To make a short story short, the plot follows Jim Norman (played by Tim Matheson of "Animal House" fame), a man who can't let go of his dark past concerning the death of his brother by a group of greasers. When Jim moves back to the town he grew up in, his past comes back to haunt him as the greasers return from the dead.

In typical Stephen King fashion, the story deals strongly with the theme of not being able to escape the past and eventually having to confront it face to face. Unfortunately, that also means we get overlong, melodramatic repetitious flashbacks that make us abundantly clear of what happened to Jim's brother and how it has impacted his life. Normally, I don't have an issue with flashbacks, but Stephen King commonly uses it as a storytelling device. Sometimes it works well as it directly relates to present conditions, in other instances (like with "Sometimes They Come Back") it prevents the story from moving forward. Granted, King is not entirely to blame here. He only wrote the short story, not the screenplay (Lawrence Konner and Mark Resenthal penned the script).

Another part of the problem with the movie is that the story isn't scary in the least. The "villains" of the story are an obnoxious teenage greaser gang who laugh, hoot, and holler. They are made to look frightening at times when we see their grotesque decaying faces or when they kill innocent folks, but in reality, the gangs in "The Warriors" or "The Wanderers" were more threatening.

Overall, "Sometimes They Come Back" doesn't add up to much more than a re-treaded tale. That's not to say it's one of the worst Stephen King adaptations, it's simply mediocre.

The DVD

Video:
The 2.35:1 widescreen picture has a few fuzzy scenes near the end of the film. In addition, the colors tended to look a little faded and washed out. The disk is not all sour-notes as the lighting is generally impressive.

Sound: The English Dolby Stereo track contains an overly loud music score, but generally the track works like a charm in the dialogue, sound f/x department.

Extras: No extras, unless you count the option to use Spanish stereo or English, Spanish, and French subtitles. Shame on you MGM for double-dipping without any new content!

Final Thoughts:
"Sometimes They Come Back" is not a film you'd want to see, let alone come back to for repeated viewings. Skip it.

Film and television enthusiast Nick Lyons recently had his first book published titled "Attack of the Sci-Fi Trivia." It is available on Amazon.com.