Sometimes They Come Back... Again starts in the small American town of Glenrock where an old lady falls off a chair & dies in mysterious circumstances... Cut to Los Angeles & her son Jon Porter (Michael Gross) in informed of his Mother's death, together with his daughter Michelle (Hilary Swank) his goes back to his
childhood town to attend the funeral & sort a few things out. However once back strange things begin to happen, a sinister figure from Jon's past in the shape of Tony Reno (Alexis Arquette) comes back to haunt his daughter. As past memories come flooding back to Jon a series of brutal murders take place all of which seem to come back to him & his daughter in someway. Only another figure from Jon's past seems able to help, an old priest named Father Archer Roberts (Willaim Morgan Sheppard) who talks of demons & sacrificial rituals...Co-written & directed by Adam Grossman Sometimes They Come Back... Again was the second film in a series of three which started with the Stephen King inspired made-for-TV Sometimes They Come Back (1991) which I have not seen & continued after this with Sometimes They Come Back... for More (1999) which I have seen & liked. The script by Grossman & Guy Riedel moves along at a nice pace & has a certain air of mystery about it, I mean it won't take a genius to work things out but at least it tries to do something a bit different & keep you guessing which is a hell of a lot more than a lot of dull boring horror films even attempt. The character's are OK & no one annoys, the main villain reminded me of John Travolta as Danny from Grease (1978) & I was half expecting him to break out into a 'feel-good' pop tune at any moment! Personally I have seen far worse & I thought this was a decent way to spend 100 odd minutes but it seems I'm in the minority & no one has ever accused me of having a particularly good taste in films so you may want to bear that in mind.Director Grossman does an OK job & the film looks fine throughout. There isn't much gore but what's here is decent, there's a cool scene in which someone has their head run over by a lawnmower with the expected blood spraying results & Sometimes They Come Back... Again is probably the only film to feature a literal death by Tarot card! The demon make up is alright.With a supposed budget of around $3,000,000 Sometimes They Come Back... Again is a competently made film with a certain polish to it, I mean it ain't brilliant but it's far from bad. The acting is good although Arquette is a bit campy as the main villain & I think we could have done without a lot of the tacky one-liners which start to creep in towards the end. A pre fame Hilary Swank does an OK job & makes for a likable leading lady.Sometimes They Come Back... Again was, in my opinion, a pretty good film & better than I had expected. Personally I think you could a lot worse, sure you could do a lot better but not every film can be a Citizen Kane (1941), can it?
July 27, 2009
