Any half-savvy moviegoer will have the entire plot of Secret Window sussed out so far in advance that after 45 minutes the only thing left to do will be to sit back and enjoy Johnny Depp as he turns this tattered Stephen King-inspired B-thriller into a one-man tour de force of gloriously glib psychodrama. Starring Depp as an author stalked by a Mississippi-backwoods hick (John Turturro) who accuses him of plagiarism--and who may turn out to be something altogether scarier--the movie harbors no delusions of being anything more than second-rate horror cobbled together from familiar bits of other King stories (notably The Dark Half and Misery). But Depp and screenwriter-director David Koepp (Stir of Echoes) delve so headlong and happily into the film's droll, unrepentantly corny style that it quickly becomes a kitschy goosepimpler for genre gourmets who wish more drive-in flicks were made with such crafty cinematic élan. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by writer-director David Koepp, four deleted scenes with optional commentary (6 min.), a 63-minute three-part behind-the-scenes documentary (including “From Book to Film,” “A Look Through It,” and “Secrets Revealed”), four animatics sequences (7 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a fun if predictable thriller.] (R. Blackwelder)
Secret Window
Columbia TriStar, 105 min., PG-13, VHS: $107.99, DVD: $28.95, June 22 Volume 19, Issue 4
Secret Window
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