Stephen King's Thinner - Nostalgia Critic

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Stephen King has another case of "What the heck were you thinking" with a simple story that of course goes insanely complicated. Nostalgia Critic takes a look at Stephen King's Thinner.
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Thinner (marketed as Stephen King's Thinner) is a 1996 American body horror film directed by Tom Holland and written by Michael McDowell and Holland. The film is based on Stephen King's 1984 novel of the same name (which he wrote under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) and stars Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna, Lucinda Jenney, Michael Constantine, Kari Wuhrer, and Bethany Joy Lenz.
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#nostalgiacritic #stephenking #thinner

[@ChannelAwesome]

IT'S STEPHEN KING TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go to prizepicks.com/nostalgia and use code nostalgia for a first deposit match up to $100! Get a 4-week trial, free postage, and a digital scale at www.stamps.com/nostalgia . Thanks to Stamps.com for sponsoring the show!

[@ImADeity]

Finally I'm early for a Stephen King video. Will you ever play the Stephen King drinking game again? That was my favorite game

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Awesome guys! Love your content 🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤

[@deshawnedwards6412]

Review Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog or Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo! Please Doug.

[@TramiNguyen-oi3kp]

Can you review of Hannah Montana episodes video please?

[@artsman412]

Can someone PLEASE tell me what the heck they're saying in the intro? I can't make out the words past Nostalgiaween and Channel Awesome.

[@geardog24]

Calling the mafia to help take care of a supernatural threat is possibly one of the smartest moves in horror movie history.

[@gavincarothers595]

But it can be/is also possibly easily one the worst decisions to do in Horror/Supernatural (Urban) Fantasy films considering that said threats from the Supernatural and Paranormal because even in reality, the Mafia normally wouldn't be able to stand against a chance the odds against them from either Beings, Creatures, or Events/Occurrences of Darkness alike, even from the least

[@Zeeboklown]

@@gavincarothers595 u are taking the OPs comment WAY too seriously

[@Someguy_9]

​@@gavincarothers595 Depends on what you're in, I guess. Lovecraft? You're kinda screwed, that's the point. The Thing? Well, you might lose, but enough fire and you could at least contain it. Depends on the tone of the work. World of Darkness, with vampires and werewolves and other worse stuff, is pretty damn bleak. But you can often still kill the immediate threat with enough firepower. I would very much like to see more gang war vs. supernatural threat stuff, myself. Seems rich with potential for campy action/horror goodness!

[@RoninRen]

Wasn't there some anthology show, where a guy at the end of the episode, is told by a mobster, that he should be more scared at being indebted to the mob, than a demon,

[@ScrimpleDimple]

@@Someguy_9World of Darkness? The same one that has the weaver?

[@jaysonjolin563]

I was an extra in this! In the opening credits when the cars are driving in you see the silhouette of a guy in the passenger seat of the lead car wearing a fedora - that's me! Also, in the "white man's curse" scene there are a few frames where there's only one laughing gypsy on the screen - that's my best friend.

[@ChannelAwesome]

That's awesome!!

[@RPMcM09]

Legend

[@Styxswimmer]

I remember in 96 (I was 13) I saw the trailer and thought it looked terrifying. Then I watched it and couldn't stop laughing.

[@robertbryant4669]

The best part of King's writing is the internal monologues and character introspections. Without that, his stories come across as exactly what they are -- B-movie schlock at worst, and at best Twilight Zone episodes. For example, in Thinner the main character's shift in attitude towards his wife is explained almost entirely in his head, as his constant hunger and fear prey on his mind and feed his paranoia.

[@Stonecutter334]

Heartily disagree

[@ahabduennschitz7670]

​@@Stonecutter334Then you're heartily wrong

[@lyzzlyzzy1023]

Couldn’t agree with you more heartily! ! ! Without the inner monologue …… something is off !

[@BreadHart]

Then that means it was a bad adaptation because projecting that inner dialogue into a visual medium like a movie is the scriptwriter's job.

[@DeRockMedia]

@@BreadHart for real, at least in The Shining you see Jack slowly going crazy, they could of done something in Thinner to show why he started turning into a jacka$$... i read the book but i was in elementary school so i dont remember much (and it was a bit advance for my brain at the time)

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

Fun Fact: While in production, cowriter/director Tom Holland was stricken with Bell's Palsy, a virus that paralyzed one side of his face. The effects could have been minimized had he gotten a steroid shot immediately, but the producers insisted he keep working, so it was 36 hours before he got to a doctor. It took more than a year and a half for him to fully recover.

[@tahjkuemmerle]

This was directed by Spider-Man?

[@anubusx]

Same name!!!

[@rickythemaddragonxiong8757]

​@@tahjkuemmerle no relation to Spider-Man

[@PGGreatOak]

​@@tahjkuemmerleNo no, the first Child's Play and Fright Night director. 😀 He also directed Fright Night and the 1983 Psycho II sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's movie Psycho.

[@anubusx]

He also directed The Langoliers.

[@georgeeastwood6930]

Fun fact: the idea for this story came to Stephen King during an annual medical checkup. After being angry at the doctor for not letting him use the bathroom before being asked to step on the scales, King was recommended to loose weight & quit smoking. When he lost a few pounds due to the doctor’s recommendation, he thought to himself: “What would happen if somebody started to loose weight & couldn’t stop?”

[@BugsyFoga]

No better way to end of Nostalgiaween than with good old Stephen king time.

[@ryanmorejon5813]

Agreed 👍

[@jareththegoblinking3191]

Too bad. He’s done one last nostalguaween review in November before

[@tboy12540]

nostalgiaween is one of the few things i look foward to. I literally said yay when I saw stephen king time. glad Doug feels better.

[@gregorymelissinos6109]

@@jareththegoblinking3191 next Tuesday is halloween

[@jareththegoblinking3191]

@gregorymelissinos6109 He did Hocus Pocus in November…

[@BezddRed]

YES!!!! The one Stephen King movie that traumatized me because my parents let me watch it at a young age on Thanksgiving and it made me afraid of pies for a couple years. The perfect way to end Nostagiaween this year!!!

[@nickelnl7111]

I am SO glad that someone else went through this exact thing. 8 year old me was terrified to eat pie

[@Only_Oleanders]

When I was 9 I was sleeping at a home daycare in the living room and woke up in the middle of the night to this playing on the TV. I swore off pie right there (and then of course had some the next day).

[@toongrowner1]

for me the paranoia was luckely just for month... sadly this month was in summer when my mom liked to make strawberry cake which usual is my fav. cake XD

[@mayklaclarke8507]

I think we were all traumatised by Stephen King adaptation. Mine was Creep Show, the part where Leslie Neilson got chased by a dead Ted Danson and got buried in the sand. I walked in on that part when I was like 3

[@curtissibanda6372]

Yeah me too and I’m 14

[@JOSH-lw2jv]

Fun Fact: Joe Mantegna who played Richie Ginelli in the film adaptation of *"THINNER",* was also the narrator for the audiobook of the Stephen King (Richard Bachman) novel.

[@sashizakura9124]

And he's FANTASTIC at it! One of the most entertaining audiobooks in my library - and you just reminded me to listen to it again before Halloween. :D

[@ashleightompkins3200]

I see him and all I can see is Rossi from Criminal Minds.

[@blackfoxx86]

I have it myself. I also enjoy listening to him

[@sexydictator3241]

​@@ashleightompkins3200I always think of Fat Tony from The Simpsons. 😂

[@georgemetcalf8763]

​@@sexydictator3241 and Fit Tony, too. Who eventually became Less Fit Tony, and finally Fat Tony.

[@EmiaRaine]

As far as I recall this sticks pretty closely with the book. You saw the marriage fall apart, the desperation was done well, there was more searching/building up the mystique for the old man and I remember the ending being a gutpunch with the wife sharing the pie with the daughter and the main guy deciding the eat the pie so he didn't have to live with the guilt/without his daughter. I remember it being a pretty good but weird book. Plus, it's been a couple of years since I last experienced it. King wrote it under his Richard Bachman pseudonym.

[@dkupke]

The Gypsies actually kill the monster

[@petetrbovich7575]

Yeah, this is actually near-word-for-word following the book. Which honestly works as just the kind of pulpy thriller King was going for on paper. I thought the "curse of the white man from town" bit was inspired - big business crime vs. ancient magic. But like most of King's work, there's no predicting how it's going to come out on film.

[@dkupke]

@@petetrbovich7575 I found that part the best bit of acting in the movie. Most everyone was chewing the s every fit all it was worth but in that case they let the silence do the talking.

[@d33jus]

The last Nostalgiaween for this year…. That means it’s almost time for COMMERCIALS!!!!!!!!

[@sarahmcmann5253]

I can’t wait

[@jordanleland6402]

COMMERCIALS!!!

[@pkmntrainermark8881]

After these messages

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Have a cookie

[@claymathewselevator8121]

@@pkmntrainermark8881I hear that clip 😂

[@Nerdtendo6366]

Having this video released on the same day the movie released is actually pretty neat

[@ChannelAwesome]

Wow....we didn't plan that. That's cool!

[@jordanhunter3375]

Did an old man walk up to Doug, brush his cheek, and Whisper "Timely"?

[@sboinkthelegday3892]

I kid you not, I was sleeping when this video uploaded and dreamt of a movie, with a killer who gets models when they get "too fat" (not underweight), but is still supernatural and not some deranged model enthusiast. Turns out modeling industry is like a Cabin in the Woods type of thing. And the monster was a person with a tulip for a head, hey, I never accused my subconscious of being creative, but with that it could be an ancient Dutch demon.

[@Nerdtendo6366]

@@sboinkthelegday3892 that actually sounds like a great idea for a movie(at least an 80’s low budget slasher)

[@HB-fq9nn]

@@jordanhunter3375Nah, I think he said “Timing!”.

[@KokNoker]

The Italian mom knowing about gypsies curses is the most believable thing in the movie. Being the most European person in the movie, I'd expect her to have had to deal with them the most.

[@benm5970]

This honestly seems like one of those movies that deserves a remake, I actually think this premise could make for a great body horror movie, with the kind of transformations his body goes through it could be like another David Cronenberg’s The Fly type of experience

[@DeRockMedia]

for sure, and i liked this movie back in the day, little tweaks to the writing and you got a Cronenberg movie for sure

[@kylemendoza8860]

Instead of more CGI. Exactly how women the remake be different?

[@dannyjorde2677]

The thing is that the book is so good. Stephen King is a writer, after all, and that's what people should value him for

[@hardnewstakenharder]

He's prolific and he's marketed well. That's all I'll say.

[@00ammy00]

Yeah I read this book a long time ago and remember really loving it (the ending was such a punch in the gut!) but I don't remember it being as bonkers as this movie makes it seem😂. I think because in a book you can read all of Billy's thoughts (and King is especially good at that kind of thing, getting up close and personal with a character's psyche) so everything seemed a lot more reasonable from his point of view.

[@adamb3455]

​@00ammy00 agreed, though I think this era of King film had plenty of directors who pushed the absurdity further than King intended. I recall King building the world around Billy more believably so that it felt plausible and real to expect Billy to deal with both the mob and gypsy curses

[@JYJnKumi]

I remember this film scaring me as a kid, to the point I refused to eat any type of red fruit-based pie for years. I hadn't watched it since, but now seeing you review it, I'm trynna figure out how child me thought this movie was scary.

[@DarkKnightofAnime]

I think as kids we tend to get scared easily even by something that’s clearly a goofy idea but when looking back on it as adults that same thing becomes all the more hilarious in retrospect

[@thedude5295]

@@DarkKnightofAnime This happened to me with an episode of the 80's Twilight Zone called Special Service. It was the inspiration for The Trueman Show, but a lot darker. Scared the crap out of me as a kid and I was checking behind things for video cameras for months after seeing it. Funny how we all live in that world today and just deal with it now. I watched it for the first time again about 30 years after I first saw it and it was one of the most corny things I've ever seen. Even given the dark turns it was played as a comedic episode most of the time. In only rare cases like The Thing can you go back and watch something you saw as a kid and still find it scary or even worth re-watching. Your memories are almost always going to make it much more epic than it was in real life.

[@danielanderson8322]

There's something about body horror that always kinda freaked me out, so I guess there's that at play

[@DeRockMedia]

ya, this movie was creepy when i was a kid along with many others that as an adult now, seems a bit silly... i feel like as kids, we are always on a bad shroom trip when it comes to horror, something as silly as Killer Klowns from Outer Space terrified me when i was little, but is hilarous as an adult

[@overlydramaticpanda]

It's pretty simple. As children, our tolerance for horror is naturally a lot smaller purely because we haven't actually been exposed to many things yet and as a species, we tend to have a certain degree of inherent fear of the unknown and/or unfamiliar as a residual survival instinct. As you grow up and experience more, you become more familiar with certain ideas and images and you also begin thinking more critically too - I don't mean "thinking critically" as in thinking that something is bad but more in terms of simply questioning the truth of what you're seeing even if it's purely on a subconscious level. As a kid watching this movie, if you've never seen an actor in a fatsuit before (or even if you have but don't understand how they work), you could probably be convinced fairly easily that you're actually seeing a fat guy become thinner over a short period of time, and also the idea of losing weight and not being able to stop seems fairly plausible to a young mind that has a very limited knowledge of a concept like moderation or even how dieting works, or knowledge that the average human body just...can't work that way. Your mind subconsciously goes to the "I know this specific thing I'm watching isn't real but all of this could really happen" place. As an adult, there's generally a lot less that can make your mind go to that place because you've gained the ability to "see behind the curtain", as it were.

[@MsGigglesluv]

It’s been five years without this type of Stephen King insanity. Welcome home and happy Halloween

[@Spiralredd]

I want him to do the 2013 remake of Carrie

[@MsGigglesluv]

@@Spiralredd I want him to do Cujo. I’ve been wanting it for two years since ever since I watched Major Payne

[@Spiralredd]

@@MsGigglesluv never seen that

[@DreFromMaine8472]

Also, Stephen King's character in this is called Mr. Bangor. I remember getting a kick out of that when I first saw this thing a long time ago, because Bangor, Maine is where he has his famous house and I also happen to live in that area. And as I sometimes like telling people, I've met and talked to Mr. King a few times in the last thirty years or so. A lot of us around here have, its not a big deal to us. Anyway, thanks for reviewing this POS movie for another Nostalgia-Ween! EDIT: I just remembered, he also camoed in Sleepwalkers and The Langoliers as well!

[@Jordan3DS]

What'd you guys talk about?

[@DreFromMaine8472]

@@Jordan3DS Not really about anything specific, he worked out at the Y in the 90s and I saw and talked to him a bit there. That was before the accident that nearly took his life. I also once attended a live reading he did at the old Auditorium of parts from one of his books, I forget which one. But the coolest thing was he and I went to the same showing of the 2000 movie American Psycho at a second run theater in the area. That was after his accident, he was walking with a cane but looked all right otherwise. I was a bit starstuck that time, I can tell you!

[@claytonrios1]

It wouldn't be Nostalgiaween without some Stephen King time!

[@ChannelAwesome]

We can't skip tradition

[@NarwhalEntertainment]

@@ChannelAwesome The maffia boss was Joe Montagna, and not ONE Fat Tony joke?

[@eddieolshefski6467]

@@ChannelAwesomeHear hear!

[@luislovera2351]

What month is m night shaylam

[@eddieolshefski6467]

@@luislovera2351 They already had a M. Night Shaymalan Month. Years back.

[@DB-tm4ht]

I did a book report in the 8th or 9th grade on the story. When I got to the eh "car scene," my mom just told me to say they were kissing. 🤣 God bless her!

[@DeRockMedia]

XD

[@donaldporr9682]

I love this adaptation of the book. It was actually more faithful then a lot of others.

[@Spiralredd]

Ironically the 2002 remake of Carrie the one that nobody remembers was actually the closest to the book than the original or the 2013 version.

[@DanGamingFan2406]

You can't have Nostalgia-Ween without Stephen King time. This movie had all the potential to be really good if the curse was the only supernatural element. But they just had to throw in all this crazy nonsense. At least it's entertainingly bad.

[@ChannelAwesome]

Definitely has that Stephen King craziness to it. Happy Nostalgia-Ween!

[@Jarod-te2bi]

@@ChannelAwesomeplease review courage the cowardly dog!

[@mangomonroe]

@@Jarod-te2bidark toons

[@watershipup7101]

Agreed

[@insectostrich4407]

@@ChannelAwesomeSpeaking of horror adaptations with great potential. Do you think the Five Nights At Freddy’s movie will be any good?

[@borochifox]

I read the book version. I don't remember it perfectly but I think him killing his wife with the curse made a little more sense in the book? It is a Stephen King book after all so I remember his internal dialogue suggesting he became a lot more deranged as the curse business dragged on.

[@tanandalynch9441]

The book probably also described the marriage falling apart in more detail than what we get

[@titusmccarthy]

I remember this book. It was "as writing as Richard Bachman" and had the line "You're beginning to sound like something out of a Stephen King novel". CRINGE.

[@DeRockMedia]

i remember reading the book too as a kid but not too well...someone else commented that there was more internal dialogue that explained his paranoia, i guess when i was a kid i just accepted him becoming more of a crazy ahole

[@dawnpowers7626]

His wife was trying to have him committed and threatening divorce and taking his daughter away from him. His daughter had run away based on her actions. So he hated her. The revenge makes a lot more sense in the book. (It didn't help that he was losing his mind due to losing the weight. The obsession with finding the gypsy... it all worked in the book.

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

Another Fun Fact: Originally the crew planned to do a more gruesome FX makeup which would have had Billy Halleck's flesh dangling off of his protruding jaw and cheekbones. Partway into filming they decided that this look was too horrific.

[@thedude5295]

I'll bet. I lost over 30 lbs last winter. I only probably had about 10 to 15 lbs of fat to burn, and then it was going after my muscles. After I lost 20 lbs without trying I started eating about 6,000 calories a day and was still losing weight. By then I was drinking about 2 to 3 gallons of water a day and I'd wake up about 10 times per night to pee. I found out I was going through Diabetic Ketoacidosis when I finally broke down and went to the doctor when I was sure I was going to die. I pretty much looked like the Crypt Keeper at that point. The worst part of all of it was losing my entire ass, and being old enough where the skin didn't tighten up to match it and was just kind of sagging off the bones. I couldn't even sit anymore. All I could think about was this movie when it was going on, but I didn't remember bumping into any gypsies and pissing one off. Probably Covid side-effects, since I went from perfectly healthy and physically fit to having a non-working pancreas after my white blood cells got bored and decided to destroy my internal organs. I've put about 15lbs back on since then and look a lot better now, but my brother told me I looked like I had AIDS.

[@merriquelynn866]

@@thedude5295 I’m sorry that happened. I hope you keep getting better and better. That’s really rough.

[@georgeeastwood6930]

Another Fact: the production of the movie got delayed due to the AIDS epidemic, when seeing someone loose weight uncontrollably would’ve hit too close to home.

[@merriquelynn866]

@@georgeeastwood6930 Thank you for that fact. My mom took care of her friends when no one else would. She had to watch a lot of terrible things that they had to go through so I can see that hitting way too close to home.

[@georgeeastwood6930]

@@merriquelynn866 I’m so sorry. Also, in both versions of the story, Billy suspects he has cancer with the rapid weight loss. He sees multiple doctors about it to get a diagnosis, but none of them have an answer.

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

Another Fun Fact: At his thinnest, Billy Halleck weighed 120 pounds which was a challenge for the FX crew, as actor Robert John Burke weighed 160 pounds at the time of production.

[@petrosinella]

Where's Christian Bale when you need him? 😂

[@DeRockMedia]

In HS i weighed 118 at 5' 11"... i got a lot of "you need to eat more" my whole childhood....luckily now as a 38 year old adult, im at 160-165 muscle while still shredded...spend a lot of time at the gym and now ppl are impressed by how lean and athletic i look vs a skeleton, I still cant add fat even when i try (used to be on an ice cream diet lol, got up to 180 but i dont like losing my core so im trying to stick to 170 lean) that said...this movie really hit me when he lost the weight, i didnt want to look deathly skinny anymore and be made fun of...i even read the book as a kid in elementary school

[@tristanmccann6838]

Thank God Tom Holland quit directing and decided to just be Spider-Man.

[@stevensmokes5476]

Wrong Holland

[@lordmavbmp]

I saw this as a kid on tv somewhere and would love catching it. I miss the days of finding old great movies halfway through them and hustling to make sure you see the full movie next time. this was my 1st Stephen king movie.

[@wstine79]

I still love this crazy film since high school. The Gypsy Man was rather creepy, Joe Mantegna was hilarious, and story was like a dark comedy at times.

[@dolphincrescent54]

I missed these bad King adaptations, thank you Doug!

[@ChannelAwesome]

Thanks for watching!!

[@cocobutter3175]

My dad and I loved horror, and watched so many horror movies together. This is on the list of the ones we watched together, that has always stood out in my mind as one of my favorites that I thought was underrated. I don't hear it brought up often. The scene that stuck with me was the acid on the forehead scene. I'd always practice balancing cups of water on my forehead to see if I could get them off without spilling it on me. I was, like, 7 or 8.

[@RedF0XDelta]

One thing I think is super underrated is your skits with the sponsors. You don’t HAVE to go through the extra work of making them funny, but you do, and that’s awesome. Super great work as always Doug.

[@03bgood]

I wanna see a movie where some bully makes fun of a fat kid gets cursed and keeps getting fatter and fatter! Would really make a great Goosebumps episode!

[@ninjabluefyre3815]

There was a Goosebumps episode that kinda did both.

[@andre1999o]

Fun fact: Joe Mantegna also narrated the audiobook.

[@AubreyTheKing]

Thanks for another year of NostalgiaWeen, Critic! And happy to see you back to your old studio again too! Looking forward to what's to come!

[@darkwarrior32]

What happened to chubby Doug? I'd like that thumbnail back please..

[@bulb9970]

Aw I missed the fat thumbnail

[@alexbones95]

Hope there’s 1 more nostalgia-ween this year I love this series

[@allosanthrwpos542]

One of my favourite horror movies as a kid, I rewatched it so much , I was terrified by the practical effects back then , and that rooster seemed so scary, they gouged his eyes out as well 😱 It was considered gore for me, so much nostalgia it’s so campy but I love it !

[@tristanhartup4936]

Suggestions for next year's Nostalgiaween: - The Goosebumps movies - Top 13 Halloween Commercials (Since you did a Top 12 Christmas Commercials years ago, I figured you should do one for Halloween commercials. Why top 13? *Evil laugh* ) - Saw - The Dark Tower (for Stephen King time) - Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 (I mean, seriously! You missed two opportunities to do it both last year and the year before when Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends were released! Get on it!)

[@magallanesagustin4952]

Thinner is a guilty pleasure of mine. It's campy as hell but at least is a fun watch. Jow Mantegna was the best thing about the movie. I loved the book, too.

[@zachsutton6195]

Watched this for the first time this year and it was hysterical 😂one of my new favorite guilty pleasures

[@finnkedinn]

There's a great Greek myth with a similar theme about a man called Erysichthon, who offends the goddess Demeter and is cursed with a never-fulfilling and ever-growing hunger. There are many versions of it, but in my favourite one he even sells his own daughter as a slave to get more food, and when his hunger gets to the ultimate point of despair, he ends up literally eating himself to death until nothing remains. Imagine the kind of Cronenberg-ish body horror THAT would be like if adapted to a good movie!

[@Spectra651]

Funny you should mention that, because Stephen King wrote a short story that more-or-less plays out that way called "Survivor Type." A surgeon is shipwrecked on a small island--a glorified sand barge, really--and as the weeks go by his body slowly wastes away, and he's consumed by an all-encompassing hunger. Eventually he winds up breaking his ankle and has to amputate his own foot, and he's so desperate for food by that point that, rather than letting it go to waste... Well, I think you can take it from there. That's only how it *starts,* though, and by the end he's still sitting there on that island, having gone stark raving mad, everything gone below the knees, laughing as he chews off his own fingers. It would've been pretty amazing if King had just combined the end of that story with 'Thinner' and given us one helluva gruesome body-horror flick.

[@dancreary3340]

I love this movie because of how ridiculous it is, not in spite of it. His daughter running out of the room crying when he was eating and laughing maniacally will ALWAYS be comedy gold.

[@justanotherchannelonyoutub126]

Always nice to see NC review a Stephen Queen movie at the end of Nostalgiaween.

[@MRNentertainment7122]

Yeah, she's one of the queens of horror 🤨🤨🤨🤨

[@theanimeunderworld8338]

the plot of a man wasting to nothing is similar to the myth of Demeter cursing a king to always to be hungry But then King took acid and made additions

[@setsers1]

Stephen QUEEN?!

[@MRNentertainment7122]

@@setsers1 Yeah 🤨🤨

[@CKND420]

It's Stephen KING. GET IT RIGHT.

[@Jarod-te2bi]

20:44 I literally burst into laughter when I heard that line 😂😂😂

[@Markimark151]

This movie probably inspired Shamalayan’s weird movies like Devil and The Happening, since they kind of share the tropes of Stephen King movies!

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

I really enjoy when a Stephen King movie gets so insane in the second half it almost feels like it isn't the same movie and this was one of those times

[@frozenaorta]

The fact of the matter is: This movie is entertaining. It's certainly not a great movie, but all that matters in film is that the audience has a good time. And I've always had a good time watching this, dating back to the 90s. The ending with Montegna taking revenge on the gypsies is just so satisfying.

[@RPMcM09]

I love this movie so much!!! Watched it when I was a child. Talked about it with my best friend over the ending for hours!

[@AshParth560]

Can't have a NostalgiaWeen without something Stephen King. 🧐

[@ChannelAwesome]

It's tradition and would feel weird without it

[@brocksampson3405]

Yay! You did a review on a Stephen King film. Regardless if anyone likes or dislikes the film. I had a good time with it. The review of the film was definitely a good time. It's not the best but it's not the worst ether. I love it when you do Stephon King time. Especially if it's Nostalgia-ween.

[@astrowolvez]

Got a vibe of “WE MADE YOUUUU!!!” With the judge’s wife 😂

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

"...Shingles" was a clever bit.

[@Mirada66]

Bring back the old thumbnail!

[@DaneelGiskard-f8d]

It's amazing that, after over a decade, Doug still hasn't run out of hilarious Stephen King material.

[@Spiralredd]

Do the 2013 remake of Carrie

[@jeffjones2463]

Fun Facts: the "random spy" was Tom Holland's son Josh, who would go on to star in Peter Engel's USA High. The daughter was One Tree Hill's Bethany Joy Lenz.

[@mattfinish2196]

This was an awesome review!! This brings back the feel of the old nostalgia critic videos. Faster, more jokes and energy. Keep it up!

[@AnimationNation2004]

I hope he does The Green Mile at some point. That is one of King’s best stories and one of the best of the King movies

[@andrewhudson7108]

Anything Frank Darabont + Stephen King is gold. Actually almost anything Darabont is gold. It’s been too long since he’s gotten something off the ground.

[@AnimationNation2004]

@@andrewhudson7108 In my opinion, as good as Hearts In Atlantis is, Darabont should’ve been the director instead of working on The Majestic.

[@angrytheclown801]

Not really suitable for Nostalgiaween, but it deserves to be a video with Shawshank right after, or before. Two amazing prison movies.

[@SukiNoKoe]

The only Stephen King movie I have watched tbh 😂

[@SukiNoKoe]

The only Stephen King movie I have watched tbh 😂

[@arealconservative8712]

Aww... I'm sad you changed the thumbnail. The "fat critic" in the old one was just hilarious.

[@MforMovesets]

It would probably be quite tasteless these days, but that whole concept turned to the extreme with him downright becoming a living skeleton might turn out to be a really creepy movie.

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

This honestly just makes me more hyped and more happy for what we will get in Christmas

[@klimmr]

Probably A Christmas Story Christmas.

[@sweetsourpork111]

Fatter

[@mrcritical6751]

@@sweetsourpork111isn’t that just The Santa Clause?

[@jaqjynx]

I’ve been guessing this film every Nostalgia-ween for years. Now it’s finally here and I don’t know how to deal *sniff*

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

This nostalgia-ween has been Amazing! 🎃🎃🎃🖤🖤🖤🧡🧡

[@Faygris]

I always liked Thinner. It's one of the most satisfying revenge stories I've seen 🤩

[@ryanmorejon5813]

What a fantastic way to end Nostalgiaween with a Stephen King review the best thing that he ever reviews on Nostalgiaween 🎃🖤❤️🔪👹🔥😈

[@walkerlocker6126]

I caught this on TV when I was a kid and it scared the crap out of me. So, I'd say it works as a horror/thriller for children. It stuck with me enough that I've never watched it since, yet I never forgot about it. You gotta give King this: he's memorable

[@putz5872]

It’s funny how I get more nostalgic about The Critic than anything he reviews.

[@rodimus444]

The fact that the affects back then looked WAAAY better than the special affects we have now, is quite frankly astonishing. I CANNOT SANCTION THIS BAFOONERY

[@merriquelynn866]

That’s the beauty of practical effects. They made all the difference. I mean, even altering them in post makes for a better semi-digital product. But nothing will ever beat hands on work and real life lighting and texture. The practical effects of The Blob remake hold up to this day. I wish I could go to Blob Fest.

[@basch07]

Is it just me, or did the thumbnail for this video change?

[@richardtheactor]

Something about the joke at the end tickles my funny bone in the darkest way. Feel better soon, Critic. We love ya.

[@freedomkirax1020a]

WAIT A FREAKING SECOND!!!! Did YT took down the video because of the previous Thumbnail?!?!?!? Because the current one wasnt the one I saw when I watched the video...😢

[@PapitoDiablo]

After having watched a marathon of Malcolm in the Middle I can’t express how excited I am to see Commandant Spangler grew his hands back. Nice touch with the Francis prank quip.

[@theanimeunderworld8338]

I am sad this is the last nostalgiaween episode of the year But I am looking forward to December for Christmas

[@johnhammock8602]

Just starting the video and hate to say been away for too long. Like the Pennywise laugh at the end of the intro. Good choice with that jackolantern suit and bringing Halloween nostalgia to us. Thanks for many years of content.

[@humanice2]

I love this movie, ever since renting it as a kid Robert Burke is absolutely great in the movie

[@mityakiselev]

The book is honestly pretty disturbing. The pie ending alone was something else, man

[@Ishtarru]

Doug, I know they say it in the movie, but we're not supposed to use the word "gypsy" to refer to Romani people any more. That word is basically considered a slur now.

[@Ashmodi]

Thank you for bringing this up. It is used as a slur against the Romani people all over the world, especially in Europe. King’s portrayal of them in this book and in the movie is definitely playing off the stereotypes used against them. It’s a shame. King kind of falls into these unfortunate habits of “evil minority curse” a lot in his work.

[@AnInsideJoke]

Exactly! Why is no one else in the comments bringing it up? And yeah, they could have addressed it in a humorous way and not additionally said it themselves so many times that you lose track within the first 5 minutes. It feels like the fact that the word is a slur is so commonly known at this point that it was a deliberate choice to use it, and it just made a lot of the review uncomfortable.

[@marinettew]

I had to scroll so far down to find someone mentioning this 😭

[@Ashmodi]

@@AnInsideJoke I don’t think Doug was aware. I absolutely agree it made the review uncomfortable, but I wanna give him the benefit of the doubt. That being said, I do hope somehow in the storm of comments on this video he does see our discussion and stops using that term moving forward. Romani people have been so persecuted. They deserve better.

[@titusmccarthy]

@@Ashmodi Doug is rather dumb.

[@lpk675]

2:19 Huh, I didn't know Tom Holland was already in the film business only 4 months after he was born.

[@superby1]

I was hoping for either Thinner or Secret Window. So glad it was one of them. My friends and I had so much fun watching this movie randomly on video one day. Brings back a lot of happy memories.

[@DreFromMaine8472]

I actually really like Secret Window!

[@superby1]

@@DreFromMaine8472 me too! It’s one of my favorite King adaptations. It’s also something ld like to see for Nostalgia-ween be it as reassessing a forgotten adaptation or finding some fun in the flaws

[@MC-jj9zd]

I may not have been a fan of the movie, but its still pretty cool knowing some of the movie was filmed in my home town and around the area! I remember seeing the whole carnival set up as i would drive on the bridge. Its cool!

[@hassmann2000]

I literally laughed out loud on this. Well done.

[@Slicedude2004]

That pie scene is one of the hardest laughs I’ve ever had watching a Nostalgia Critic episode.

[@jmoney4708]

Thumbnail changed

[@lemmyhead8578]

Yup

[@Rocketman1292]

Ok, next Nostalgiaween, definitely do Over The Garden Wall! It's now become a fall classic I look forward to every year and Doug has seen it before, it's perfect for review!

[@Stonecutter334]

Thinner is a fantastic movie. Super underrated.

[@rednemesis88]

There was a movie called "Dark August" that came out in 1976. The premise is similar to "Thinner".

[@spacejam8765]

Really wished that he would have reviewed Rose Red for this year. Hopefully next year.

[@ChrisNeufeldMusic]

This is the third year in a row that you’ve ended Nostalgiaween with Stephen King. 2021, “The Lawnmower Man.” 2022, “The Mist.” And now, 2023, “Thinner.” I actually dig it. 😂

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

You know it's a awesome video when the NC reviews a Stephen King Movie!

[@gigim.9742]

Absolutely bonkers movie. The commentary had me rolling! Side note: Phat-Suit Critic on the thumbnail looks like someone made him in The Sims and turned the chonk slider up to max 😂

[@spikeoramathon]

Yeah, in the written story, it's much more an introspective journey with the horror being psychological with only a few grossout points (like the character who's a lizard in this version had really, REALLY horrible acne in the book), and at the end (spoilers), the pie is eaten by his wife and daughter, but the wife isn't having an affair and their eating of the pie (off-screen, in a scene that he paints as a mother/ teen daughter talk and bonding experience) means that he's cured and they're all okay again and their lives go on normally from that point. So, yeah. totally different tone at the end. I've never seen the movie but I'm glad I haven't, because the book version is actually a good read and so goes unsoiled in my mind.

[@sidnew2739]

Acne was the other guy, not the lizard.

[@00ammy00]

It's been years since I read the book but I remember distinctly the ending being different than that - we don't see the wife die but since she ate the pie we're left to assume that she will eventually, and Bill gets satisfaction out of that until he finds out his daughter also ate from it and he's left feeling shocked and devastated since now his daughter would die too. The book ends with him eating some of the pie himself, implying that he decided not to live without his daughter and would rather die with her. That's how I remember it but least.

[@spikeoramathon]

@@00ammy00 Huh, now I have to go back and re-read it, because I remember it as being an end of healing. That said, it's been a couple few decades and I could be conflating it with another one of King's books.

[@spikeoramathon]

@@sidnew2739 Ah, got them mixed up. Thanks for the correction.

[@Pershath08]

I’d love to see your take on King’s Quicksilver Highway. It was like a bad episode of Goosebumps.

[@ShadowSonic2]

For a second I thought you meant Silver Bullet, heh

[@tommyadams8576]

I actually liked the book. I think it's probably the best of the "Bachman" King novels.

[@chasetemple1518]

Next year on Nostalgiaween... • October 2nd: Hubie Halloween (2020) • October 9th: Graveyard Shift (1990) (Stephen King Time) • October 16th: Hereditary (2018) • October 23rd: Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie (2005) • October 30th: Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood And Honey (2023)

[@noxcure]

Nooo the original thumbnail was so much better😂

[@joshjohnson6891]

"You gotta give it to this pie" ah now we see where M Night Shymalan gets most of his stupid ideas from.

[@koneheadcokehead4981]

Honestly one of the best times of Halloween is always when it's Stephen King time!

[@ArrowsmithBA3]

So if the cake is a lie... there's shingles in the pie?... (Sorry if that's too far... plz don't sue) Thank you for continuing to provide excellent content despite your recent hardships. Glad to see you back in action in time for Nostagliaween. Looking forward to your Christmas shenanigans. Hoping to see your take on "Olive the Other Reindeer" someday...

[@jamesmoyner7499]

STEPHEN KING TIME!