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Thinner | 
| Director: Tom Holland
Actors: Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna, Lucinda Jenney, Michael Constantine, Kari Wuhrer
Studio: Republic Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $2.99
You Save: $6.99 (70%)
New (34) Used (40) from $2.88
Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 11141
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd, Thx, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 116 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: REPD011419D
UPC: 017153114195
EAN: 0017153114195
ASIN: B00005O439
Theatrical Release Date: October 25, 1996
Release Date: August 14, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 05/22/2007 Run time: 92 minutes Rating: R
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 Thinner (1996)-Good Stephen King July 3, 2009
Keith Mirenberg (www.spaceanimations.org)
Thinner (1996) was a three to four star DVD with excellent special effects, a good story and fine performances. It was a little over the top which is nothing new for Stephen King. Over 7 sets of full body make up of one type or another were required to make the transition from 300 to 112 pounds look credible. A short on The Magic of Special Effects was also included documenting this work.
 Thinner?Was It All Worth It In Some Way? June 24, 2009
Andre S. Grindle (Brewer Maine)
Speaking from personal experience from being an extra (one who actually appeared prominantly) in King's TV production The Langoliers I had a first hand look into what goes into a Stephen King production in general.I was to have appeared in this film as an extra as well but circumstances simply didn't allow for it. Wheras I watched The Langoliers on TV and actually enjoyed it I just recently saw this movie.I'd always been curious about it and heard a lot of conflicting reviews of the film which didn't give the proper impression. So I finally saw it. Frankly.......it was a disappointing film.I've seen horror films before and most of them have some resolution in the end. While this one is unique in that it involves a very terrestrial curse rather then something supernatural. The problem is I was never really certain which of the central characters to route for.Billy Halleck,a lawyer presented in the beginning as having somewhat "questionable ethics" (itself a stereotype of the profession) may have been cursed by a gypsy for "killing" his daughter,being mildly distracted by his wife having given him "oral pleasure" in their car but at the same time some of the methods he uses to undo the curse,including an encounter with a mobster played by Joe Montenga,who was involved in a court case with Halleck as lawyer earlier in the film, become very selfish and sadistic.Not to mention that Robert John Burke portray's Billy Halleck as pompous and glutonous to an unbelievable degree. At certain points in the film it doesn't seem like his is really a life worth saving. Although the concept of bigotry against gypsies is covered to a certain point they are not portrayed as sympathetic characters either,but as nomad rougues looking for a fight. Not only that but another reviewer here is VERY correct:in terms of how Billy Hallecks misadventure takes him his wife,whose only crime seems to be trying to help him with his sudden weight loss it leads to a syndrome of misunderstanding,resentment and finally murder. There is an undercurrent of sexism behind it-a strong one. Kind of a letdown in a horror film where the storyline isn't supposed to take too much focus off the genre. But to avoid sounding too needlessly critical......this is just an okay movie as Stephen King movies go.And since he lives almost nextdoor to me,being from Bangor Maine myself I have some awareness of the New England culture and Stephen King certainly has done better examples of the New Englad horror "genre I guess then this.So only if your really curious is this worth looking into just to see it for yourself.
Okay April 1, 2009
Horror Freak (Port Deposit)
i thought the movie was cool, i hope i never make anyone that mad at me....
 Journey to the Center of the Girth February 5, 2009
M. Ryan Fairbanks (Cleveland, Ohio)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This one caught my eye while shopping around at local DVD retailer the other week and my interest was peaked. The premise of Thinner sounded very interesting to me, and the cover art (which deceivingly is not a picture of anything from the movie), looked pretty spiffy as well. I decided to watch.
Thinner tells the tale of Billy, an overweight dirtbag lawyer who just can't seem stick to his diet. A semi-solution to his problem comes one night after he plows down and kills an old gypsy woman in a car accident. His cop and judge buddies pull some strings and the death is ruled as accidental, getting him off the hook for his crime. The 106 year old gypsy king is not pleased with this, so he carries out his own style of justice in the form of a curse that rapidly melts the pounds away from Billy. The initial enthusiasm Billy has regarding his weight loss quickly fades into sheer panic as he begins withering away before his own eyes. He embarks on a mission to hunt down the gypsies and have the curse withdrawn, and get back at his unfaithful wife (Who sort caused the car accident while she and Billy were having naughty time).
Either Thinner is not that great movie, or the Stephen King tale it is based on was no gem to begin with. If you were expecting to witness the graphic deterioration of a body filled with intense emotional anguish like David Cronenberg's The Fly (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) for instance, boy did you come knocking at the wrong door. Thinner is mostly just a chronicle of an unlikable character who sheds a bit of latex from scene to scene until he finally just breaks down and begs to have the curse lifted. I think most will find that the plot is even thinner than Billy himself during the movie's final moments. The concept is a fairly straight forward one, I was only halfway through the movie before I started wondering how much longer they were going to drag this out.
Overall I'd say Thinner is another King book put to film that just doesn't quite take off. In fact, I would really recommend Thinner to no one other than a die hard Stephen King fan, (He makes a brief cameo as a pharmacist too). It's certainly an interesting idea for a story and the acting is decent, but it just doesn't work out very well as a movie and is ultimately forgettable.
Rent it for Joe Mantegna's Character October 20, 2008
Graboidz (Westminster, Maryland)
The good news for Stephen King fans is that Tom Holland's "Thinner" is a faithful adaptation of King's tale, the bad news is that "Thinner" isn't one of King's best stories to build a film around.
Robert John Burke plays a rotund, and thoroughly unlikable lawyer who literally gets away with murder. Drawing the wrath of a band of gypsies he finds himself on the receiving end of a thinning curse. No matter how much he eats, he continues to lose weight.
The premise is pretty original, and the cast does a really good job with the material they are handed. Burke as a slimy lawyer does a particularly disgustingly good job. He is so repulsive both in character and physically, you almost root for the gypsy.
**On a side note, I would love to see just how much this film affected popcorn sales at theaters where it played? Watching Burke shovel in food hand over fist is truly nauseating! I can't imagine anyone eating while viewing scenes of him stuffing away food to try and gain weight!!**
Michael Constantine does a great job as the 106-year old Gypsy King, and Kari Wuhrer is smokin' hot as his grand-daughter.
But this movie belongs to Joe Mantegna. His portrayal of mobster Richie Ginelli is the one likable character in the entire film. Mantegna is having so much fun as the vegeance seeking mobster you can't help but get caught up in the spirit of things. You almost wish the focus of the film were on the Ginelli character solely.
The story is a bleak a depressive tale, populated by unlikable characters. And while the special effects are fantastic and the acting top notch, it's just too hard to recommend this film for anyone buy die-hard Stephen King fans.
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