Storm of the Century

"Give me what I want and I'll go away..."

A television Miniseries scripted by Stephen King.

The worst storm in sixty years is about to hit the coast of Maine. But the people living on Little Tall Island have a bigger problem to deal with, for the Devil has come to town, and he's going to be having some fun today...

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Tropes used in Storm of the Century include:

• Actor Allusion: When Hatch balks at the idea of temporarily leaving Mike alone with Linoge outside the store, Mike sarcastically suggests that he might find Superman in the back alley for help. Mike voices Superman in the DCAU.
• An Axe to Grind: It's what Lloyd Wishman uses to kill himself.
• Arc Words: "Give me what I want, and I'll go away."
• The Bad Guy Wins: Linoge does indeed "get what he wants". See the info at the link for more.
• Berserk Button: Never touch Ralphie without Mike's permission. This extends to all the parents when Linoge hypnotizes the kids and renders them comatose.
• Break the Cutie: Cat Withers. First she receives a Hannibal Lecture from Linoge, which reveals that she had an abortion, and that her boyfriend has been cheating on her in front of everyone in the store. After having a falling out with her boyfriend, she is possessed by Linoge and kills him, only to find herself covered in blood when she snaps out of it. She's also the first person to notice that all of the kids are under the same spell, and has another Freak-Out.
• Catch Phrase: Born in sin, c'mon in!
  • "Hell is repetition" shows up in a few of Stephen King's other works.
• Closed Circle: Once the storm starts, Little Tall Island is completely cut off from the mainland and civilization. The residents can't get away from Linoge and have to either make his deal or let him kill them all.
• Close-Knit Community: Little Tall Island
• Corrupt the Cutie: Ralphie.
• Dark Secret: Linoge says it best: Your town is full of adulterers, pedophiles, thieves, gluttons, murderers, bullies, scoundrels, and covetous morons. And I know every last one of them.
• Deal with the Devil: "Give me what I want, and I'll go away." They do and he does.
• Downer Ending: Linoge gets what he wants, and while he does "go away", Mike loses his son, he blames his wife for what happens because she was in favor of the lottery and divorces her (sending her into therapy), several people who couldn't handle either the selfish sacrifice they made or their own Dark Secret end up being Driven to Suicide, and when Mike sees his son again with Linoge, he's already been corrupted into a demon. Comes close to being a Shoot the Shaggy Dog Story.
• Driven to Suicide: Linoge's preferred method of killing his victims, when he doesn't do it himself outright. Preceded, naturally, by Go Mad from the Revelation. As mentioned above in Downer Ending, a few characters kill themselves years after Linoge's vist since they can't live with their decision or their secrets anymore.
• The Everyman: Protagonist Mike Anderson.
• Evil Sorcerer: Andre Linoge.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: What happens to Angie Carver after she's kidnapped and given visions by Linoge. Her hair turning white isn't just from exposure to the snow...
• Fate Worse Than Death: Implied for the mayor. He had allowed his mother to die in truly horrible conditions and Linoge taunts him that she hasn't forgotten while in the afterlife. Linoge even takes her form and proclaims that in hell, his eyes will be eaten over and over again. Considering everything else Linoge said was true, this may happen.
• Hannibal Lecture: Linoge is capable of delivering these at the drop of the hat.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Mike's son Ralphie immediately starts bonding with Linoge and thinks of him as a new friend. Justified since 1) Linoge acts perfectly friendly towards Ralphie, 2) he doesn't make fun of his "fairy saddle" birthmark which is implied to be the reason Linoge might have chosen him from the start and 3) Ralphie is a small child.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Mike. The worst secret Linoge has on him is that he cheated on a college test. Compare that to a town full of secrets about beatings, abuse or corruption.
• Ironic Nursery Tune: "I'm a little teapot..."
• Lighthouse Point: There's a lighthouse on Little Tall Island which featured prominently in trailers and promotional art, despite the fact no character in the miniseries ever interacts with it (except for one creepy segment with Andre Linoge). However, it does get rather spectacularly toppled during the height of the snowstorm (a clear bit of miniature work), an event witnessed by most of the town which also leads to the disappearance and deaths of several characters.
• Meaningful Name: Linoge = le neige, the snow.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: An idea to get rid of Linoge, suggested by Molly of all people.
• Mayor Pain: Robbie Beals is an incredibly headstrong Jerkass. It's not until Linoge humiliates him in front of all the townsfolk that he loses his ego.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: When Linoge first arrives at the island, he beats an old woman to death for no real reason.
• Our Demons Are Different: As mentioned below, it is heavily implied that Linoge is the demon Legion mentioned in the Bible. When Anderson figures out the anagram, he relates the story of Legion to the people with him at the time, just in case the viewers can't figure it out for themselves.
• Pedophile Priest: Linoge implies this about Reverend Bobby Riggins.
• Present Day Past: Part 2 contains a fairly blatant bit of Product Placement for a brand of Mac laptop that did not exist in the late '80s when the story is set.
• Prophetic Names: Linoge = Legion, a Biblical demon
• Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Linoge's true form is a very old man. He actually admits that his plot is based on the fact that he is dying of old age, though he also states that compared to the townsfolk's "mayfly" like lifespans, he'll still be around long after the vast majority of them are dead (although he concedes that some of the teenagers might outlive him).
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Mike's level-headed personality makes him a natural leader. It also ends up alienating him from the rest of the townsfolk when they decide to sacrifice one of the kids.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Martha Clarendon's brutal murder is what sets Linoge's plan in motion.
• Sadistic Choice: The townspeople have to choose between Linoge randomly choosing a child to take and raise, or being forced to drown themselves in the ocean, disappearing like the Roanoke civilization. And it's implied that the child-choosing wasn't random at all.
  • It's also implied that Linoge didn't have the power to make everyone commit suicide, as he gloats to the townspeople at the end that "perhaps you've tricked yourselves". The Roanoke dream may have been a deception, and he may have had nothing to do with their actual disappearance.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Cora Stanhope, easily the most vulgar townsperson in the movie. She gets her comeuppance later on.
• Shut UP, Hannibal: Subverted. Mike tries to invoke this with Linoge, telling him that everything Linoge knows about the town might be true, but he's only stating the bad, not the good. Linoge just laughs at Mike and tells him that the "good" is mostly in Mike's imagination.
• Sinister Minister: The televangelist.
• Stock Unsolved Mysteries: Linoge implies (via dream) that he had come to a small island once before to "get what he wants", only to drown all its inhabitants when they refused him: Roanoke. This may or may not be true.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: Courtesy of little Pippa Hatcher, upon slapping her mother's face. Granted, the kid was under Linoge's spell at the time...
• Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him: Suggested frequently. It's not until Linoge demonstrates his ability to Bullet Catch that it stops being a solution.