writer John Marinville (Tom Skeritt) joins them. Entragian takes the wife of the tourist family and disappears for a while, giving everyone ample time to escape the jail. Escaping the town of Desperation is another matter, as they find out.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I haven’t read the book in years, but remembered the basic plot. Desperation the movie didn’t sway too far from that. The best characters were David Carver (the religious boy) and John Marinville (the self-serving writer). While the boy was all about letting God lead them out of Desperation, Marinville relied on himself. That made for a good conflict. Recommended.