Storm of the Century

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For the Superstorm of 1993, see 1993 North American Storm Complex.

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 was also called the Storm of the Century.

Storm of the Century is a 1999 horror TV miniseries written by Stephen King and directed by Craig R. Baxley. Promotional material for the miniseries claimed that it was King's first ever story written exclusively for a miniseries, but was actually his second after the not-as-well-known Golden Years. King would later publish the screenplay in book form, with the screenplay format intact.

1 Plot
2 Analysis
3 Technical data
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Plot

A powerful storm hits the fictional small town of Little Tall Island (also the setting of King's novel Dolores Claiborne) off the coast of Maine. While trying to deal with the storm, the citizens of the town are visited by Andre Linoge (played by Colm Feore), a strange man who apparently knows all of the townsfolks' darkest secrets. After having killed one of the towns residents, Linoge is jailed. Even though he is kept in jail by the town's constable, Mike Anderson (played by Timothy Daly), he is somehow able to continue killing from within his jail cell. Linoge, constantly repeating "Give me what I want and I'll go away", continues to kill and threaten to destroy the town until the townspeople are willing to listen to his demands. However, when they find out what he wants, they must make a difficult decision on whether or not to give him something that none of the citizens wants to give up.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

What Linoge desires is an heir, one of the eight small children that are observed throughout the miniseries - someone to 'carry on his work when he can no longer do it himself.' Any of the eight children, he states, will suit him. After he leaves, a strong argument breaks out in the town hall. Mike Anderson wants the townsfolk to unitedly reject Linoge's request and figure out a way to fight back, asking how they could possibly sacrifice a child to save themselves. The rest of the town, however (including Mike's wife, Molly), want to agree to Linoge's demand; in particular, they are fearful that the eight children will die if Linoge doesn't get what he wants. Over Mike's arguments, the town agrees to Linoge's demand.

When Linoge returns and finds the town has agreed to give him an heir, he has one parent of each of the eight children draw a 'weirding stone' from a bag, with the parent holding the black stone being the parent of the child who will be given up. All of the parents then reveal the stone they drew, and it appears that Ralphie Anderson (Mike and Molly's son) will be Linoge's heir. At that, Linoge returns to his impossibly ancient appearance, and removes Ralphie from the town over Mike and Molly's emotional breakdowns.

Later, Mike Anderson is shown having left Little Tall and traveling across the country until he settled in San Francisco, becoming a Federal Marshal. Molly has married Hatcher, after Hatch's wife died a year after the Storm. Several other townsfolk have met with bad fates, through suicide. Some years later, Mike Anderson walks out of a restaurant to see his son (now a teenager) and Linoge walk by. He calls out "Ralphie!", but his son responds by hissing and baring fangs. Mike gives chase, but Linoge and heir have vanished. In his closing narration, Mike considers telling Molly what happened but "in the daylight, I know better."

[edit] Analysis

Evidence throughout the film suggests that Andre Linoge is some sort of demon.

While retrieving items from his home later in the film, Michael Anderson spells out the name 'Linoge' and tells one of the villagers the Biblical account of Jesus casting a demon out of an afflicted man and into a herd of swine. He recounts that before the swine drown, Jesus asks the demon to identify itself and it answers "Our name is Legion, for we are many." While Anderson explains this, he re-arranges the name 'Linoge' to spell 'Legion'.

Linoge bears much resemblence to Randall Flagg, a dark, powerful character that appears in many of King's works (The Stand, The Dark Tower series, and Needful Things to name a few), further affirming he and Flagg are one in the same or that there are many of them. It might also be that both assume the role of "the ultimate evil" in Stephen King's realm of lore, all-knowing and everpresent no matter what the story entails.

At one point, the townspeople have a shared dream of the town found deserted with newscasters comparing it to the vanishing of the population of Roanoke Island. Addressing the residents, Linoge hints that he made the same offer to the people of Roanoke but they refused and thus paid the price, forced to commit mass suicide.