Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Leofwine_draca As Stephen King adaptations go, this is a fair attempt at what I found to be one of King's most disturbing novels. The idea of your own body gradually changing for the worse, and you not being able to do a damn thing about it, is a particularly horrifying one and one which translates well to the big screen. Okay, so the acting isn't that great, but it's the clever storyline which carries this film through from the start to the finish and it works.What I like most about King's novels - and filmed works - is the theme of gradual transformation, or decay. In SALEM'S LOT and NEEDFUL THINGS it's the community which is slowly taken over, while in CHRISTINE - and indeed, THINNER - it's the individual who becomes taken over by evil. This film works due to some very good special effects work which sees Burke transform from a 297 pound monstrosity to a human skeleton, with skin stretched taught over his thin frame. Due to the excellent nature of the effects, this transformation is always 100% believable, which is lucky really as it carries the whole film along.There's a slow tension which burns in the background here, a feeling of unstoppable damnation which follows Burke whenever he's on screen. Obviously the revelations at the end don't live up to the audience expectations, but the build-up is very suspenseful. The acting is not brilliant, but good enough for this kind of mainstream film, with Joe Mantegna stealing the show as a cruel, heartless gangster type. His role would be a godsend for any actor, giving them a chance to be extremely vicious in a fun way. Lucinda Jenney is also effective as Burke's leech-like, two-timing wife. Burke himself is hardly convincing, but he manages to convey that harassed/frightened/disturbed look pretty well.Although not gory, there are some gruesome moments involving various dismembered or desiccated corpses which pop up every now and then for that shock moment. The one I liked best was a man who had been deformed with a chicken or something - pretty disgusting. There's another good moment where Burke is shot through the palm with a ball bearing, giving the producers a chance to use a perforated hand special effect, much the same as the one in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN. Some out of place action turns up to keep the wheels turning, along with a voluptuous and glamorous gypsy girl (there just aren't enough of these in films these days). The twist ending is a fun one, and there are plenty of things to enjoy here if you don't mind a bit of light entertainment. This is a film which is difficult to take seriously, but a lot of fun.

Python Hyena Thinner (1996): Dir: Tom Holland / Cast: Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna, Kari Wuhrer, Michael Constantine, Lucinda Jenney: Gruesome horror film about evaporation. It stars Robert John Burke as a lawyer with an eating disorder. On his way home one evening he accidentally hits an elderly woman with his car and she dies. Seeing that Burke is a respected lawyer he is rendered innocent by the judge and arresting officer but outside the courthouse he is touched by an old gypsy with a curse that will evaporate him regardless how much he eats. To add to problems his wife is having an affair. The judge and arresting officer are cursed also but he is advised to seek revenge. Interesting concept is quite detailed but wayward. Directed by Tom Holland who previously made one of the best vampire films of the 1980's in Fright Night. He also made the doll possessed Child's Play. Burke plays his role with subtle humour despite plans that don't quite fan out. Joe Mantegna is interesting as a client who owes Burke favors. He is a criminal who answers Burke's problem by disrupting the gypsies. Kari Wuhrer plays a gypsy girl given a unique interrogation. Michael Constantine steals scenes as the old gypsy who may have met his match. Lucinda Jenney plays Burke's cheating wife who may meet karma. Clever horror about consequences that evaporate our senses. Score: 8 / 10

GL84 Managing to get off on a murder charge, a lawyer suddenly learns his weight-loss is the result of a curse placed on him by the gypsy he helped to screw over and tries to find a way of ending it before it consumes his world.This here really wasn't all that great and had a lot wrong with it. The main thing against this is in fact the central premise, as this one takes up the idea that what's going on here is scary when it really isn't as the concept of a curse causing an obsess person to drop off weight no matter what he does. This is simply not a scary proposition at all, and to make this be the root cause of fear in a ninety-minute movie is simply ridiculous by forcing this one to become completely dependent on such lame scenes as the arguing with the family over first losing weight and then how much he's lost as quickly as he is, the different tests and methods being done to try and figure out what's going on and the behavioral change in going from loving his new look to from all the compliments to being terrified of how much he's going to shrink next, and none of this makes the film any better at what's going on here as this one manages to become deadly boring here with this one concentrating on these issues for such a large majority of time here that it's not so interesting as the main point of the story here. Even the supposed adultery subplot here is just excruciatingly dull with absolutely nothing of any interest happening here and just making this one feel like forever before it really gets to anything decent or interesting and this manages to fulfill the fact that doing this makes for an enjoyable time here. The far more interesting and creative scenes apply to his cronies which actually feature the opportunity for scares and other chilling moments as they're damaging to the body which would've been a lot more fun rather than watching him run around the countryside chasing after the group. These here really bring this one down while it does have a few decent moments along the way. The biggest factor going here is the rather enjoyable final half, which not only gets the really enjoyable but also has some solid action within the mafia assaults on the gypsy camp set-off by the early ambushes before the decent shootout to be found here that certainly sets this going rather well. The only other part that comes off nicely is the whole concept of the curse and what it does, as the method for this one coming into fruition is nice enough and all the different rules and rituals for this are rather nicely explored. Otherwise, there's not a whole lot that works.Rated R: Adult Language and Violence.

gwnightscream Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna, Lucinda Jenney, Bethany Lenz, Kari Wuhrer and Michael Constantine star in this 1996 horror film adaptation of Stephen King's novel. Burke (Robocop 3) plays obese lawyer, Billy Halleck who has a wife, Heidi (Jenney) and daughter, Linda (Lenz). Soon, he gets into a car accident with his wife where they hit an old gypsy woman. Constantine (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) plays Tadzu Lempke, the woman's father and gypsy king who places a horrific, body curse on Billy as justice for her death. Billy's weight begins to reduce rapidly and he becomes ill. He desperately tries to get the curse taken off even if he has to take extreme measures. Mantegna (Criminal Minds) plays mafia boss, Richie "The Hammer" Ginelli, Billy's client & friend who helps him, Wuhrer (Anaconda) plays Tadzu's great granddaughter, Gina and King appears as usual as a pharmacist. This isn't bad, Burke & Mantegna are great in it as well as Greg Cannom's make-up effects. I recommend this.