Thinner

Summary

“Gipsy justice!”

Last year, the label Olive Films essentially folded for good. That label had a few releases that were fairly popular for Blu-ray collectors. A couple of their most popular titles originated as Richard Bachman novels – The Running Man and Thinner. Bachman was of course the nom de plume for horror master Stephen King when he felt like writing things that felt somewhat off-brand. Shout! Factory have proven themselves to be the most aggressive collectors of Stephen King adaptations across their library of any distributor. Their releases include Carrie, Silver Bullet, Sleepwalkers, Firestarter, Misery, The Dead Zone, Graveyard Shift, Misery, and Creepshow. Now they have given Thinner new life in a brand new Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. Last year, I was in the mood to read a fairly short Stephen King novel and I actually went ahead and read coincidentally both The Running Man and Thinner back to back. My wife joined me in reading Thinner, and we watched the Olive Films release together after we finished reading the novel. We both thought that it was a competently done adaptation. I was excited to see how Shout! Factory’s new release would compare to the prior release which is now out of print.

Thinner tells the story of overweight criminal defense lawyer Billy Halleck (Robert John Burke.) Billy’s compulsive eating has kept him from losing weight and the scale shows that he is roughly three hundred pounds. Billy has a loving wife, Heidi (Lucinda Jenney,) and a sweet teenage daughter named Linda (Bethany Joy Lenz.) Billy leaves his house one morning and makes his way to the courthouse. There is a traveling group of gypsies outside the courthouse in the town square. A beautiful gypsy woman (Kari Wuhrer) catches Billy’s eye. She catches his glances and returns the gesture with a one finger salute. In court, Billy manages to help Italian gangster Richie Ginelli (Joe Mantegna) to escape prison time through his well put together defense. Ginelli tells Billy that he will gladly help him out if he ever needs anything. Celebrating his victory, Billy has a nice meal with his wife and some drinks. On the way home, Heidi offers to perform a sexual favor on him as he drives. This distracts Billy and he does not see the elderly gypsy woman that has walked into the street in front of him. She is struck dead by his car. Billy is scared by his actions, but the fix is in. Chief Duncan Hopley (Daniel Von Bargen) explains that Billy was sober. Judge Cary Rossington (John Horton) rules the case a simple accident. Billy will not be made to pay for his malfeasance by the courts. Walking outside, elated, Billy is approached by a gypsy with a rotting nose named Tadzu Lempke (Michael Constantine.) He was the father of the dead woman. He touches Billy’s cheek and curses him with one word – “thinner.” Billy at first is overjoyed by the weight loss, but as it ramps up, he realizes his life is in peril. At the same time, Billy also finds that the other men involved in helping him skate for his crime have been afflicted and transformed in their own strange ways.

Thinner is essentially a well-made adaptation of a mid-tier Stephen King tale. Like the book itself, it is rough around the edges but still very entertaining. Tom Holland had already proven himself in the eyes of horror fans with two landmark horror films from the Eighties which he wrote and directed – Child’s Play and Fright Night. He also was screenwriter on the cult classics The Beast Within, Class of 1984, and the well received sequel Psycho II. Before tackling writing and directing duties for Thinner, Tom Holland had also adapted Stephen King’s The Langoliers into a memorable two part miniseries that I specifically remember viewing when it aired on television. For Thinner, Tom Holland was given a decent budget of eight million dollars to realize the film. The picture was a modest success theatrically with a box office gross of around fifteen million dollars, but critics were pretty harsh on the picture. While a few compromises were made to Holland’s vision to reduce some of the humor and leave out one sequence from the novel involving the gill man, the film is very close to what Holland set out to make. Over the last quarter century, the film has continued to gain fans despite the critical reception. 

The script by Tom Holland follows the actions of the short novel very closely. The central concept by Stephen King of a gipsy curse is a wild but enjoyable concept, and when the book introduces the character of Richie Ginelli it soars. That said, the relationship between the husband and wife is fairly weakly written and failed to convince me even when I read the book. The finale of the novel also felt like it was broadcast miles out to me, but I still had fun reading the book. Because Thinner is an adept adaptation it suffers from the same issues that the source novel suffered from. Keep in mind that this is one of King’s more salacious stories and one of his most ridiculous. I mean, one of the cursed men essentially becomes a damn lizard. I have always considered Thinner a fairly disposable Stephen King entertainment, but it is also an entertainment that I have no issue revisiting and being entertained by again. 

One of the benefits of Tom Holland working as both screenwriter and director is that the film definitely feels like a good representation of what he was aiming to make. The cast of the film is enjoyable in their roles. Robert John Burke would not be the first actor I would think of to portray an obese man, but given the rapid decline in weight for the main characters, it would be impossible to gain or lose the weight described for any actor of any size (except for maybe Christian Bale? I’m joking, of course.) Burke does a solid job in the role of Billy Halleck, even if the fat suit is not completely convincing at all times. As the character dwindles down in weight, the makeup effects become more convincing. Lucinda Jenney does well enough in the role of his wife Heidi, and Bethany Joy Lenz is also solidly cast as the daughter Linda. Michael Constantine is a lot of fun to watch as Tadzu the elder Lempke. Terence Kava does well as Gabe Lempke, and the beautiful Kari Wuhrer is as beautiful a gipsy as ever put onscreen as Gina Lempke. That said, the film is completely stolen by Joe Mantegna. Just like how Richie Ginelli is the most enjoyable aspect of the novel itself, Palmienteri lights up the screen as the mobster who has a blast exacting revenge for his cursed friend. Whenever he is onscreen, the movie works very well.

At the end of the day, Thinner in my eyes is a successful adaptation of one of King’s flimsier novels. If you dislike the film, I can almost guarantee you that the book will not be of any interest to you either as the film follows the book pretty closely. On the reverse side of that, fans of the book will find plenty to enjoy in Tom Holland’s film. The reviews for the picture were pretty rough, but I enjoyed it for what it was. I appreciate that Shout! Factory has given collectors another change to pick up the film if they missed Olive’s release, and the new special features, upgraded surround track, and improved picture will definitely make an upgrade tempting.

Video

Shout!Factory presents Thinner with a healthy looking AVC-encoded image in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. I have the 2012 Blu-ray from Olive Films, and this presentation of Thinner looks much healthier and more colorful than the prior release. The film was shot by cinematographer Kees Van Oostrum whose big break in film came with the movie Gettysburg. Van Oostrum is primarily a cinematographer on television movies, and the film’s cinematography is efficient but never showy. If you do not already own Olive Films’ presentation, I would definitely encourage purchasing the Shout! release over that release. 

Audio

Similar to the video, the audio presentation on Thinner is not showy but it iseffective. The film features a brand new DTS-HD MA 5.1 track that expands the original sound design alongside the prior DTS-HD MA 2.0 track which preserves the original sound design well. The surround track expands from the stereo track, which means that the front speakers are more in play than the back speakers. It is not as forceful or immersive as some surround tracks, but the score by Daniel Licht is given a nice boost. This is another solid upgrade performed by Shout! which bests the prior release.

Supplements

• Archival Audio Commentary With Tom Holland And Joe Mantegna
• Audio Commentary With Producer Mitchell Galin And Actor Joe Mantegna – this is a new commentary for this release.
• Audio Commentary With Film Critic/Historian Lee Gambin And Novelist Aaron Dries – this is a new commentary for this release.
• “Weight Of The World” – in this new piece director Tom Holland discusses his work on the film, what drew him to the novel, collaborating with Stephen King, his admiration for his work, and the visual effects in the film. He also discusses his struggle with Bell’s palsy and certain compromises he had to make to satisfy the studio. The piece is by Red Shirt Media, which I basically consider the standard bearer for horror interviews. This is a very well conducted interview.
• “Thick And Thin” – in this new piece actor Lucinda Jenney remarks on working on the film, her recollections of Stephen King from the set, and her thoughts on her costars and Tom Holland.
• “The Incredible Shrinking Man” – in this new piece Special Make-Up Effects Artist Vincent Guastini discusses how he landed the job working with Greg Cannon and Tom Holland on the effects for Thinner.
• “The Magic Of Special Effects Make-Up” – a vintage featurette on the film. This is a well made twenty minute piece with a lot of detail regarding how the effects were produced.
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spot
• Still Gallery 

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 4.5/5

Overall – 4/5

Overall – I liked Tom Holland’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Thinner. The film definitely has its issues, but honestly those issues are inherited from the source novel on which the film was based. Critics were extremely harsh in their reception towards the film, but it is a competently performed adaptation in my eyes. This is essentially mid-tier Stephen King, and while it is not mind-blowing, it has an enjoyable concept and once the character of Richie Ginelli shows up the film becomes quite a bit of fun. The book itself is one of King’s more salacious and ridiculous entertainments and the finale of the book is telegraphed miles away and easy to prefigure. That has never stopped me from enjoying the novel on its own terms, and the same goes for Tom Holland’s film adaptation. If you go in with those expectations, Thinner may just win you over. If you are a fan of the novel, I can not imagine disliking Tom Holland’s take on the material. Shout!Factory has provided numerous brand new supplements for fans who already picked up the Olive Films edition, and the film looks and sounds even better on Shout’s Collector’s Edition Blu-ray than on the prior release. For fans of the film, this release is certainly the way to go.