[KING'S CORNER] Secret Window (2004)

Secret Window - King's Corner Review

Welcome to King's Corner. A recurring series of reviews based on the film and TV adaptations of Stephen King's novels and collections, reviewed and released in order of the original source material publishing date.

Director: David Koepp

Starring: Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Timothy Hutton, Charles S. Dutton

Written by: David Koepp

Produced by: Gavin Polone

Cinematography by: Fred Murphy

Original Score by: Philip Glass, Geoff Zanelli

Synopsis:

A successful writer in the midst of a painful divorce is stalked at his remote lake house by a would-be scribe who accuses him of plagiarism.

Thoughts:

Out of all the hallmarks of what makes a Stephen King story a Stephen King story, the main one that stands out is the protagonist being a writer. There are several examples of this throughout his bibliography and each time it feels like he is writing about himself in some respect (and in the case of the last two novels in The Dark Tower series he writes himself as a character in those stories). Beyond this it is always interesting to see how they reflect who he was as a person when he wrote these stories. In 'The Shining' Jack Torrence is a writer dealing with issues of alcoholism and the struggles of being a father and in 'Misery', through Paul Sheldon it appears to be King's commentary on toxic fandom (but also more to do with how he coped with rehabilitating his addictions). Another prominent example of supposed inflection for King came with his novella, 'Secret Window, Secret Garden'. 

The second story to feature in his 'Four Past Midnight' collection released in 1990 it tells the story of a writer, Mort Rainey who is terrorised by a man called John Shooter, who accuses Mort of stealing his story leading to dangerous consequences for the writer. In the introduction to the story, King talked about how he believed that this was to be his last story about writers and the writing process having released 'The Dark Half' and 'Misery' prior to this. He believed 'The Dark Half' to be a story on how fiction takes a hold of a writer while 'Misery' was about how fiction takes hold of a reader. 'Secret Window, Secret Garden' allows both of these elements to run simultaneously alongside each other. 

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In the early 2000's psychological thrillers were all the rage thanks to the success and growing cult followings of the likes of 'Fight Club' and 'The Sixth Sense'. Given the nature of the story of 'Secret Window, Secret Garden' it seemed ripe for adaptation during this period. Its journey to the big screen came from King wanting to adapt the Danish television series 'The Kingdom' (which became Kingdom Hospital when he adapted it). Columbia Pictures owned the rights and were reluctant to sell them as they were trying to adapt it into a movie of their own so after some negotiations King got what he wanted by offering them the rights to his short story. Initially Anthony Minghella was in line to helm the project before being offered to David Koepp after his success with writing Sam Raimi's 'Spider-Man' for the studio. 

When it comes to adaptations of his work King has even stated on multiple occasions that in most cases his short stories or novellas make the best films (with some notable exceptions like The Lawnmower Man or Children of the Corn). They provide the filmmaker the opportunity to take the hook of the story and tap into its emotional core to produce something that is familiar for fans yet different enough to attract a wider audience. The framework to the story 'Secret Window, Secret Garden' provides the perfect opportunity to tick both of these boxes and in making improvements to the source material but this adaptation fails to do this.

At the helm Koepp sticks fairly close to the novella and only makes slight changes to it (except for the ending) but this works against the film. The internal nature of the story doesn't translate to the screen and a lot of attempts to stylise the story fall flat making the film plod along, despite the escalation of the threat. There are also attempts to inject humour into the story but they stick out like a sore thumb and deliver eye rolls rather than laughs. In fact when the film attempts to have a tension driven set piece, it delivers more laughs (unintentionally through its absurd nature) rather than keep the audience on the edge of their seat. The case and example being the scene where Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) tries to hide the evidence of a crime supposedly committed by John Shooter (John Turturro) only to find his watch stuck to the car he is trying to push over a cliff. It slips into the realm of slapstick and because of that you struggle to take the rest of the film seriously. 

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Another prominent issue with the film is the casting right across the board. The main character is a down on his luck writer whose life is turned upside down after he finds out his wife has been having an affair. Depressed, he struggles with writer's block and spends most of his days sleeping in his rural cabin in upstate New York. When you read that kind of description for a film made around 2004 you think that actors like Paul Giamatti or Philip Seymour Hoffman would be perfect casting for this kind of role, but that was not to be. What we get instead is a young handsome Johnny Depp fresh from his success with the first 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie. From the beginning you can tell that he isn't suited to the role as he almost sleepwalks his way from one scene to the next. He is an actor with a certain degree of charisma and presence that should allow him to carry a film on his own but he is so detached from the role that no matter how dishevelled his hair is or how beaten up his robe is, you never really connect with the character on any level. 

As bad as his miscasting is, John Turturro's feels worse as an aggrieved Mississippi native sporting a wide brimmed hat akin to an Amish farmer who is accusing Mort of stealing his story. Whilst his attempts to be menacing are admirable as he speaks to Mort in an unflinching manner, his accent is jarring. It feels like he is taking the remnants of his accent from 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' and ramping them up to a point where it borders on parody. It nullifies the aura of danger to the character, even when they commit serious crimes to intimidate Mort like killing his dog or burning down his soon to be ex wife's house they don't have much of an impact. 

The rest of the cast offer very little either and feel like they are going through the motions. As Amy, Mort's estranged wife, Maria Bello treats her interactions with him in a manner of pure melodrama usually found in a soap opera amounting to being a thankless role for her. Her boyfriend Ted (played by star of The Dark Half, Timothy Hutton) seems to only be there to act as a red herring to the crimes of John Shooter but this idea is presented in an unconvincing manner. 

The film's biggest crime though comes with the presentation of the predictable ending. Around the time the film was made, other films like 'Identity' or 'The Machinist' carried a variation of the plot twist that the main character was the killer or villain all along. Although the story was first published in 1990, the cynic in me believes the only reason 'Secret Window' was made was not just to cash in on a King property but to cash in on the popularity of this kind of twist. By the time it was released though it was already a tired trope. 

With this in mind rather than trying to take it from a fresh stance he almost doubles down on what has come before delivering a hackneyed version that is so over the top that it feels like it belongs in a different film. The "moment of realisation" that Mort is Shooter is revealed through a montage with some poor special effects and when Mort confronts his wife wearing Shooter's hat with the name Shooter scrawled in the wall spelt out as "SHOOT HER" I almost felt like turning the film off. The worst part of it though is that you can predict this 

outcome from the off as any sort of clues around Shooter's true identity are so obvious you can't believe that Koepp went for the obvious reveal. 

'Secret Window' is arguably one of the most misguided adaptations of King's work to date. The dedication to being reverential to the source material before going off the rails with the finale doesn't work, a lot of the dialogue is clunky and the cast don't fit the story that Koepp is trying to tell. It all amounts to a dull adaptation of a story that could have benefited from a fresh coat of ideas. 

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️

-Joseph McElroy