Rating of
2/4
The Secret Window Movie Review
Crazy 4 war movies - wrote on 05/13/08
Warning Contains Spoiler
The Secret Window Review
Beautifully written and directed by the great David Koepp The Secret window has finally been produced into a full length feature film. Based off the spooky and intense novel by the horrific mastermind better know as Stephen King, this movie will keep your mind busy from the moment the movie begins to a few days later when you are still sorting it out. This movie brings out a new side of Johnny Depp, he is not a courageous pirate or loving candy man but simply a schizophrenic writer who encounters various problems occurring in his life. Filled with twits and turns the movie is a nice alternative to extremely graphic and horrific physiological thrillers.
The director does a great job enchaining the movie with simple techniques. Koepp uses many different shots during various scenes to enhance the suspense. For example when a script appears at Mort Rainey’s door (Depp) Koepp must have about five different angels and shots from when Mort lays his eyes on the script to when he actually picks it up. The shot is captured from the eyes of Rainey, from the ground, outside, inside all over for just this pile of paper. To create a sense of horror Koepp skillfully uses Mise en scene. Thought the film the director decisively places objects in the shot making those paying attention more “freaked out”. Anyone who picks up on what the director is trying to achieve will find that in the film there are many doubles or mirrors. For example Rainey suspects that Ted, his ex wife’s new husband, is after him and has hired a man named John Rainey to do his dirty work. Ted grew up in Tennessee in Shooter Lake and Shooter came from Mississippi. That was a simple example, but there are ones that don’t appear until the end of the movie. In the beginning Rainey called the man who is after him (John shooter played by John Turturro) “mentally ill” and later in the story John Shooter is actually a made up character created by Rainey’s mental instability. The film did a good job keeping the audience hooked until the end. The interrupting flashbacks though, did make the plot at times confusing. Overall it was a good alternative to the overplayed blood thirsty clown masked killer.
By Chris Sadowski
