George A. Romero adapted a Stephen King novel titled "The Dark Half" about a writer who has a darker side of him that has stepped up to killing. Immediately I was thinking of "Secret Window." In fact, I just assumed that the 2004 Johnny Depp movie was just a remake of "The Dark Half." I was wrong.
Thadeus "Thad" Beaumont was a good writer, but no one wanted to read his work. That is until he created a pseudonym of George Stark and wrote more gory and violent stuff. No one knew that the respected professor, Thad Beaumont, was the real author of the uncouth novels and Thad wanted to keep it that way. When a man by the name of Fred Clawson (Robert Joy) tried to blackmail Thad to keep quiet about the pseudonym Thad decided to come forward and discontinue his George Stark novels. That's when people started getting killed and all signs were pointing toward Thad.
The entire intrigue of the movie is figuring out if George Stark is a real person or not. After you watch movies like "Raising Cain," "Secret Window," and others like those, you question everything. Sometimes that makes for a good viewing experience and sometimes it doesn't. "The Dark Half" leaned toward good largely because the George Stark character was such a wildcard. Plus, it's cool to see Romero adapt a Stephen King novel even if this wasn't the best of them.
Thadeus "Thad" Beaumont was a good writer, but no one wanted to read his work. That is until he created a pseudonym of George Stark and wrote more gory and violent stuff. No one knew that the respected professor, Thad Beaumont, was the real author of the uncouth novels and Thad wanted to keep it that way. When a man by the name of Fred Clawson (Robert Joy) tried to blackmail Thad to keep quiet about the pseudonym Thad decided to come forward and discontinue his George Stark novels. That's when people started getting killed and all signs were pointing toward Thad.
The entire intrigue of the movie is figuring out if George Stark is a real person or not. After you watch movies like "Raising Cain," "Secret Window," and others like those, you question everything. Sometimes that makes for a good viewing experience and sometimes it doesn't. "The Dark Half" leaned toward good largely because the George Stark character was such a wildcard. Plus, it's cool to see Romero adapt a Stephen King novel even if this wasn't the best of them.