The second novella to be adapted from the Stephen King compilation "Four Past Midnight," SECRET WINDOW is one of King's adapted stories that while not being great or especially memorable, somehow manages to tell its premise quite chillingly while maintaining itself closer to B-movie status and (equally) true to its dark core.
The story is actually quite familiar ground: Stephen King commented that while MISERY depicted a writer being held prisoner by a demented ex-nurse and rabid fan who does unspeakable things to him to ensure her favorite character, Misery Chastain, lives on, and THE DARK HALF introduces a Twilight Zone-ish take on a split personality where another author is tormented by a dangerous man, SECRET WINDOW blends both into what results in "the perfect ending" to the missing pages of an apparently plagiarized story. And while the plot is clearly clichéd within every inch of its life, director David Koepp manages to generate some good suspense which allows us to care for this poor chap Mort Rainey (underplayed by Johnny Depp who by doing so makes his character totally human) and fear the rage just underneath John Shooter (a creepy John Turturro), all the while not quite giving us everything in black and white so as to suddenly introduce a left-field turn of events. As a matter of fact, once the "twist" arrives, it seems plausible and even expected, but is even more chilling in the inexorability in which it fulfills itself.
One thing that works in Stephen King's books are his constant uses of internal dialogues which here is finally brought into a great forefront by splitting Rainey into two separate entities and having them talk to each other in a crucial scene. This only intensifies the notion that Rainey is unraveling as a person and will more than likely fall prey to the darkness that seems to be closing in. It's a technique which isn't used often when adapting his novels to movies and which tends to work against suspense, and finally, someone got it right. It never feels too long a movie even though it runs just shy of an hour and three quarters, and this is due to the deft direction. Good suspense, great psychological horror that comes through an incredibly tired plot, and that's good film-making.
The story is actually quite familiar ground: Stephen King commented that while MISERY depicted a writer being held prisoner by a demented ex-nurse and rabid fan who does unspeakable things to him to ensure her favorite character, Misery Chastain, lives on, and THE DARK HALF introduces a Twilight Zone-ish take on a split personality where another author is tormented by a dangerous man, SECRET WINDOW blends both into what results in "the perfect ending" to the missing pages of an apparently plagiarized story. And while the plot is clearly clichéd within every inch of its life, director David Koepp manages to generate some good suspense which allows us to care for this poor chap Mort Rainey (underplayed by Johnny Depp who by doing so makes his character totally human) and fear the rage just underneath John Shooter (a creepy John Turturro), all the while not quite giving us everything in black and white so as to suddenly introduce a left-field turn of events. As a matter of fact, once the "twist" arrives, it seems plausible and even expected, but is even more chilling in the inexorability in which it fulfills itself.
One thing that works in Stephen King's books are his constant uses of internal dialogues which here is finally brought into a great forefront by splitting Rainey into two separate entities and having them talk to each other in a crucial scene. This only intensifies the notion that Rainey is unraveling as a person and will more than likely fall prey to the darkness that seems to be closing in. It's a technique which isn't used often when adapting his novels to movies and which tends to work against suspense, and finally, someone got it right. It never feels too long a movie even though it runs just shy of an hour and three quarters, and this is due to the deft direction. Good suspense, great psychological horror that comes through an incredibly tired plot, and that's good film-making.