A monstrous force devastates Kevin Reddle’s family when he's just a young boy. He grows up to be the sheriff of a small town in Texas, and even though he suffers from the memories of a horrible past, he still seems to be doing all right. Not for long though, because the force is back and wants him, just like it wanted his dad.
The Damned Thing is a damn fine film from a damn fine film-maker. Sure, Hooper has had his ups and downs, and while I wasn't too impressed with his contribution to season 1 of the Masters of Horror series that was Dance of the Dead, he opens up season 2 with a bang! The Damned Thing delivered horror, suspense, a good story and lots of nasty gore. The way the film opened up was just brilliant with a family having a nice quiet dinner that a few minutes later turned into full-on chaos. It was actually a bit disturbing right there from the start, featuring a shocking, not to say unexpected scene that I unfortunately can't tell you about since I don't want to spoil all the "fun" it has to offer.
Been waiting around of the 2nd season of the damned fine series that is MoH to come out, Hooper's film was just the perfect to kick things off with. Actually, the series continued to deliver after that with John Landis Family, but more about that in the Family review. The Damned Thing stars Sean Patrick Flanery, an actor I really dig, not for that fact that he has been in the most fantastic films ever created, but simply because I just like his acting. The man was great here as the small town sheriff who had a dark and terrible past constantly weighing on his shoulders.
 
To not ruin what happens or too much of how the story goes, I'm gonna keep things short and simple. When Kevin Reddle was a boy, he saw his father get chewed up by some unknown monstrous force. The man now lives a somewhat normal life as the sheriff of a small town, and with somewhat I mean that he seems all right, but that his past is still haunting him. Later on, after getting some back story and have been properly introduced to all the characters, a storm hits the little town, and it's a nasty one. Not only is it nasty, but the actual weather seems to affect people with a lot of them dropping like flies and others starts to fight for no specific reason. But it's the monstrous force that is back, and will Kevin Reddle be able to fight it or will he end up like his old man? Well, that's for you to find out.
What I liked here was that most of the characters felt genuine enough, and while there wasn't any huge development of any of them, it was still good enough to make things work. If I were to complain a little I would have to say that I didn't care much for Ted Raimi's performance as the town's priest, although it doesn't really matter since he was not in the film much. Another thing was how it all came to end, and that maybe too much was revealed. Thing is that you get to see the force, or that is the monster in the end, and personally I think it would've been better left unseen. But on the other hand, it's just a matter of taste and apart from that, the film was absolutely entertaining as well as it was a gruesome ride most of it throughout.
Even though I have complained a little, there's absolutely no reason not to check out The Damned Thing. While the highlight of the movie might be have been the gore and those gruesome scenes to were quite a few - the story was pretty interesting and the whole feel and atmosphere of the film was pretty close to great. To give further praise to the film, it was absolutely awesome how it started out and delivered some really good horror and suspense. It's definitely worth a look, or two. At least one thing is for sure and that is that Hooper has still got it.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: The Damned Thing
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: Tobe Hooper
WRITING CREDITS: Richard Christian Matheson, Ambrose Bierce
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Sean Patrick Flanery, Marisa Coughlan, Ted Raimi
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 58 min
RATING: 7/10
Masters of Horror (S02E01): The Damned Thing Website/IMDB Click here
Masters of Horror (S02E01): The Damned Thing Trailer
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