Unrealistic (Or At Least Annoying) Movie Scene---The Langoliers

There's a better than average chance you don't remember The Langoliers, a two-part, made-for-tv adaptation of a Stephen King novella. But I do. I specifically recall watching it on a Sunday night in 1995 while I wasn't doing my geometry homework. I came away unimpressed, but that's not the point.

Here's a plot summary from an anonymous poster at IMDB:

On a red eye flight to Boston from LA 10 people wake up to a shock. All the
passengers and crew have vanished. When they try to contact the ground they make
no connections. They land the plane only to discover that things haven't
changed. But its like the world is dead. No one is there, the air is still,
sound doesn't echo, the food is tasteless. And a distant sound is heard coming
closer. A race of monstrous beings bent on their destruction is heading for
them, eating everything in sight.

Now, from reading those eight sentences would you guess that this movie had a cheesier ending than most after school specials of the mid-80's? Of course not. I mean, it's still a Stephen King adaptation, right? Well, the director, some jerk-off named Tom Holland, must have been inspired by Jenny Eats Something (or whatever). After three hours of vanishing bodies, more than a little blood and eerie music, Holland ruined any shot of earning credibility with the final five seconds of the film.

(Note: Five bucks goes to the first person who gets the Jenny Eats Something reference.)

I haven't seen The Langoliers in well over a decade, and yet I'll never forget just how pathetic the very end of this movie is.

A few things before viewing this video: Only two videos of the final scene of The Langoliers exist on YouTube. One can't be embedded and the other isn't in English - and that's what I'm sticking you with. Forgive me. Anyway, there's no need to absorb the dialogue. You already read the plot summary and more importantly, you can still listen to the background music, which obviously suggests you're watching a serious film.

Again, please stick with the four-and-a-half-minute video until the credits start rolling...you won't be let down:

Thank God Frank Darabont didn't take lessons from Tom Holland on how to end a Stephen King adaptation...

Get busy living, or get busy dying. That's goddamn right.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
12/2/08