Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Thinner Blu-ray Movie Review

Who needs Jenny Craig when you have something like this?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 21, 2012

According to not very authoritative research on the not always reliable internet, Americans spend some 40 billion (yes, billion with a b) annually on diet food. Horrormeister Stephen King has a convenient money saving solution for any of you contributing to that rather incredible total: simply become the victim of a Gypsy curse and the pounds will fall off you like leaves off of an autumn tree. In days of yore, at least according to Universal horror films, Gypsy curses usually had something to do with turning into a wolf when the full moon rose, but in the Stephen King universe, they’re an almost karmic retribution for perceived misbehavior. Rather interestingly, my brother-in-law, who got his degree in Film from the University of Southern California and who now works as a film editor in Los Angeles, evidently was given Thinner as a novel in one of his class assignments and told to write a “treatment” for a film adaptation, complete with critical analysis about how well the book might transfer to the screen. Though the book was released under King’s pseudonym of Richard Bachman, by the time the it actually was optioned and adapted for the screen (some years after my brother-in law’s USC class assignment), the filmmakers were not taking anything for granted or leaving anything to chance, and the movie was prominently marketed as Stephen King’s Thinner. Like a lot of King novels, a deceptively simple premise gives rise to a whole series of horrifying events. Thinner is in basic terms a tale of retribution where an elderly Gypsy curses those who he feels are responsible for the death of his daughter. Those “guilty” ones include lead character Billy Halleck (Robert John Burke), a morbidly obese and morally questionable attorney who is momentarily distracted while driving one evening and his wife is, shall we say, attending to some of his carnal needs. Billy closes his eyes in a moment of pleasure and manages to hit, run over and promptly kill an incredibly elderly Gypsy woman who has been crossing the street. The woman’s even more elderly Gypsy father (Michael Constantine) reacts with a curse against Billy and two other co-conspirators who more or less push the death under the figurative rug.

Stephen King’s novels and short stories have had an oddly varied success rate in their film and television adaptations. Sometimes they tend to work despite themselves. Kubrick’s The Shining was like Grand Guignol on lithium, and its odd combination of King’s horror with the director’s almost dissociative quality made for a riveting, if at times flawed, experience. More recent films like The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile have tended to slather on the symbolism and portentous inflection, creating fitfully compelling pieces of entertainment that are often better appreciated in terms of discrete elements rather than as a whole. Often King’s most riveting film or television adaptations have been the ones that have simply played it more or less straight, like Carrie. Thinner might be termed one of those partially successful films, perhaps due more than anything to the fact that the source novel is on the slight side to begin with (which is not stay it’s not hugely enjoyable), meaning there’s no huge amount of turgid exposition to get through to simply enjoy (if that’s the right word) the predicament faced by the focal attorney and his cohorts.

Part of the issue with this particular adaptation is that the overweight “hero” of the piece isn’t really a hideously disgusting man, and in fact is kind of sympathetic throughout his trials and tribulations. He may not exactly rise to the level of Job, and there’s certainly complicity between him, the town’s judge and police chief after he has his unfortunate accident, but in this film adaptation, Billy is actually kind of a nice guy, a caring father and a decent enough husband (who ends up being cuckolded, as if there’s not enough else going wrong with his life). That makes the central conceit of Thinner turn into something like a serious case of Schadenfreude, where the real guilt involved may be from the viewer, taking him or herself to task for delighting in poor Billy’s problems.

Robert John Burke is one of those journeymen actors whom viewers will perhaps recognize, but perhaps not be able to fully identify where they’ve seen him. Burke has had a long history on television and occasional forays into film, but he’s had a tendency to revel in juicier supporting character roles than he has in leads. He’s not especially charismatic in Thinner, which may not be a fair criticism in any case since he plays so much of the film under so much latex. What Burke manages to do very well in Thinner is display Billy’s vulnerability as well as his increasing desperation once the curse has set in and he decides he’s not going to simply waste away into nothingness.

The film is probably most notable, for better or worse, for its fantastic makeup effects. Burke’s transformation as Billy from rotundity to almost corpse like gauntness is remarkable. There are also some creepy looking effects on the judge and chief. While Burke is fine from a performance standpoint, the film actually belongs to some of the supporting actors, including a nice vicious turn by Joe Mantegna as a mob boss Billy has defended and to whom he turns for help in dealing with his little “Gypsy problem,” and the great Michael Constantine as the elderly Gypsy paterfamilias who places the wasting curse on Billy.

Thinner has some pacing and tonal issues that keep it from what might be thought of as the top tier of King adaptations (King plays a brief and not especially amusing cameo in Thinner as the town pharmacist). The film doesn’t seem to quite know if it wants to occasionally play some of the hideous mayhem for laughs, and the actors occasionally seem to be wondering whether they should really be chewing the scenery as much as some of them do. But Thinner also has a playful quality that keeps things moving along in a fairly brisk manner. There may not in fact be much meat on Thinner’s bones, but for diet food, it’s relatively palatable.

Thinner Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Stephen King's Thinner is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is an extremely sharp and clear looking high definition presentation that also benefits from very nicely saturated color and a consistently high level of fine object detail. One of the most impressive things about this offering is how it reveals just how literally seamless the makeup on Burke especially is. Contrast is strong and while grain isn't especially gritty on this release, the transfer retains a very nicely filmic appearance that should please most ardent videophiles.

Note: I encountered a new (to me, anyway) situation when I popped this into my PS3. I got a "3D signal recognized" message on my 3D TV, along with a prompt telling me to press the 2D to 3D conversion button, which I did. I did actually get some very minor dimensional effects. I've personally never run into this message before, though I'm relatively new to the 3D TV technology.

Thinner Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Stephen King's Thinner features a nice sounding lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track which faithfully reproduces the film's rather modest sonic charms. There's some surprising dynamic range in this feature courtesy of a couple of violent scenes, including a scary-funny dream sequence where Billy finds himself being crashed into by the elderly Gypsy man who drives a variety of huge vehicles. Dialogue is clean and clear and the mix is prioritized very well. The track has no damage of any kind to report.

Thinner Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are included on this Blu-ray release.

Thinner Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Thinner is a fairly satisfying repast, though it may leave some viewers with a slight case of indigestion. This is one of the slightest frameworks King has ever hung one of his horror tomes on, and that shallowness pervades the film in several ways. But the film benefits from not taking itself too seriously, something that has hampered any number of other more "arty" King film adaptations. Though it may not have been intended to be, Thinner is also creepily funny a lot of the time, something that helps to make Billy's wasting disease go down a little easier. The performances here range from okay to very good, but both Mantegna and Constantine are a hoot in roles that allow them to play to the figurative second balcony, something they both obviously relish. As long as ardent King fans aren't expecting a major masterpiece, most who have read and loved the horror master's work should be adequately satisfied with this film. This Blu-ray features great video and audio, though per Olive's usual practice, no supplements are offered. Recommended.