Customer Reviews

Black River

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Considering the fact that Dean Koontz has written over 50 books, you'd think there'd be more movie adaptations. Perhaps movies like this one, BLACK RIVER, explains it. Koontz is a prolific writer, and even though he's a good genre writer, his stories sometimes take on such ethereal and philosophical tones, they lose their terror. Such as it is in BLACK RIVER. There's nothing overtly frightening, and much of it comes across as laughable.
Disgruntled screenwriter Bo Aikens (played rather amatuerishly by Jay Mohr) decides to chuck it all in LA and find himself a "nice home" somewhere up north. This leads him to a town called Black River. When he walks into the local eatery, he is met by the town's over-effusive mayor (played awfully by Stephen Tobolowsky), who welcomes him to Black River and tells Bo that he will love it there. Of course, Bo is just "looking", and it isn't long before he's being tormented by the town's redneck, offends the waitress, meets up with the waitresses' sister who just pops out of nowhere (they were both adopted and never knew they existed). Seems like good things happen to "good people" and bad things happen to "bad people." Video cameras are everywhere; you have no private moments, and Aikens finds out that he can't leave Black River.
There's an obvious diabolical connection with two local computer companies and by the time we find out their connection, it's so muddled and confusing, it makes little if any sense.
The most believable moments in the film are the very beginning where Aikens loses his beloved pet retriever and tries to find somewhere to bury him. Mohr is convincing in this scene.
It's made for t.v. so it's not the least bit gruesome and the only death shown on screen is pretty funny...electrifyingly so!!

I never read the book so cannot compare. It had me hooked from beginning to end. Great character acting by everyone and if you have not read the book then I doubt you can be disappointed. Very clever and fun throughout.

i bought the movie thinking it was going to be like the movie phantoms and the movie hideaway even though a few characters have changed or left out of the movie maybe a little changed which is fine to each there own. but this movie was just total disgrace i mean if you are going to change a great book into a bunch of crap well god switch the name of the movie. i feel this had nothing to do with the book only the two main characters names are the same. i will say i like jay mohr performance but other than that i just want to dope slap the directer and dope slap dean koontz. they butchered the book when turning it into a movie. this was just horrible.