Secret Window (Blu-ray Disc, 2007)

This film is based upon Stephen King's novella. The film's 1st scenes are in the snow at a motel that Mort Rainey (Depp) steals the key from the office to break into, only to find his wife in bed with her lover. Rainey goes ballistic!

It follows with a slovenly avant garde writer, Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp), an alcoholic & cigarette addict, shown expressing feelings like his life's out of his own control, since his wife (Maria Bello) betrayed & left him. He quits writing but keeps on trying, staring at blank pages. He acts depressed & as if he feels worthless.

While Mort is super strung out, showing signs of falling apart emotionally, a weird Southern stranger, (John Shooter), claims that Mort has plagiarized one of his stories. Since Shooter seems like an ignorant buffoon, it's hard to imagine he can even spell let alone compose a publishable story. Shooter's way beyond the edge of deranged & attempts, thru acts of violence, to drive Mort to the brink of insanity. Mort's wife is equally crazy-making as she, along with her adulterous lover, try their best to press Depp into an unwanted divorce to be finalized.

Rainey descends into insanity with such maneuvers that take viewers into the darkest recesses of his character's mind. Like a Hitchcock film, King's focus is upon the characters themselves; instead of his usual special spooky effects. Thus, this is a thriller with a totally surprising end. It's a psychological suspense like Alfred Hitchcock films. I'll rate it a must own & advise that viewers bring popcorn~