Originally published in Boston Heights issue #1

Sony Pictures
106 min., dir. by David Koepp, with Johnny Depp, John Turturro, and Timothy Hutton

While Secret Window’s content doesn’t stray too far from territory already covered by other horror films, it’s delivered impressively with visual clues throughout that both foretell the surprise ending with both symbolic imagery and camera techniques. And as for the shock ending, it is just as much Stephen King as it is pleasantly morbid.

Johnny Depp is writer Mort Rainey who has just recently entered into divorce proceedings with his wife. As miserable as he is likeable, Mort likes to spend his times sleeping on the couch and talking to his pet dog while working on a new story detailing his split from his wife. That is, until the psychopathic John Shooter, played by John Turturro, shows up with an axe to grind on poor Mort. Shooter claims that Mort plagiarized one of his stories and seeks retribution, taking out his grievances on all those close to Mort first — and, yes, the dog is, as always, the first to suffer. The characters and the personalities instilled in them stretch this typical horror yarn into, if not something special, at least something entertaining and worth the price of admission.