Thursday, April 2, 2009

The Dark Half(1993)


This movie is adapted from the novel by Stephen King. It is directed by George A. Romero and it stars Timothy Hutton, Amy Madigan and Michael Rooker.
Thad Beaumont(Hutton) is a writer who operates under the pseudonym of George Stark. He writes violent novels about a killer called Alexis Machine and people love them, but the novels he writes under his own name don't sell. He decides to get rid of the George Stark pseudonym once and for all and try writing under his own name. He stages a 'burial' for George and he poses for pictures at his 'grave'. But, George Stark doesn't want to be buried. He rises from his 'grave' and he decides to come after everyone who he thinks are responsible for burying him. Thad begins to have nightmares and he gets a visit from the local Sheriff Pangborn(Rooker) who is investigating the death of a local man and who is suspicious of Thad. It seems that Stark has been leaving clues at the scenes of death and his fingerprints are the same as Thad's. This makes it very hard for Thad to deny any of it. He begins to black out and he begins to find notes in his own handwriting from Stark. He wonders why there is such a close link between him and Stark and he wonders why Stark seems so much like him. The Sheriff discovers that Thad had an unborn twin who was implanted into his brain. When Thad was just a child, he had an operation to remove what the doctor's thought was a tumor, but which was later discovered to be parts of his twin. This explains why Stark is so close to Thad. Is Stark real or has Thad just created him in his own mind? Stark comes after Thad and his wife Elizabeth(Madigan) and he ties her up and waits for Thad to come home. He wants Thad to begin writing the violent books under his name again. Thad comes back and he finds Stark with his wife and kids. They have a confrontation and Thad wins out over George. A good movie, maybe the book was better, but it was a good adaptation anyway. I enjoyed this movie and I am going to rate it 7.5/10.

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