Stephen King's Storm Of The Century

By RICHARD CORLISS

The man with glowing red eyes comes to Little Tall Island just as a snowstorm hits. He knows the town's secrets and tells them; he weaves fatal mischief. "Give me what I want," he says, "and I'll go away." But if that gift were your own blood, would you offer it up to save your town? King's first original mini-series script is a marathon of communal anxiety with a spooky moral: we are ready to mortgage our children for our own restless comfort.

--By Richard Corliss