The Dark Half: An Intriguing Premise Receives Poor Execution (Blu-ray)

The Film:

As we've seen with the multitude of Stephen King adaptations over the years, it's usually the very best ones that will be brought up in discussion over and over again, like "The Shining," "Misery," "The Green Mile," etc., but then there are ones that no one seems to mention, like horror maestro George A. Romero's 1993 adaptation of King's 1989 novel "The Dark Half." Naturally, one's inclination would be that it must not be very good, especially after seeing the rather low opinion of the critics & the disappointing box office return.

However, even with that being the case, there are those who stand by it as a decent adaptation of King's book, one that may not measure up to the more popular films based on his novels, but a fine piece of horror for fans of the author's work. For them, MGM is issuing a new bare-bones edition of the Blu-ray, so now let's go back and delve into this seldom-talked-about attempt to bring the best-selling book to life on the big screen.

The film centers on author Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton), who writes highbrow novels under his real name, while using the pen name George Stark to write more gruesome murder mysteries, which happen to be far more popular than his other work. When someone finds out his secret and tries to blackmail him, Thad sees no other choice but to reveal it himself and kill off his alter ego. However, this somehow results in Stark becoming a real person who goes about killing certain people in Thad's life, including his agent, his editor, and the man who tried to blackmail him. All of the evidence seems to point to Thad himself, forcing him to hunt Stark down before his evil creation decides to come for his wife (Amy Madigan) and kids.

"The Dark Half" is a story with the seed of an intriguing idea at its core. There have been many writers over the years who have used an alias to publish books that may be a bit controversial or far darker than what the author would normally write, so the concept of that "other self" emerging as a physical threat could make for a rather thrilling narrative (and is made all the more interesting by the fact that King wrote the novel in response to being outed as Richard Bachman, a pen name he used on several novels that included "Thinner" and "The Running Man.")

However, when it comes to George A. Romero's 1993 adaptation of the book, it's unfortunate to find that this potentially thrilling premise is executed in a rather sloppy & clumsy manner that merely gives us a series of repetitive killings, all of which leads up to a nonsensical, head-scratching explanation of the events that sounds like it's coming from a raving mental patient. On top of that, we're given a climax that's rather unsatisfying in that it's mainly an outside force that conveniently wraps things up for our protagonist instead of letting him bravely deal with it himself.

By the time the credits abruptly roll at the end, it's already been made quite clear as to why this adaptation is not brought up in discussion very often. Having not read the novel myself, I can't say whether it's an accurate transition of the source material, but apparently it is considered pretty faithful to those who are able to make the comparison, so perhaps it was simply inherent problems with the book itself that led to the disappointing outcome of the film. Either way, it simply doesn't work very well on the screen, ultimately leaving us with a fascinating premise that was probably best left on the page.

Video/Audio:

"The Dark Half" returns to Blu-ray in a 1.78:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality, presenting a picture that is quite sharp & clear throughout its entire 122-minute runtime. Likewise, the Dolby Digital audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, MGM has done a wonderful job in both departments for the film's new edition.

Special Features:

None.

Conclusion:

George A. Romero's 1993 adaptation of Stephen King's "The Dark Half" presents a fascinating concept about an author's dark side coming to life, but sadly the idea is handled in a rather sloppy & clumsy manner with its repetitive structure and a laughably nonsensical explanation of the events, ultimately resulting in a premise that probably should've stayed on the pages of King's best-selling novel.

Score: 2.5/5

Now available on Blu-ray.

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