As a fan of the original story written by Ms. Jackson, I am going to try to keep them separate.The film is about a man whose father dies, and the father's last request is to have his ashes strewn over his wife's grave. Upon arrival in the town where his mother is buried, the son is met with hostility and rancor from most of the local residents. He realizes quickly that the townspeople are hiding something and when he finds out that many of the people there died on the same day, he knows for sure that something is amiss. I'm not going to spoil the movie here. Those familiar with Ms. Jackson's story will know what happens towards the end of the film.Although I thought the movie was pretty well done, it just doesn't work as a modern story. There is no way in this day and age anything like this could ever happen without the whole world knowing about it. The movie might have been plausible if this film took place shortly after the story was published (late 1940's), or outside of mainstream America, but no chance in the later parts of the 20th century in conventional small town U.S.A. That's not to say that the movie is bad - it isn't. It's actually fairly well done. The acting is passable, and many of the minor characters are quite convincing. It is suspenseful and builds up to the expected climax. However, it does go on a little too long in that the backstory of what happened to mom is unnecessarily explained. There is also the addition of a variety of subplots- one concerning the main character and a love interest who lives in the secretive little town plus the investigation of New Hope by outsiders where the results are exactly as expected.Although some of the final scenes will likely disturb those unfamiliar with the short story, THE LOTTERY on film is not really a horror movie per se. It is more of a drama/thriller with a pretty nasty ending, similar in feel to DON'T LOOK NOW. I think, though, that anyone who has grown up in the era of instant communication will find the movie a bit ridiculous.If you can suspend your disbelief long enough, the movie is worth a watch. Bear in mind, as mentioned, it is a film with horrific elements but is not a true blue horror movie. If that's your thing, you might want to pass. Fans of suspense might like it if they can get past the final scenes.

I came upon this film on BBC One late one night working. I worked out the story in a few minutes and I must say, I have rarely seen more rubbish on my television screen. The story, and I must say it did surprise me that this film is based on a short story first published in that excellent magazine The New Yorker, is a hopeless nonsense. It is completely unrealistic as the nature of this small town would have come out a long time ago but more importantly, it is historically impossible.The idea is that here is a small, rural New England town with its deeply rooted traditions. Well, these communities where all founded on Christianity and the idea that they would be into human sacrifice is just plain stupid. This goes against the very fundamentals of Christianity. The fact that they sacrifice these people by stoning them is even worse. Did the author actually read the Bible? "Let he who is without sin throw the first stone", Jesus says, not "If you have sinned and want forgiveness, stone this poor woman.".The fact that the acting stinks and it has those commercial break type cuts which makes it so obviously a TV movie does not help. Forget this film.

I found this movie completely sickening and disgusting. Now I'm not one to give out bad movie reviews but this was just horrible. There's no question about it, something was mentally wrong with the person who wrote this. It's just unbelievably inhumane. The ideas in the movie are just so farfetched and horrible, I can't believe someone actually would want to see a movie about people getting pelted to death with rocks by their friends and family and neighbors all because they won a lottery. It's just a stupid movie. I reccomend that if it's on, just keep channel flipping.

I first read Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" in my high school freshman English class and was really shocked that they would let us read THIS kind of story in a learning institute. Needless to say, that tale has always stuck with me. When I heard that NBC was going to be showing a made-for-TV movie based off of the story, my hopes were not high. When I saw the finished product, my fears were confirmed. Let's face it, folks, there are some short stories that just aren't meant to be feature-length films and this is one of them. I think it would have made a much better short subject or been done as an episode of a horror anthology series in the mold of "The Twilight Zone" or "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". The story's theme of blindly following archaic traditions still rings within the film, just having it being padded out into a conventional thriller didn't work for me though. To see how to handle a short story REALLY well, try to find the adaptation of William Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily" that starred a young Angelica Huston. In a similar vein as "The Lottery", "Rose" runs approximately fifteen minutes and is very effective and evocative.