Movie Review: Sometimes They Come Back (1991)
Synopsis: In 1963, Jim Norman watched a gang of thugs murder his big brother then get killed by a train before they had a chance to kill him. Years later, after losing his job in Chicago because of an emotional breakdown, Jim reluctantly returns to his hometown with his wife and son to be a teacher at the local high school. Soon after, the teens he had witnessed dying return as students in his class, filling the vacant desks of the kids they murdered. To make matters worse, the local authorities think he's the killer.
Who's in it? The movie stars Tim Matheson, Brooke Adams, Robert Rusler, William Sanderson and Nicholas Sadler.
Review: My wife and I both had exhausting weeks at work this week and decided to stay in last night and watch a movie. I've had Sometimes They Come Back in my library for a few weeks and picked that one to watch. Overall, it turned out to be a good choice.
I think the thing I liked best about this movie was how hopeless Jim's (Matheson) situation seemed throughout. The demonic gang of kids, led by the sadistic Richard (Rusler), knew just how to push Jim's buttons, allowing them to commit multiple murders while making sure to make him look both guilty and unstable. As I mentioned to my wife, I was surprised he wasn't arrested the second he led the police to one of the bodies because it wasn't as though he could explain how he knew it was there.
At the same time, it was unclear what the gang's ultimate end game was. It didn't seem like they were looking to kill Jim, just torture him. And while they went after Jim's son (Robert Hy Gorman), it looked more like a scare tactic than any real intention to harm the boy. It was also unclear how Jim could win since they were already dead and there wasn't even an explanation as to why they chose to come back at the somewhat random 27th anniversary of their death.
The movie does seem a bit dragged out at points, with the suspense being built but no real urgency until toward the end. This included the police investigation which, as I mentioned, seemed to move kind of slow despite plenty of evidence pointing to Jim's guilt.
I also wasn't a huge fan of the ending, which (as is often the case with movies in this genre) left a ton of loose ends, including one more body that I find it hard to believe Jim would be able to explain. In other words, while the movie made it seem like a happy ending, I have no doubt Jim will wind up in prison for murder.
Final Opinion: It could have been a little shorter and had a little more closure at the end, but it still ended up being an interesting film that I would recommend taking the time to watch.
My Grade: B+
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