User Reviews

This is probably the best TV suspense/horror movie you'll ever see. John Mcginley who's always struck me as a very underrated but talented character actor plays a chilling cold hearted psychopath with such aplomb it rivalled jack nicholson's performance in the Shining. The 3 hours flew by and you just never knew what Mcginley's character would do next and if/how he would kill his next victim. Some people didn't like the plot holes that enabled Chyna (ably played by Molly Parker) to escape from Edgler's clutches but she was on a determined mission to save the little girl and had the foresight in the end to outwit Edgler. Incidentally, McGinley was also excellent in another Dean Koontz adaptation "sole survivor" as a maniacal FBI agent. For me he's wasted on scrubs and should have more leading man roles.

What on earth were people complaining of the ending about? In the 3 hour made for TV flick INTENSITY, the finale and some details of it deviate from the novel but it doesn't mean it is absent of denouement. It has about the same sensitive and emotional resolve that the book gives to its heroine Chyna Shepherd, portrayed perfectly by Molly Parker. Based on reviews I would have thought that the movie would fade to black pointlessly after the final confrontation. But gladly it doesn't and it nicely pays off and brings to a close all the backstory that is skillfully juxtapoused in between scenes of this thrillful suspenser.

There are even some interesting new elements added such as that of the good African American sheriff. And even the old lady. I cracked up during their interaction and the sheriff says, "China? Has this become international already?"

Perhaps they use it to fill the gap of more introspective scenes in the book where mental soliloquy can't possibly be translated into cinematic form without being perverse.

What makes this better than the common B-Movie thriller that we get a plethora of in Cinemax is the backstory involved of the movie's heroine. Or should we call her super heroine. All of that laid down from the novel of Dean Koontz. Maybe I comment on this positively because of my bias for the author who has given me so much awe and wonderment in fiction, but maybe I do because I am genuinely pleased by the way this was slapped into celluloid.

I also notice that the writers manage to slip in the little subliminal reference of why the villain is afraid of the stars or the shining sun. In the novel it was only in prose, but gladly in the film Chyna notices it and sounds off much to the perturbance of the villain, so masterfully portrayed by John McGinley with furious gusto.

I can only hope that the many beautiful pieces of literature from Dean Koontz can be adapted in motion picture form as decently as INTENSITY. I hear the same positiveness for SOLE SURVIVOR, which I also hope to bump into later on. Not particularly excited about THE HUSBAND, but as I write this I am anxious for next year's Sam Raimi produced THE TAKING. I can only hope such infidelities and deviations that take place will be inconsequential, just as the liberties taken from the book in INTENSITY are to me.

5/5

The book Intensity was a gripping Koontz novel and the movie manages to capture the pathos of Chyna and her struggle against the evil serial killer Edgler. It isn't too graphic but it is too intense for younger kids, as Edgler is scarier (to me at least) than most similar characters. Molly Parker's performance as Chyna is very good but John McGinley is excellent as the very dangerous and cunning killer. The girl who plays Ariel is very cute and manages to be endearing in spite of having almost no lines at all.

After trying to track Edgler for so long, the cop is killed off immediately upon meeting his prey, which I found as frustrating in the book as it is in the movie. It leaves it up to Chyna to save herself and Ariel, but why put so much effort into a character who will ultimately mean nothing to resolving the plot. This ranks up there with Servants of the Twilight as an adaptation, but I didn't like it as much as Phantoms.