USA, 2004
Director: David Koepp
Cast: Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello
Score: ***

Six months after catching his wife, Amy (Maria Bello recently seen in THE COOLER) having an affair with Ted Milner (Timothy Dalton) in a small town motel, successful writer Mott Rainey played by Johnny Depp (reflections of Stephen King, perhaps from whose novella SECRET WINDOW, SECRET GARDEN is based) still undergoes traumatic visions of unrest as he struggles with the reality of the situation – the upcoming divorce.  Currently holed up alone in a cabin out of town, Mott is suddenly visited by a psychotic stranger by the name of John Shooter (appropriately played menacingly by John Turturro) who claims that Mott plagiarized his work.  Shooter demands satisfaction.  Worse, he begins stalking and terrorizing Mott.

SECRET WINDOW benefits from some fine performances by the cast, specifically from supporting player Charles S. Dutton’s effective sly and comical portrayal of private eye Ken Karsch. Also, Depp’s Mott Rainey is an intriguing writer gone out of control with seclusion.  Depp’s and the script’s insistence of the character requiring to speak to himself is at first irritating and repetitive but the viewer soon realizes where this ploy eventually leads to. 

One unrealized issue of the film concerns cell phones.  If Mott is stalked by Shooter, why would he then not contact the Karsch by wireless?  Or if the story implies a time setting before the frequent usage of cell phones, why then include the one scene where Mott and his wife talk, communicate with them?  Of course, it might be argued whether it is necessary to consider all these avenues – after all, this is just a Stephen King movie.  But director/writer David Koepp appears to take his film very seriously, building the suspense up and meticulously maintaining a tight edgy atmosphere.

The best executed scene of a car containing two corpses being pushed down the hill combines the technical expertise of Koepp’s crew with appropriate tension.  The excitement mounts as the strap of the killer’s watch gets caught in the shift gear.  Suddenly only the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves can be heard as the overhead shot reveals the car slowly disappearing beneath the water.

Koepp is an effective director and it is not surprising that the producers have picked him to do this job after having made STIR OF ECHOES, a similar film concerning a protagonist assailed by hallucinations. Koepp balances the surrounding mystery with sufficiently well-written dialogue, visual shocks and rapid edits.  The main problem is the lack of an exciting climax after the viewer discovers the truth behind the mystery.  Still, Koepp and his crew have accomplished quite a creditable job – all things considered.  After all, how much actually can one do with Stephen King material?  MISERY and THE SHINING still remain the best Stephen King films.  And it has to be mentioned that Philip Glass’ music is in itself worth the price of the ticket.

Review by Gilbert Seah.