I am a big fan of the book and think the characters and plots are so powerful. I remember the first tv series. It was better in some ways than this new one. Firstly, it didn’t seem to have this current trendy fashion of time-jumping, even when it just makes for confusion and does nothing to enhance the story. Anyone not familiar with the book would have wondered at seeing Frannie pregnant with Stu long before it happened.
Secondly, certain scenes were far scarier in the first series ... Larry’s escape from the city through the tunnel, Stu’s escape from the medical facility, for some reason these have been changed and are far less potent. I could not see the point of some changes if they do not add or improve on the story.
Thirdly, Flagg comes across as having a horribly warped sense of humour in the book and Alexander Skarsgard looks too serious and less viciously amused and flippant. Despite some of the special effects... the dead bodies are truly gruesome ... all you see of Flagg is him rising in the air and his eyes turning red. When he changes during his sex scene with Nadine, he looks far less scary than Harold’s corpse. He just look burnt all over rather than evilly satanic. As attractive as he is, I don’t see him as right for that role but think a younger version of Jack Nicholson would have been better. His brother was terrifyingly creepy in another Stephen King creation, the remake of the film It.
I do think some of the other actors are great in their roles. Harold, Tom and Stu are wonderful. Whoopi Goldberg makes for a convincing Mother Abagail but sorry, overall this sadly hasn’t wowed me as I hoped it would.