Psycho's Movie Reviews #288: Secret Window (2004)

Secret Window is a 2004 American psychological horror thriller film starring Johnny Depp and John Turturro. It was written and directed by David Koepp, based on the novella Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King,[1] featuring a musical score by Philip Glass and Geoff Zanelli. The story appeared in King's 1990 collection Four Past Midnight. The film was released on March 12, 2004, by Columbia Pictures; it was a moderate box office success with and received mixed reviews from critics. It has since become a cult film and with a 65% viewer rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Plot

After catching his wife Amy having an affair with their friend Ted, mystery writer Mort Rainey retreats to his cabin at Tashmore Lake in upstate New York, while Amy stays in their marital home. Six months later, Mort, depressed and suffering from writer's block, has delayed finalizing the divorce. One day, a man named John Shooter arrives at the cabin and accuses Mort of plagiarizing his short story, "Sowing Season". Upon reading Shooter's manuscript, Mort discovers it is virtually identical to his own story, "Secret Window", except for the ending. The following day, Mort, who once plagiarized another author's story, tells Shooter that his story was published in a mystery magazine two years before Shooter's, invalidating his plagiarism claim. Shooter demands proof and warns Mort against contacting the police. That night, Mort's dog, Chico, is found dead outside the cabin, along with a note from Shooter giving Mort three days to provide proof. Mort reports the incident to Sheriff Newsome. Mort drives to his and Amy's house intending to retrieve a copy of the magazine but leaves because Ted and Amy are there. Mort hires private investigator Ken Karsch, who stakes out the cabin and speaks to Tom Greenleaf, a local resident who may have seen Shooter and Mort talking together. At the cabin, Shooter demands that Mort revise his story's ending to Shooter's version, where the protagonist kills his wife. When an arson fire destroys Amy and Mort's house, and presumably the magazine, Mort reveals to the police that he has an enemy. Karsch tells Mort that he suspects Shooter has threatened Greenleaf after Greenleaf claimed he never saw Mort and Shooter talking together. Mort and Karsch agree to confront Shooter but first will meet up with Greenleaf at the local diner the next morning. Arriving late, Mort discovers that neither Karsch nor Greenleaf showed up at the diner. On his way back, Mort encounters Ted at a gas station where Ted demands Mort sign the divorce papers. Believing Shooter is in Ted's employ, Mort refuses, taunts Ted, and leaves. Shooter summons Mort to a meeting place; when he arrives, Mort finds Karsch and Greenleaf dead inside Greenleaf's truck and passes out at the sight. Alerted by Shooter, he states the two men had "interfered" in his business. Shooter warns him he has implicated Mort in the two men's murders (having used Mort's axe and screwdriver as implements) and implies he best get rid of the evidence. Mort agrees to meet Shooter at his cabin to show him the magazine containing his story, which is supposed to arrive by mail that day, having been overnighted by his literary agent. Mort retrieves his tools then pushes Greenleaf's truck off the steep cliff into a water-filled quarry where it sinks. While pushing the truck, Mort's watch strap gets caught in the turn signal lever and whilst able to free his hand at the last second, his ripped-off watch is left inside the truck. Mort retrieves the packet containing the magazine from the post office and once back in his car, finds that it has already been opened, with the pages containing his story ripped out. At the cabin, Mort sees Shooter's hat and puts it on. He begins speaking to himself, trying to make sense of the events. Frustrated and in denial, Mort throws an object at the wall and is surprised to see a growing crack fracture the cabin in half. Looking in the mirror, he's startled to see the back of his head reflected instead. Mort realizes that Shooter is a figment of his imagination, a created character brought to life through Mort's undetected dissociative identity disorder, unwittingly created to cope and carry out malevolent tasks that Mort cannot - like killing Chico, Greenleaf and Karsch, as well as arson. That persona now takes full control of Mort. Amy arrives at the cabin, finding it ransacked and sees the word "SHOOTER" carved repeatedly on the walls and furniture. Mort appears, speaking and acting as Shooter, wearing his hat which a flashback reveals Mort previously bought at a flea market. Amy realizes the name "Shooter" represents Mort's desire to "SHOOT HER". He chases Amy and stabs her in the ankle. Ted, looking for Amy, arrives and is ambushed by Mort, who smashes his face with a shovel. Amy watches helplessly as Mort bludgeons Ted with the shovel. Presumably, he does the same to her, while reciting the ending of "Sowing Season".

Months later, Mort recovers from writer's block and his overall mood improves. He is feared and shunned in town because of the rumours about the missing people associated with him. Sheriff Newsome arrives and tells Mort that he is the prime suspect in the supposed murders. He warns him that the bodies will eventually be found and he will be caught, then says he is no longer welcome in town. Mort passively dismisses the threat, and tells Newsome that the ending to his new story is "perfect". It is implied that Amy and Ted's bodies are buried under the corn growing in Mort's garden, allowing Mort to slowly destroy any evidence of their murders. (In an alternative ending cut for home media their bodies are shown under the earth.)

Production

Part of Secret Window was filmed in the town of North Hatley, Quebec in the Eastern Townships approximately two hours south east of Montreal. Other filming locations included Lake Massawippi, Lake Sacacomie, Lake Gale and the village of Bromont, Quebec.

According to director David Koepp on the DVD commentary track, the footage of the ocean scene during Mort's restless night on the couch was extra b-roll footage taken from The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

The film's ending is different from the source novellas. In the novella, Ted and Amy survive Mort's attempt on their lives, and Mort dies. It is also revealed that through supernatural forces, the fictional John Shooter had manifested and come to life from Mort's imagination, and really was the one to commit the murders and arson.

Release/Reception/Box Office

Roger Ebert awarded Secret Window three stars out of a possible four, stating that it "could add up to a straight-faced thriller about things that go boo in the night, but Johnny Depp and director David Koepp have too much style to let that happen." He continues by noting that the "story is more entertaining as it rolls along than it is when it gets to the finish line. But at least King uses his imagination right up to the end, and spares us the obligatory violent showdown that a lesser storyteller would have settled for." Ian Nathan from Empire only awarded the film 2 stars out of a possible 5, stating that "The presence of the sublime Depp will be enough to get Secret Window noticed, but even his latest set of rattling eccentricities is not enough to energise this deadbeat parlour trick."

On Rotten Tomatoes, Secret Window has an approval rating of 46% based on 162 reviews, with an average rating of 5.49/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Depp is quirkily entertaining, but the movie runs out of steam by the end." On Metacritic, the film has an aggregated score of 46 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

The film was a modest box office success, succeeding at recouping its budget of $40 million with a worldwide gross of $92 million.

An alternate ending was included on the home media release, explicitly showing both Ted and Amy's dead bodies underneath the corn patch in Mort's garden. In the final version of the film, it is implied, but the bodies are not shown.

Budget $40 million

Box office $92.9 million

My Review

Secret Window shares characteristics with some other Stephen King stories (The Dark Half, possibly a better film than Secret Window, springs to mind as it's also about a writer and problems with 'authorship'), but it benefits from having Johnny Depp in the lead. His role elevates it from being what could have been an elevated television movie. Not just him but John Tuturro as well, who can act creepy in his sleep, who make such predictable material watchable and even funny at points. Depp is right at home playing a conflicted everyman here, as an author who's being accused by another 'writer' named Shooter (Tuturro, monotoned with a Southern accent) of plagiarism. While that case sort of flounders, Depp's character deals with an ex-lover (Maria Bello), and some very strange occurrences that start happening after Shooter's appearance including a dead animal, and other 'goodies'.

If you don't see the ending coming a mile away, maybe you might see it by a few feet, if that makes sense. As the film leads towards the climax, you might think to yourself 'oh, that old gag' in terms of a twist in the ending. And, in fact, the very end is probably the worst part of the movie even with its tongue-in-cheek. But the pleasures of watching Secret Window are in seeing what Depp and director/co-writer David Koepp do with the material in those first couple of acts, where the King material is at its freshest at seeming 'realistic' in parts, wondering where the real horror might spring out of. Some of the amusement comes in just watching Depp manoeuvre in near dialog-less scenes- or in his little sarcastic quips- as he tries to break writers block or has little to do in his cabin by the lake. It's not one of his best performances, but you want to keep watching him anyway, especially when he interacts with Shooter and as certain elements of the story become clearer. It's formula that doesn't totally insult the audience, and it was worthy of a screen treatment with this cast and filmmaker.

Johnny Depp has to be one of the most versatile actors of his generation. David Koepp designs a screenplay out of a Stephen King novella "Secret Window, Secret Garden" and puts chills up and down your spine. A young writer Mort Rainey (Depp) trying to deal with a troublesome divorce also has a case of writer's block. He takes to his remote lake house and in the middle of one of his many naps there comes a banging at the door. A strange man named John Shooter (John Turturro) claims that Rainey stole his best story and ruined the ending. He intends to stalk Rainey until he changes the ending or proves he did write it first. Rainey's dog is killed and his house... I mean his ex-wife's house is burned to the ground. Talk about troubles. Rainey is at his wits end trying to prove he is wrongly accused of plagiarism. The twist at the end is clever and chilling.

Depp manages to apply a little humour to his character's hellish torment. Turturro is outstanding as the strange and persistent stalker from Mississippi. Charles S. Dutton and Timothy Hutton are notable in support. Maria Bello is hardly challenged playing the role of Amy Rainey. No matter if your devotion for Depp or King flamed your desire to see the mixture of mystery and horror...Secret Window is a great escape. 7.5/10