While not necessarily a movie, which is what I usually cover on Fridays, I thought it would be cool to revisit Storm of the Century, something I had not watched since it first aired. Written for the television screen by Stephen King, the miniseries aired over three nights, with the premiere on 14 February, 1999.

Playing out like a novel for television, King takes his time setting up the environment and the characters, while setting the mood immediately with the menacing presence of Andre Linoge (Colm Feore).

The setting is a small island off the coast of Maine. We are invited into the town of Little Tall, a small fishing town that is battening down for a major storm as two winter fronts are about to collide above them.

Michael Anderson (Tim Daly) is summoned to a brutal murder scene, and the killer is still there. Linoge. But the viewer immediately discovers that there is something very supernatural about him, and that he’s only letting himself be held, because he chooses that.

He tells Michael that if the town gives him what he wants, he’ll leave. But we don’t know what he wants… yet.

Packed with familiar faces like Torri Higginson, Jeffrey DeMunn, and Becky Ann Baker, I found the first episode very engaging. I had some problems with the colour tinting of the exteriors, and supposedly exteriors. I get that it’s supposed to suggest the cold, and the encroaching storm, but it clashes with the interior sets, and just doesn’t feel great.

Beyond that, I found it a solid piece of work. We meet the inhabitants of the town, we see their interactions, and how things get stirred up with the arrival of Linoge. And Linoge seems to know a number of things about the town’s inhabitants. Things he shouldn’t know.

Throw in his unnerving eyes, and a second set of teeth, not to mention Feore’s quiet and menacing presence, and you have a suitable baddie. It also makes you wonder if/how he connects to the larger King-verse.

There is some really solid stuff in this story. I was very taken in. It’s a solid production, a great cast, and it’s very cool to see how King works within th constraints of television. He pens some very pointed dialogue that works great. He knows how far he can push the meaning under his lines, and how far he can push the story and its images.

The miniseries was directed by Craig R. Baxley in his first collaboration with King. He tells it well, except for the whole colour timing thing, in my opinion. And I cannot wait to see how the next two nights play out. I’ll be looking at them Sunday and Monday respectively.

I am really enjoying this one, and can’t believe I haven’t seen it since it aired.