Servants of Twilight (1991) 3 of 10 stars ⭐ If you liked the book, DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE!

Servants of Twilight
1991

 If you liked the book, DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE!

Servants of Twilight (1991) 3 of 10 stars ⭐

I would love to hear why people like this, if you disagree, please explain. But if you haven't read the book, you should! It's easy and short, and a very entertaining read.

 blondiee10.blogspot.com/2024/10/servants-of-twilight-1991-3-of-10-stars.html

BASIC PLOT:

A cult, led by a strange woman, Grace Spivey (Grace Zabriskie), targets a boy, Joey Scavello (Jarrett Lennon), for no reason. His mother, Christine Scavello (Belinda Bauer), hires a private investigator, Charlie Harrison (Bruce Greenwood) to find out why, and to protect them. 

WHAT WORKS:

*GRACE ZABRISKIE IS EXCELLENT AS GRACE SPIVEY. This movie's ONLY saving grace was Grace Zabriskie as Grace Spivey (ha!). She is exactly the character in the book (except not as old), and is really scary. She's a great actress, and embodies the original source material. She was the only good thing about this movie.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK:

*THE BOOK EXPLAINS THE WHY, THE MOVIE NEVER DOES If you read the book, and liked it, AVOID this movie like the plague! It is NOTHING like the book! Koontz (the book writer) puts things in the book that are important to the story. The anti-Christ will be handsome, engaging and influence the masses. This is how the book reads, and according to the Bible, is supposed to be true of the anti-Christ! In the book, the six year old child is beautiful, engaging & the picture of health. He's smart, funny, and the kind of kid people like, even those people who hate kids. Strangers comment on how cute he is, how he could be a child actor or model, etc. People are drawn to him, and they don't know why.  Joey's also engaging, intuitive, smart and brave. I don't think this is how you would describe the nerd from, 'The Wonder Years'. The kid in the movie is whiny, irritating, NOT wise beyond his years, & forgive me for saying so, NOT ATTRACTIVE! Also, far from wanting to be around this kid, I was repelled by him. His voice was whiney, he looked sickly - NOT VERY ANTI-CHRISTY.

The same goes with the book's description of the mother's house. She's supposed to have a high end lifestyle, with luxury items, like silk oriental rugs etc. Once again, these things matter, because she gained this wealth AFTER she had her son. This implies maybe he is the anti-Christ, and her sudden windfall came because she was his mother. The movie does not include these cues, there is no suspicion about Joey's origin, or whether he's supernatural or not. In the book, Charlie, his bodyguards, & even the boy's mother, come to wonder if the boy is really the anti-Christ, & if Grace Spivey is a prophet, but the movie never explores any of these questions. Without doubts about the boy's origin, a lot that happens doesn't make sense. By leaving out the most interesting questions from the source material, what you're left with is a boring, slow moving mess. 

Someone should remake this book into a better movie. This time, it should be done right. The source material is easy, and very formulaic (that doesn't mean bad, I loved the book).