I remember Stephen King's book NEEDFUL THINGS being one of the most brutal things the author had written up to that point, which is perhaps why this film adaptation feels so lacklustre by comparison. NEEDFUL THINGS has a slightly cheesy, TV movie feel to it, which robs the production of the genuine horror found within King's book.

It's not all bad, and there's certainly plenty of mileage in the storyline. The story about the antiques store opening in a small town and proceeding to send an evil influence through the dark streets was previously done better in the very similar SALEM'S LOT, although the use of the 'favours' is a novel touch here and the tit-for-tat pranking remains entertaining.

I think the problem is that films from the 1990s tend to have dated a lot more than similar fare from the 1970s or '80s, which is the problem with NEEDFUL THINGS: it looks and feels dated. Some of the acting is histrionic (I like J. T. Walsh but he really needed to rein it in) and the direction (by Charlton Heston's son) is below par too. It's a pity, because there are some decent actors in this (Ed Harris, Bonnie Bedelia) and Max Von Sydow is a delightfully urbane presence playing Leland Gaunt.

It's the small coastal town of Castle Rock. Leland Gaunt (Max von Sydow) comes to open a store called Needful Things. He has some of the most evil Things to sell and he keeps a record of sales in his little book. Sheriff Alan Pangborn (Ed Harris) asks diner owner Polly Chalmers (Bonnie Bedelia) to marry him. Nettie Cobb (Amanda Plummer) is the waitress at the diner. Danforth Keeton III (J.T. Walsh) is the bullying businessman.

This town is full of weirdly unlikeable characters. It doesn't seem to be where the movie should start with. It would be much better to have an idyllic town on the surface and the objects would bring out the ugliness. The town starts off ugly. Also the story seems set up for a serial TV show where each object can be its own episode. This movie has only one thing going for it and that's Max von Sydow. It's a movie about the villain more than any other character. That leaves the movie repeating the same tone over and over again. There isn't any surprises and there isn't any excitement. It's a very boring movie.

Critics would always find this too mainstream just on account it's a Stephen King story and it deserved better.

I haven't read the novel, but I'd say the essence of the story and with it all of the various articulations of the morals are carried out well enough to produce an effect on the viewer. However classic the main theme is, "careful what you wish for", selling your soul to the devil for a mere material item (for 30 pieces of silver) etc... it's still developed in a way that is unique enough that it makes for a compelling watch.

Ed Harris (order) vs von Sydow (chaos) in a small town setting, with pretty relevant humor dished out on the side throughout (that guy and the jukebox, the priest and reverend feud, "BUSTER"...),in a good paced highly eventful film with spirit that never feels like it drags on, and with the metaphorical aspects (whether innuendos in the dialogue, or elements in the decor...) depicted with care during all two hours of it, all in all makes for a pretty good deal.