The film is based on Stephen King's 1984 novel of the same name (which he wrote under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) and stars Robert John Burke and Joe Mantegna.

Outraged by the injustice, Suzanne's father, Tadzu Lempke, places a curse on Billy on the steps of the courthouse by touching his face and uttering "thinner".

Heidi, fearing the weight loss may be due to cancer, calls Dr. Mike Houston, with whom Billy begins to suspect his wife is having an affair.

Gina, Tadzu's great-granddaughter, uses her slingshot to shoot a large ball bearing which goes through Billy's hand, infuriating him into vowing revenge against the Romani.

In order to accurately depict Halleck's obesity, makeup effects artist Greg Cannom created a number of fatsuits for actor Robert John Burke with matching latex pieces for his face and hands.

[4] Additional prosthetic makeup was also created to depict the curses inflicted on the judge and the police chief, and a dummy was fashioned to portray Halleck's wife dying after eating the pie.

[7] James Berardinelli gave the film two stars out of four, writing: "Thinner could have been an opportunity to examine the ethics of a slick lawyer who refuses to accept responsibility for his actions.

"[8] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "D" rating, writing: "Like too many Stephen King movies, Thinner is all (emaciated) concept and no follow-through.

"[9] The Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov gave the film a rating of one out of five stars, writing that, "Apart from its rushed pacing and occasionally stale dialogue, Thinner suffers even more from the fact that it has no redeemable characters.

"[12] Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times, in his review of the film, wrote: "The production is slick, the Maine scenery is bracing, the characters are well-acted, and in a mumbo-jumbo movie with a few loose ends, the makeup central to the plot and applied by Greg Cannom and Bob Laden to Robert John Burke in the leading role is most admirable.