Sometimes They Come Back (film)

Infobox Film
name = Sometimes They Come Back


caption =
director = Tom McLoughlin
producer = Dino De Laurentiis,
Michael S. Murphey
writer = Stephen King (short story),
Lawrence Konner,
Mark Rosenthal
starring = Tim Matheson,
Brooke Adams,
Robert Rusler
music = Terry Plumeri
cinematography = Bryan England
editing = Charles Bornstein
distributor = Vidmark Entertainment (USA, video)
released = 1991
runtime = 97 min
country = flagicon|USA USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by = Sometimes They Come Back... Again
website =
amg_id = 1:45594
imdb_id = 0102960

"Sometimes They Come Back" is a 1991 made-for-TV horror film based on the short story by the same title by Stephen King.

ynopsis

Jim Norman, a high school history teacher recently fired for an "incident" in Chicago, moves back to his old hometown to teach after being offered a job there. His family originally moved away twenty-seven years before because his brother, Wayne, was murdered by four greaser thugs who chased them into a train tunnel. After Wayne was killed the greasers attempted to leave but couldn't get their car started in time and were hit by an oncoming train. Jim's return to the town immediately brings back memories of his brother and his death, of which he just shrugs off. At his new work, some of the outcast students immediately take to liking him, like Kate and Billy who happened to be his best students, while the popular kids, like jock Chip, have a problem with his attitude taking education over sports. Jim's nightmares get worse and he even one day day dreams the entire event of his brother's death, commencing with him crying on his front porch and his wife comforting him.

The next day, Jim gets into an argument with Chip who is upset his F is causing him to be suspended from the team. Jim explains that he played football and got good grades in school and Chip could do it if he just tried, and then doesn't let the young student bully him with his threats. He gets in his van and for some reason it doesn't start. It stalls long enough for young Billy to stop by and ask about something discussed in class, specifically "history repeating itself." Jim explains to him that if you change history when it repeats itself and learn from your previous mistakes then you can stop the cycle. Billy nods, then gets on his bike and rides away not noticing he dropped his wallet. Jim grabs it and chases after him in his van, trying to give it back.

Billy rides down the road with his headphones on, not really paying attention to anything. He doesn't notice the old Chevrolet Belair on the side street; the same one that was driven by the punks that killed Wayne Norman. It pulls out spinning tires and slinging gravel behind Billy and taunts him, revving up its engine and honking it's horn. Jim, further down the road, sees the car and goes after it, trying to save Billy. The only problem is, they're the only two who see the car. Other people standing on the side of the road only see Billy screaming for help and Jim honking after him. Finally the car hits Billy and sends it off a bridge, killing him on the jagged rocks below. No one, except Jim, sees the old car pull away, smoking it's tires and shooting flames out of the tailpipes. After describing the entire scene to the police, they immediately suspect due to witness, that Jim had something to do with it. Problem is everyone saw Billy just drive off the bridge so the initial response is suicide.

The next day a new student has arrived in Jim's class. Richard Lawson. Jim walks in, puts his stuff down, speaks with a few students and then asks who Richard is. Richard turns. It's the driver of the Ford and the same punk who stabbed Jim's big brother. Jim can't help but stare at the oh so familiar face of a man he knows died in that train wreck. This leads to a confrontation and the principal sending Jim home for the day. At the town fair Jim's son finds an old pair of tennis shoes, the same kind that Wayne used to wear. Jim looks up and Richard is staring right at him, grinning.

At home Jim can't sleep for more than a few hours without tossing and turning. So restless, he decides to go for a walk and runs into Kate. Kate, nervous, tells Jim she was just heading home and that it's right across the street and she doesn't need any help. Jim, confused, heads on. Back at the house he still can't sleep and has a nightmare of Kate being killed, whipped to death. He realizes it was just a dream but can't sleep again so he makes a cup of coffee and stays up instead.

Heading into work, Jim walks in to find Kate is missing and remembers the dream he had, and runs off to the police. Helping them search for her body, they finally find her hanging in a barn. Everyone wants to know how come Jim knows how she died. And they also want to know why he's been at the last two suicides, suicides that Jim continues to argue are murders. After a talk with the school counselor about how to handle the situation, Jim heads to his class and notices there is someone in his class who isn't supposed to be there. He asks them to leave, but they turn around and protest. It's Vinnie Vincent, another of the greaser punks, who asks to sit in Kate's seat. Jim confronts him on why he chose that particular seat. He knows the greasers are the murders, he just can't prove it yet, or prove how they're back.

Jim heads home and tries to rest but can't. He's alarmed to find out a student from his class has knocked on his door. Cautious, he opens it to find out it's Chip, who is extremely nervous. He proceeds to explain that he hung out with Vinnie and Richard that night and they said they knew Jim from years back and they were going to get him back and since they knew Chip hated Jim for failing him he could join in and help. Chip ran to tell Jim. Jim asks for Chip's help but he refuses, saying it's not his fight and that he's skipping town. Unfortunately, the greasers were waiting for him, and when Chip tries to leave they knock him up onto the hood of their car and go speeding around town. Meanwhile Jim heads back inside and tries to get his wife and child someplace safe when there's another knock at the door... the police chief. He wants to take Jim in. Down at the police station Jim tries to explain what's going on, and that Chip is in danger, but the police officer won't listen.

The greasers rod finally stops throwing Chip to the ground. They push him into the car and introduce him to the latest member of the gang: David North, who will be taking his seat in the class. They pretend like he's not scared and scare him further. So they show him "the face". One by one the three punks show who they really are and let their burnt faces show. Richard turns around and clicks open his switchblade. "Time to rock, Jock."

Chip goes missing while Jim is in the police station all night. The police are baffled because their number one suspect was in custody at the time. They let him go and he heads to work to find Richard, Vinnie, and David smoking in the bathroom. The final chapter of their comeback had arrived. It was twenty-seven years to the day they and Jim's brother were killed. They want revenge. They have to finish what they started and kill Jim. In order to do that they'll need to find the missing pieces: A nine year old boy, like Jim's son Scott, who has to be there to witness the event, and Carl Mueller, the fourth punk, who didn't want to hurt Wayne and ran off when the train entered the tunnel. They try to kidnap Scott, but just scare him home. Jim comforts him there. He remembers the police officer who helped at the wreck and goes to find him. Speaking with him, he finds out that the greasers aren't the only ones who can come back. Wayne can come back to help too.

Jim finds Mueller who thinks that he's there to kill him for what happened to his brother. The only way Jim can get him to come along with the plan is to threaten him at gun point. After a distraction, Mueller runs for it. Jim then heads home, knowing that the greasers will also be after his family. Without Jim there the greasers break into his house and attack his wife and child. Jim shows up to help, but finds his bullets do nothing. They just wanted to make sure he was going to be there that night. They run off. Jim takes his wife and child to a church, a place where they'll be safe according to Wayne. Then he remembers why the greasers couldn't leave. He took their car keys. He races back to his old boarded up house and breaks in, going to his secret stash of stuff, and takes the books his brother had, the twelve cents for their late fee, and the rabbit's foot keychain. Turning around he runs into Mueller, who is remorseful for what happened and realizes that they have to finish what happened. Heading outside, Jim's van explodes. The greasers are waiting for them and take Mueller for a ride. They head to the church while Jim heads to try and get Wayne to come back.

David tries to enter the church grab Jim's family but burns himself instead. They run around and harass them, busting out windows and hitting things with sticks. At the cemetery, Jim asks for Wayne's help. Wayne tries to come back, but can't. Something has to be done first. The greasers wonder who tried to come back and then make jokes about it. They run off and say they'll be back. Scott hears his father call his name and runs outside, but it was just the greasers tricking them. They kidnap Jim's family as an insurance to make sure he'd show, but he's already there waiting for them.

The scene plays out exactly like before. Only thing is, Jim starts changing things up which makes Vinnie nervous. If he changes history, that means they'll die and go back to hell. They keep hearing train horns, even though the tracks haven't been there for years. Mueller makes things worse by standing up against the punks as well. Richard, seeing Mueller back out on the gang as well as remembering what happened with the train in the first place, stabs Mueller for being a traitor. This allows Wayne to come back, because someone has to die for someone to cross over. Wayne yells at the punks again, while Jim throws their car keys down the path. After running to get the keys, Jim and Wayne let Jim's family out of the hot rod and they run for it. The greasers run back to their car only to find a ghostly visage of a train heading towards them. They all jump and start the car, but before Richard can get into gear the train hits them and they revert back to their dead selves and return to hell.

Wayne mistakes Scott for Jim, and Jim has to explain to Wayne he's been dead for twenty seven years. He doesn't understand, but wants Jim to come with him. He refuses. But he does explain that now the greasers are finally dead, and he can leave his lonely limbo and go to heaven with his parents. Jim and his family walk home and Wayne returns to the after life.

equel

"Sometimes They Come Back... Again", released in 1996, is the first sequel to this film. "Sometimes They Come Back… for More" is the second sequel to this film. It was released in 1999.

External links

*imdb title|id=0102960|title=Sometimes They Come Back
*amg movie|id=1:45594|title=Sometimes They Come Back
*rotten-tomatoes|id=sometimes_they_come_back|title=Sometimes They Come Back