The Dark Half (1993)

I love this movie so much

Really Surprised!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I have not read the book - but the adaptation film is pretty darn good. It's a bizarre story, some great imagery, and good acting.Thad Beaumont had twin brother that was never born, in fact the brother literally lived within his brain. As a child, the twin was developing inside his brain and Thad had to have brain surgery - the doctor calling it a brain tumor. Thad became a husband, father and a writer. As a writer, he created a pseudonym of George Stark to write under. Stark gave rise to a best selling pulp crime spree of novels but Thad decided to "kill off" Stark and write under his own name - a different set of novels. The problem is, Stark becomes real and murders as written in the George Stark novels. The police think that Thad is doing the killings but only one policeman helps to keep Thad out of jail... yet he wonders if Thad is doing the killings and not George Stark come to life.Enjoyable watch, really gets interesting.8/10

Stephen King Adaptations are Plentiful and Range in Quality from God-Awful (Thinner 1996) to Great (Carrie 1976). Some Fall Somewhere in the Middle and This One is Right There Despite Romero Writing and Directing.Most of the Problems Lie With Explanations. It Never Really Explains or Pays Much Attention to Exactly Where the Doppelganger Comes From. Obviously, He is the Alter-Ego, Dark-Half, of the Writer. But Exploring the Methodology of the Psychological Manifestation, is He-It a Conjured Spirit, an Unwelcome Intrusion of Ancient Practices that Linger Today, etc, is Lacking. These are Touched Upon but Never Really "Fleshed Out". Weak Expositional Dialog from the Cop (Michael Rooker) About the Writer (Timothy Hutton in a Dual Role) Being Allowed to Roam Free While Damning Evidence is Everywhere and There Are Others.But These Weaknesses Do Not Make the Film Awful, Just Not as Good as It Could Have Been with a Deeper Script. The Acting is Passable with Hutton Maybe Straining a Bit Here and There and Amy Madigan as the Wife in a Thankless Role is OK. But The Twin Babies "Performances" Steal the Show in that Department.There are Some Romero Flourishes that are Graphic and Work Well, but the Film Overall Seems to Lack Any Energy or Style, and the Pacing is Off. Worth a Watch for Stephen King Fans, Horror Movie Buffs, and Romero Completest. Others Might Want to Take a Chance but be Advised...It's Not Great Stephen King and it's Not Great George Romero and as a Stand Alone Genre Piece it is Just Average.

Deciding to move on in his career, a writer's decision to put an end to a vile alter-ego sets off a series of vicious deaths around him and must find out how to stop him before his family is targeted.This is a pretty decent and overall exciting effort. One of the better elements in here is the rater ingenious way it builds up the alter-ego's identity and through this adds a rather haunting touch by keeping the mystery of it being alive rather well. The first half plays the murder mystery of it pretty well as they set up whether-or-not he's crazy or really did those murders before, and that leaves a pretty big impression here. His actions, from the stalking to the way he's committed to the idea of how he came to exist in reality all makes for quite an enthralling mystery. Once it's all revealed and the body count begins to grow this does kick into a higher gear as the race to stop the rampage as well as trying to clear his name amongst the slew of brilliantly-orchestrated scenes that really hold this one quite nicely into the finale. This is quite fun as there's a lot to like about the finale and how it goes about finding a resolution to their battle as it deals quite nicely with the gore brought in along with the action for the scene which really helps this quite well by providing an ecstatically fun ending. That does help to even out the few flaws here, from the fact that the killer here is a complete joke who's never in the slightest bit scary since he appears as a lame greaser-type with a straight-razor for a killing tool which is quite lame all around so it's really hard to get any fear from him. This really has a toll on the beginning as it wanders around in so many extraneous scenes of him ending the ruse that it loses all meaning and drags this out probably about ten minutes too long. It's got a few too many story lines than it needs to have, and it at times can be a little confusing. It also seems just a little bit repetitive in the middle, which is no doubt due to the too long length. The same three general sequences of events play out several times over, and it gets a little tiresome. It's not all bad but does make up for enough to be watchable.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and children-in-jeopardy.

This is one strange, surreal literate piece of psychological horror pulp in the tradition of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by film-maker George Romero who adapted it from novelist Stephen King. Thad Beaumont is a successful novelist who decides to literally bury his alter ego George Stark, who he used as a pseudonym for his overly violent pulp novels. This occurs because someone tries to blackmail him. But after putting an end to this alter ego, people are starting to be killed off and these are people who are somehow tied in to seeing George Stark finish up. However the evidence at every murder scene points to Thad and something is happening to him that he hasn't experience for almost twenty years. The sparrows are calling. Underrated work from Romero, which can be atmospheric in its vivid visuals, computer effects are ably done, the jolts are nastily macabre (the graphic climax of when sparrows attack) and the steadfast narrative gradually builds up its dread-filled suspense and stinging matter with precise control. Timothy Hutton plays the dual roles with outstanding ticker. Then there is solid support by Amy Madigan, Michael Rooker and a tiny part for Robert Joy."We shouldn't be writing trash."