 Johnny Depp Excells in a Stephen King Mystery Review created: 06/21/06(updated 08/14/08) 63 of 69 people found this review helpful.
What I could call a psychological suspense akin to old Alfred Hitchcock films, "Secret Window," is based on a Stephen King novella of a different kind.
The story begins with a sloppy avant garde writer, Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp), an alcoholic & cigarette addict because he feels like his life's out of his own control: after his wife (Maria Bello) betrays & leaves him. He quits writing. 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 is way beyond the edge of deranged & attempts 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 us into the darkest recesses of his character's mind. Like a Hitchcock film, King's focus is on the characters themselves, instead of his usual special spooky effects. Thus, this is a thriller with a totally surprise ending. A must see. Bring popcorn~
Review ID: 10000000001224616  Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our guidelines, it will be posted within 24 hours. You cannot vote on the helpfulness of a review you wrote. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later.   Secret Window 9 of 9 people found this review helpful.
hero, as he walks through his house, armed with a weapon, ready to defend himself at all costs. He hears a noise from somewhere behind him, spins around, and suddenly realizes it was just his imagination. He sighs, puts down the weapon, turns around, and BOO! There's the bad guy, who has somehow managed to enter the locked home and avoid being detected. What if, I wonder, one of these times, the bad guy was seen as he entered? What if the Fisherman from "I Know What You Did Last Summer" had been spotted, and confronted, by one of the teenagers? What if Norman Bates' "Mother" had been exposed from the start? Then there presumably would be no movie, of course.
I could criticize the "twist" of the movie and say that it has become one of the most overused solutions to Hollywood film thriller/mysteries of the past decade, but I won't spoil it, and let you decide for yourself whether it does the story justice
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