Needful Things is a 1993 horror movie and an adaptation of the 1991 novel of the same name.
Plot[]
A mysterious man comes to the town of Castle Rock, Maine in an old, sinister car. He calls himself Leland Gaunt and claims he comes from Akron, Ohio. He opens a store in the town and calls it Needful Things. From there he seeds discord among the residents by selling items in return for cash and small "favors", which sow discord among the residents thanks to the knowledge he has about them and their relationships with each other. He enjoys it, when they are harming and then finally killing each other thanks to the favors he asks in return, which seed fear, hatred and aggression among the residents.
Gaunt is revealed to be The Devil, going from place to place to seed chaos, death and destruction using his knowledge of peope for that. He does this for amusement. Sheriff Pangborn realises in time, who he is and manages in the nick of time to expose in front of the townspeople his web of manipulation and destruction before the residents destroy the town completely and themselves. Mayor Keeton, despondent at the death of his wife earlier, blows the store with Gaunt and himself inside in revenge for what he did using a bomb he had put on himself. He, however survives it intact since he cannot be destroyed. Still he is defeated despite the damages and deaths he caused. However he promises he will return as he always does. With a prediction he would meet Pangborn´s grandson Billy in Jakarta and make headlines in 2053 he goes away from the town eager to do more harm elsewhere until then.
He leaves in the same sinister car with which he came into the town at the beginning. It vanishes after it leaves the district.
Cast[]
- Max von Sydow as Leland Gaunt/The Devil
- Ed Harris as Sheriff Alan J. Pangborn
- Bonnie Bedelia as Polly Chalmers
- Amanda Plummer as Netitia 'Nettie' Cobb
- J. T. Walsh as Danforth 'Buster' Keeton III
- Ray McKinnon as Deputy Norris Ridgewick
- Valri Bromfield as Wilma Wadlowski Jerzyck
- Shane Meier as Brian Rusk
- W. Morgan Sheppard as Father Meehan
- Don S. Davis as Reverend Rose
- Gillian Barber as Myrtle Keeton
- Lochlyn Munro as John LaPointe
- Campbell Lane as Frank Jewett
- Frank C. Turner as Pete Jerzyck
Gallery[]
