Thinner is a 1996 horror film directed by Tom Holland and written by Michael McDowell with the screenplay by Tom Holland. The film is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

Cast

• Robert John Burke — Billy Halleck
• Joe Mantegna — Richie Ginelli
• Lucinda Jenney — Heidi Halleck
• Michael Constantine — Tadzu Lempke
• Kari Wührer — Gina Lempke
• Bethany Joy Lenz — Linda Halleck
• Time Winters — Prosecutor
• Howard Erskine — Judge Phillips
• Terrence Garmey — Bailiff
• Randy Jurgensen — Court Clerk
• Jeff Ware — Max Duggenfield
• Antonette Schwartzberg — Mama Ginelli
• Terence Kava — Gabe Lempke
• Adriana Delphine — Gypsy Woman
• Ruth Miller — Billy's Secretary

Plot

Billy Halleck is an arrogant obese upper-class lawyer who lives in suburban Connecticut. One day while driving, he accidentally runs over an old Gypsy woman with his car when his wife distracts him by performing oral sex on him. The Gypsy woman's father, Tadzu Lempke ["Taduz" in the book], who is 106 years old, curses Billy by touching his face and saying the word, "Thinner." The curse causes Billy to lose weight rapidly, regardless of how much he eats. The old man also curses two of Billy's close friends who helped him avoid punishment for the Gypsy woman's death. Later, one of them grows scales on his face, the other becomes mutated with oversized pimples and commits suicide.

Because only Lempke can remove the curse since he put it on, Billy must persuade the ancient Gypsy to lift the curse with the help of his friend, an underworld crime boss by the name of Richie "The Hammer" Ginelli. Richie decides to cause a ruckus among the gypsies' camp by killing one of them and almost killing another. Each time he leaves a note saying "WHITE MAN FROM TOWN SAYS TAKE IT OFF". It's a desperate race for survival; time is running out for Billy as he becomes even thinner and draws closer to his own death.

Ultimately, Lempke is persuaded to alter the curse. However, he explains that he cannot remove it but only transfer it and does so to a strawberry pie. The curse is transferred such that anyone who consumes it will die a horribly painful death. Lempke urges Billy to end the curse and commit suicide with dignity by eating the pie. However, following the curse, Billy starts thinking his wife has cheated on him and, wanting revenge, he leaves the pie out for her to eat. The next morning he wakes up to find his dead wife next to him in bed. After going downstairs gleefully, he finds to his horror that his daughter, who had been on a field trip, had returned unnoticed the previous evening and has also eaten a slice. Feeling guilty about the whole ordeal, he decides to listen to what Lempke said about dying with dignity and have a piece as well. Before he can take the first bite, he's interrupted by a ring of the doorbell. At the door is the man he believes his wife had the affair with; he invites the man in for a piece of pie, and the movie ends.

Trivia

• Author Stephen King, who lives in Bangor, Maine, appears as the pharmacist Dr. Bangor.
• The movie was filmed largely in Thomaston, Camden, and Rockland, Maine. These towns are about an hour and a half drive from King's home in Bangor, Maine.
• Action League Now! did a parody where the Chief and the witch curse the Chief by saying Fatter

References

External links

• Thinner at the Internet Movie Database
• Thinner at Allmovie