Thinner

Year of release : 1996

Run time : 1h33min

Genre : Thriller / Horror

Cast : Robert John-Burke, Kari Wuhrer, Joe Mantegna

The movie is based on Stephen King's 1984 book of the same name,written under the surname Richard Bachman.

Billy Halleck is an obese rich lawyer who just got acquitted Mafia boss Richie 'The Hammer' on a murder charge.

Billy has a seemingly loving wife and a loving daughter. He has good colleagues whom he can call friends. But ,he has a huge eating problem,which his wife is trying to make him get over.

One evening, after celebrating his big win, driving home, she tries to get his mind off food, by distracting him with an oral. She does such a good job, he runs over an old Romani woman.

His colleagues and friends, all lie for him, and acquit him of the murder, saying it was not his fault. Billy also believes it was not his fault.

The father of the old woman comes to see him after, touches his cheek, and says 'thinner'.

After, Billy starts losing weight although he still eats like a maniac, worrying his wife, who thinks about putting him in a mental institution.

He runs away, and starts investigating what happened to his friends, the ones who helped him get away with running over the woman. He hears they are in bad shape,growing scales, and turning into lizzards.

Billy starts believing the old man put a curse on them, but his wife thinks him crazy.

Billy starts resenting her, as he thinks it's all her fault ( I like how he doesn't take accountability for anything). One night, when he gets home ,he sees his doctor leaving their place. His daughter tells him his doctor is at their place all the time, and Billy thinks they are having an affair.

He leaves trying to get the old man lift the curse at any cost.

This was one of my favorite movies growing up. The movie still has a good plot, the characters are in shades of gray, you don't really know who to root for, as Billy has no remorse for what he's done, he's always blaming someone else; the Mafia guy is a bad guy,but he's his friend and does some bad things helping him; and the Romani put a curse on him,which can be understandable to a certain degree, but then they k!ll and mutilate a man who did nothing to them. The beautiful Romani woman seems to hate him from the start (she apparently has great hearing but not so great,because he was on her side ),before he did any wrongs,just because he stared at her.So nobody is good.

The acting was top notch. Robert John-Burke who plays the obese lawyer who can't stop eating (honestly, he's eating all the time. The whole time I wondered if he came to the set hungry, because he ate so much! ) seems to be always in costume and in makeup, as in, at first he is overweight, and goes to the other extreme,of being incredibly thin, thing which can be done with a lot of makeup.

Stephen King has a cameo in the movie, as the pharmacist.

The visual effects ,with the body horror, were great.

The movie received negative reviews and grossed 15.3 million dollars against a budget of 8 million.

The movie is free with ads on PlutoTv, 7 days free on Paramount on Apple Channels, for rent / sale on Amazon, AppleTv, Fandango at Home.

Rating : Worth a watch !