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Sometimes They Come Back

Sometimes They Come Back

Horror · TV Movie · Thriller · 1991

Desperate for a job to help him support his family, Jim Norman takes a position teaching high school in the town where his brother was murdered in front of him by teenage bullies twenty-seven years before. The teens who committed the crime are long dead, but now the kids in Jim's new class keep dying and being replaced by new students who look like the deceased hoodlums.

Movie details

Sometimes They Come Back

“With "The Shining" and "Misery" Stephen King scared you to death. Now, he's going to scare you back to life.”

1991 Horror · TV Movie · Thriller 1h 38m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.9 / 10

Community rating

Desperate for a job to help him support his family, Jim Norman takes a position teaching high school in the town where his brother was murdered in front of him by teenage bullies twenty-seven years before. The teens who committed the crime are long dead, but now the kids in Jim's new class keep dying and being replaced by new students who look like the deceased hoodlums.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Sometimes They Come Back?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Tom McLoughlin

Written by

Mark Rosenthal · Lawrence Konner

Tim Matheson

Tim Matheson

Jim Norman

Brooke Adams

Brooke Adams

Sally Norman

Robert Rusler

Robert Rusler

Lawson

Chris Demetral

Chris Demetral

Wayne Norman

Robert Hy Gorman

Robert Hy Gorman

Scott Norman

William Sanderson

William Sanderson

Mueller

Nicholas Sadler

Nicholas Sadler

Vinnie

Court is in session

Put Sometimes They Come Back on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.