Martin Livings

So, I'm watching the new series of telemovies based on the short stories of Stephen King, and I gotta say, I'm underwhelmed with the first two at least. Battleground is an adult version of Toy Story, if you imagine the green army men attacking someone. It was only notable for the fact that the entire one-hour movie had not a single line of dialogue. And Crouch End unfairly maligns a lovely suburb of London by claiming it's a gateway into a Lovecraftian hell (and I do mean Lovecraftian... Cthulhu, R'yleh and Nyarlathotep pop up in street signs, if not in person). It really was very lame, especially the cat effect (which they were so proud of, they showed about a dozen times) and the "twist" ending (involving the cat effect!).

It's notable that the series was filmed in Australia, and it shows, especially the Crouch End episode, which looked nothing like Crouch End, or London for that matter. Also most of the supporting cast and extras are recognisably Australian to my Aussie eye, and I see from the cast listings that such actors as Greta Scacchi, Sigrid Thornton and Rebecca Gibney are in upcoming episodes. Gee, I can't wait.

What is it with filming ordinary Stephen King adaptations in Australia? Wasn't Salem's Lot bad enough????