Secret Window
By Aine

Finally, a Stephen King adaptation that isn’t too bad, in fact, it’s down right awesome. Secret Window is based on a novella written by Stephen King called Secret Window/Secret Garden. Stephen King likes to write what he knows I suppose, because this is yet another story about a writer.

Johnny Depp seems to be on quite a roll these days, and this is no exception. He plays Morton Rainey, a depressed writer going through a divorce. He seems to be a few short of a six pack, but in an eccentric, rich guy king of way. One day while napping there is a knock at the door and standing there, in all his southern glory, is Mr. John Shooter, portrayed by a terrifying John Turturro. Shooter claims that Morton has stolen his story, and then the fun really begins.

At first Morton thinks nothing of it and sends Shooter on his way without a second thought. That’s when things turn bad, I won’t give it away, but let’s just says that Mr. Rainey soon finds those around him to be “missing” or otherwise indisposed the more he refuses to comply with Shooter’s wishes.

On an interesting note, Timothy Hutton is also in the film. You might remember him from another Stephen King movie about a writer, The Dark Half. Morton is going crazy, finding Shooter in his house and trying to figure out where he came from. I wasn’t kidding before when I said that John Turturro was terrifying, but he’s also got a sense of humor. And really, what’s a crazed killer without a wicked sense of humor and some great one-liners. This is the most awesome role I’ve seen him in to date.

When things begin to point to Morton Rainey as the culprit….well….you’ll just have to see for yourself. If you haven’t read the short story, then you will definitely be surprised by the twist in this plot. It may be a long time before you want corn on the cob again. And be sure to stay until the very end of the credits to hear Johnny Depp sing a really cute little song.