Zak Hilditch’s adaptation of the Stephen King novella 1922 (2017) has hit Netflix. While there are references to classic Edgar Allan Poe horror elements of rats and apparitions, it’s more about the truer horror of the evil that men do, how one’s own vanities poison everything around them. One of Thomas Jane’s best performances (not since Boogie Nights) as the tight-jawed, muscularly stiff farmer who sees the only way out of losing his farm is to convince his son (Dylan Schmid, great) to be an accomplice to the murder of the wife/mother (Molly Parker, always great). It’s like the pessimistic flip side to a Shawshank or a Green Mile; a heartland American tale of everything going to ruin. In the composition of images and the lyrical editing, there’s a sinister grandeur, helped especially by the sound design and Mike Patton’s fantastic score. Recommended.
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