Secret Window (2004) Reviews

• A Writer With Problems

  Lechuguilla2009-01-31

  Johnny Depp plays Mort Rainey, a writer with wife problems. Mort secludes himself in a wilderness cabin to write. Soon, he gets a visit from a strange Southern mountain man named John Shooter (John Turturro). Throughout most of the plot, Mort tries to deal with this threatening man who won't go away, and confronts his wife and her new lover. "Secret Window" is a moody, Hitchcockian thriller with a major story twist. Pacing is slow. There's lots of waiting for something to happen, which enhances a sense of foreboding. And Depp's performance is terrific. With hair that looks like a mop, and a delightfully slovenly appearance, Mort mopes around the cabin, talks to his nearly blind dog, and tries to placate Mr. Shooter. He also spends a lot of time on the phone, mostly with Shooter and with his disconsolate wife. Casting and acting are fine. Production design is great; love that cabin where Mort lives. Camera work, lighting, special effects, CGI, and editing are all quite good. Although I liked the film's twist, some viewers will be disappointed with it, perhaps because the underlying idea is not terribly original. The risk for the director is that the entire story hinges on this one twist. If a viewer discovers the twist ahead of time, or finds it unsatisfying for any reason, the viewer likely will render a negative verdict on the entire film. My only serious complaint with the film is that, at times, the plot discards logic so as to maximize gratuitous violence, the result no doubt of the film's source material, a horror story by Stephen King. Overall, "Secret Window" is a generally fine thriller, enhanced especially by the splendid performance of Johnny Depp. Just be aware that one's reaction to this film likely will depend on one's perception of the story's major plot twist.

  More

• More to appreciate than some people realize.

  rjsuno2005-06-08

  This is one of the few movies that you will either love or hate. There is no middle ground. The people that have slammed this movie must not have understood a lot of the symbolism. Seriously, some of it is obvious but a lot of it would require you listen to the Director's commentary to catch. While aspects of the story are predictable, you will never see the last couple minutes coming. Koepp made a film that HE believed in, with a finale that may not sit well with the general public. For this, I applaud him. As I've noted on the message board, Koepp borrowed a page from Hitchcock's book and relied on our imagination to fill in the gaps during the violent sequences. Some of it is shown but certainly not all. Without question this film tested the limits of the PG-13 rating but Koepp did not take the easy way out and turn this film into an R-rated gore fest. This film proves that PG-13 films can be gritty and poignant. Depp's performance is amazing, as can be expected. The cinematography is awesome. Watch this film with an open mind, taking to heart each character's motivations. If you've already seen the film I would strongly suggest you watch the Featurettes and listen to the Director's commentary on the DVD. You may find this to be quite an eye opener. My Score: 8/10 stars

  More

• A very well crafted and skilled psychological thriller

  lopcar19932009-10-07

  I've seen psychological thriller's that try to scare you more than melt your brain, this one I'm proud to say does both. It's a very, very malicious and haunting thrill machine. I t brings the very essence of how horror and Psycho thriller's are suppose to be done, not with over the top gore and CGI, but with old school conventional means. Secret Window is as sinister as it is smart it rolls along at a very steady pace and brings more to the table than what was required. It shows you what the decent into madness and utter chaos looks like, it shows you the depth and moral ambiguities of a torn man who's lost everything. With that said you can examine the physic of the mind as it cracks under extreme and constant pressure and how your choices do affect who you help, or who you hurt. This film's pace and dark style is meant to reflect horror films of the 40's, 50's, 60's and early 70's before gore became cool but that makes this film such a joy to watch and study. And that makes it a great film, not a good film, a great film. Johnny Depp( who was fantastic here.) gives a very eccentric and brilliant performance as the conflicted writer Mort Rainey, John Turturro does exceptionally well as the sinister and vicious Shooter and he almost outclasses Depp in this film. Charles S. Dutton does well with the few scenes he's. But the main let down and I think the reason for this film's poor reviews from critics were the bland and very lame performances of Timothy Hutton( he won an Oscar he can do better than this.) and Maria Bello, they really lowered the caliber and class of this film and forced Depp to try harder to make them look good and make there time on screen with him good, but he succeeds and they fail. But Turturro and Depp hold up strong. Secret Window is a very Keene and captivating psychological/horror thriller that is surefire mind boggling entertainment and out of this world fun. This movie is great rainy day entertainment or any day entertainment for that matter it's just all around a fantastic and mind boggling film that makes you question the sanity of writers and the world they live in ( speaking as one myself.) it brings to question as the thoughts in our mind really our conscious or our selves just speaking out to right the wrongs doe against us It's a film that ask those questions and then you have to answer. All in all Secret Window was a sinister, malicious and thought provoking film that delivers a movie going experience like no other.

  More

• Relationship Crisis or One Nasty Divorce Story.

  nycritic2005-03-25

  The second novella to be adapted from the Stephen King compilation "Four Past Midnight," SECRET WINDOW is one of King's adapted stories that while not being great or especially memorable, somehow manages to tell its premise quite chillingly while maintaining itself closer to B-movie status and (equally) true to its dark core. The story is actually quite familiar ground: Stephen King commented that while MISERY depicted a writer being held prisoner by a demented ex-nurse and rabid fan who does unspeakable things to him to ensure her favorite character, Misery Chastain, lives on, and THE DARK HALF introduces a Twilight Zone-ish take on a split personality where another author is tormented by a dangerous man, SECRET WINDOW blends both into what results in "the perfect ending" to the missing pages of an apparently plagiarized story. And while the plot is clearly clichéd within every inch of its life, director David Koepp manages to generate some good suspense which allows us to care for this poor chap Mort Rainey (underplayed by Johnny Depp who by doing so makes his character totally human) and fear the rage just underneath John Shooter (a creepy John Turturro), all the while not quite giving us everything in black and white so as to suddenly introduce a left-field turn of events. As a matter of fact, once the "twist" arrives, it seems plausible and even expected, but is even more chilling in the inexorability in which it fulfills itself. One thing that works in Stephen King's books are his constant uses of internal dialogues which here is finally brought into a great forefront by splitting Rainey into two separate entities and having them talk to each other in a crucial scene. This only intensifies the notion that Rainey is unraveling as a person and will more than likely fall prey to the darkness that seems to be closing in. It's a technique which isn't used often when adapting his novels to movies and which tends to work against suspense, and finally, someone got it right. It never feels too long a movie even though it runs just shy of an hour and three quarters, and this is due to the deft direction. Good suspense, great psychological horror that comes through an incredibly tired plot, and that's good film-making.

  More

• The Most Important Part Is The Ending...And this one it great!

  YoureTooMuchFun2005-10-08

  This captivating thriller, based on a novella (Secret Window, Secret Garden) by Stephen King, is a true stroke of movie genius. Many reviews, make the claims that this movie is "outworn", "cliched" and even "predictable"! With these claims, I strongly disagree. The writing for this film is incredibly clever and complicated, I myself had to watch the film 2 or 3 times before I could fully comprehend all of the twists and turns that are interwoven throughout. Not a film for the faint hearted - although the majority of the violence is only implied - there are a few gory scenes, which all include a screw driver and a lot of blood. Despite how this may sound, this is not a "full on gore movie" by any means. Quite the opposite, it is a very deep psychological thriller which will leave you with a lot to think about. A truly moving performance by Johnny Depp, who plays the role of Mort outstandingly, so that you can really connect with Mort, and empathize with how he is feeling. John Turturro, another incredible actor, plays Shooter with a real eeriness,with the perfect amount of emotion and madness. A truly fantastic film, which will leave you jaw dropped (no exaggeration) by the time you reach the end. Plus Johnny Depp is gorgeous as Mort Rainey, and that can't be bad ;)

  More