The Dark Half (1993)

A movie based on a book by Steven King... there's something new.

This movie really only has one main cast member. He is Timothy Hutton. He has been in many films. A couple you may remember are Taps 1981 and French Kiss 1995. He is also in several films coming up 2008-09. Two are completed and five are still being produced. He actually plays two roles in the film. But I don't want to get ahead of myself, nor do I want to give away to much. Below I will tell you a little about the movie without ruining it for everyone.

This movie has a real mid - late 80's/ early 90s feel to it. It is set in Main. This only adds to the small town spooky feel. The movie is about a man who as a young boy likes to write. One day he is heading out to the bus when he passes out and is having seizures on the ground. Turns out he has something wrong in his brain. The doctors say it is something that must be removed. While doing this they find something that shocks them all. I don't want to ruin it so I will not say what. So they remove it and it says like 18 years later.

The man has become a writer. He made up a name and face for his writing though. He writes dirty stuff and does not want anyone to know. A man finds out who he is and threatens to let every know unless he gives him money. He tells him that he will call and let him know how much. The writer decides to come out and tell everyone thus allowing him to feel free and not have to pay. Well murders start to happen and the mans friend (who is the sheriff) thinks he has something to do with it. Also, his prints were found on stuff at the crime scene. I will not say anymore because I do not want to give anything away. Trust me though.... It gets weird.

The only problem I had with this movie was it kind of dragged on. It was about 2 hours. SO much could have been taken out to make it like an hour and forty minutes. You find out what is happening pretty fast and from then on it's just repeat, repeat, repeat. It will get old rather quickly. It is a neat movie that has some strange horror/sci-fi feel to it. I was at the movie store and I saw it sitting there. I had never seen it before so I decided to rent. I would say this was definitely more a rental than a buy. Go read the book if you want instead of seeing the movie first. Then watch the film and see what is different. I will probably never watch this again though. It just kind of hung there. Kind of telling you what would happen and kind of not. I guess it's like most books made into movie. There always just ok. Except Harry Potter. All though I finished the last book the day before I saw the movie and the movie was SO much worse than the book. It left out a lot of things that at the time I was reading seemed important. Not sure if this film did that or not but see the movie as well as read the book and you can decide.
September 1, 2008

A poor adaptation from the novel.

Why is it, no one can make a decent movie from King's books?
The Stand, Salems Lot, Pet Cemetary.
All fine examples of King's best novels turned into Hollyweird nonsense.
The Dark Half is no different. One of King's best novels turned into cheesy trash.
Horrid pacing, horrid script, horrid acting.
AVOID!!! June 17, 2008

MAINELY OUTSTANDING

Ever wonder what Alfred Hitchcock would have done with material written by Stephen King? "Dark Half" may be the closest we'll ever come to finding out. But,whereas in Hitchcock's "The Birds" (1963) we see nature on the rampage with Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor merely being in the wrong place at the wrong time,in "Dark Half " nature is employed as a useful vehicle, gorging Timothy Hutton's hidden half and finallly returning it to Satan,from whence the original body tissue came. Director Romero does an excellent job of reproducing Hutton's hidden "twin" who sprang to life as an alias,protecting a young college professor's true identity. But,devilry often seems to feed upon itself, especially here when Hutton goes on writing binges which satiate his dark side on paper, but also fuel the flames of his "twin". The repellent violence does become a bit much at times, and this is certainly no film for youngsters.But,"Dark Half" is, and will always be a first rate horror movie. November 26, 2007

timothy hutton should be ashamed of himself

why are most stephen king novels that are mildly brilliant all turn out to be absolute decrepid gutter ca-ca? (tommyknockers, storm of century, Needful Things) I mean Stand by Me, classic, Shawshank classic, this is just so awful, and its amazing the fan base George A. Romero has, he has got to be the biggest joke in the industry, save for some really visually impressive scenes in Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead was just an absolute B Movie joke.

To think this movie has a fan base, reminds me totally why I live alone, and choose my friends wisely. The film has no depth, no character interpersonal qualms, lacks emotion and undearing understanding of consequence, and utterly sinks beneath the spectrum of talent, and Hutton should cringe whenever he is flipping through the channels, and happens to see this on TBS.

A 1.5 for some sophmoric cinematic magic. June 22, 2007

Underrated adaptation from Romero

Stephen King's The Dark Half is one of the few big screen adaptations of his work to actually be pretty good. Zombie meister George Romero adapted King's tale, which features Timothy Hutton as a writer attempting to put an end to his popular, horror writing, pen name alter ego, but gets a big surprise instead. Soon enough, he's literally struggling with himself while trying to protect his family, all concluding in one of the most memorable endings you'll ever see in a big screen King adaptation. While it may be longer than it had to have been, Romero successfully weaves a film that does King's work justice while also putting a bit of his own spin on it at the same time. The gore and makeup effects are very well done as well, and the cast, which also includes Amy Madigan, Michael Rooker, Julie Harris, and Robert Joy (who would be in Romero's Land of the Dead a little over a decade later) also take memorable turns, but it's Hutton who shines above the rest in one of the best performances of his entire career. All in all, The Dark Half is not only an underrated King adaptation, but it's one of Romero's most underrated films as well, and regardless of you being a fan of either or both horror maestros, The Dark Half is definitely worth a look. June 11, 2007

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