Review of The Dark Half (1993) by Allan C — 26 May 2013

Not in the same league as "The Shining" or "Misery" when it comes to King adaptations, but it does stand alongside some of the second tier adaptations, like "Needful Things" or "It".

The story is essentially King making a thriller out of his own pseudonym, Richard Bachman. In this story a successful writer of trashy pulp, Timothy Hutton, reveals his true identity and announces the end his writing career as George Stark, instead writing more important of stories.

The problem is that the vicious main character from the Stark novels has come to life and begin terrorizing everyone in Hutton's life. The story has an interesting premiss and Hutton give an earnest performance, but what amounts to an evil twin story almost automatically (outside of maybe "Dead Ringers") enters the land of campiness, which this film does not escape.

I'm a huge Romero fan and there are quite a few regulars from the Romero stock company involved in the film, which helps, but it's not the best from either Romero or King. The film does get big kudos for some nice gory practical effects.

I'm always giddy with excitement to see practical special effects versus just about every film nowadays over using CGI instead.