The Spring (2000)

What makes it different from others?

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The acting in this movie is really good.

(Some Spoilers) Driving through the hills and valleys of middle America both Dennis Conway, Kayle Maclachlan, and his son Nick, Joseph Cross, come across his couple stranded when their car went off the road. As things turn out the couple Robert & Molly Lovell, Zachary Ansley & Demi Delory, seem scared of something and despite Dennis and Nick helping them out of the ditch their in they both are more interested in checking out of the area then thanking them. In the Lovell's heist they leave a duffel bag at the accident site that Dennis decides to return to them in a place, from checking out the tag on it, called Springville.It's in Springville where life springs eternal for the people living there and it's not long after their arrival that both Dennis & Nick come to realize that very amazing fact of life. The first thing that Dennis notices at Springville is that nobody seem to have aged beyond their 35th birthday! And even more surprising is that at the Springville Cemetery the gravestones have no day of birth or death dates on them!It's only after when the town doctor Sophie Weston, Alison Eastwood, got to treat little Nick who was almost crushed to death by a lumber avalanche, from off a truck, that the truth comes out about what exactly Springville is really all about! It's a town that's closed to any new home buyers which has this really groovy spring on its property. A spring, that Springville was named after, that's the fabled "Fountain of Youth" that latter day Spanish explorers lost their lives looking for. A "Fountain of Youth" located not in Florida where it was suspected to be but in the very heart of small town middle America itself!***SPOILERS*** With all the good news about Spingville there's one very bad thing about it and the people that reside there. After they reach their 100th birthday their given a grand send-off by being drowned in the very spring water that got them to get that far in life. With Dennis falling in love with Sophie and wanting to marry her he soon finds out that not only was or is, were quite not sure, she married to Gus, George Eads, the local car mechanic and gas pump jockey for some 82 years but is, like Gus, about to be put under the waves and drowned on her 100th birthday!Interesting made for TV movie about eternal life and the drawbacks that come along with it. The wise people of Springville had long ago found out that life isn't worth living when there's no end to it. This creates many problems like population explosions and the using up of the world's natural resources. This in fact can lead to far worse things then death itself which is the normal way of nature keeping checks and balances on the environment and world populations.It takes a while for Dennis and Kyle to realize what they got, by trying to become Springville residents, themselves into. The two later decide to take their chances on the outside world and face whatever it, in illnesses and accidents, has to offer them then be part of a society that's forced to murder their own, when they reach 100, in order for them to survive!

While driving on vacation with his son Nick Conway (Joseph Cross) in a lonely road, the widow writer Dennis Conway (Kyle MacLachlan) helps a young couple that crashed their classic car out of the road. Dennis uses his van to tow the car back to the road and later Nick finds a duffel bag with an address forgotten by the couple on the ditch. They drive to Springsville to return the bag and after locating the house, they spend the night in town. On the next morning, while waiting for the breakfast, Nick has an accident with a logging truck in the gas station and breaks his leg. They are forced to stay and Nick has a crush on Dr. Sophie Weston (Alison Eastwood) that is treating his son. When Dennis discovers that the dwellers do not get old or sick due to the water of the local spring, Dennis asks Sophie to convince the council of the town to stay in Springsville. However, when he discovers the dark secret of the one hundredth birthday party of the locals, he evaluates his decision."The Spring" is a pleasant made for TV movie about a place like a contemporary Shangri-La. The story has flaws, like for example would the children keep their age forever?; but anyway it is an enjoyable family entertainment. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Mistério da Fonte" ("The Mystery of the Fountain")

This is the typical "small town with something to hide" story. In this case, the "something" is a spring that keeps the inhabitants perpetually young -- until they reach their centennial. When a townie reaches the age of 100, the community throws a lavish birthday party, the climax of which is the murder of the guest of honor. One way to control the population, I guess.Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is a much better example of the genre.The most notable thing about this movie is that the author of the book upon which the movie is based, Clifford Irving, did 14 months in jail for defrauding his publisher with a phony "authorized" biography of Howard Hughes.There's nothing great or really memorable about this movie, but it's a pleasant enough way to kill a couple of hours.

I'm watching this movie right now on Lifetime. Why it's on Lifetime, I have no idea--there doesn't seem to be a rapist, pedophile, wifebeater or childbeater in the whole thing. It has the predictable quality of most mainstream science fiction, but without the interesting gadgets or effects of most mainstream science fiction. Why am I watching this?