Secret Window, directed by David Koepp, is based on Stephen King's Four Past Midnight: Secret Window, Secret Garden (1990). Those expecting the usual Stephen King histrionics are bound to be disappointed; the characters are frightened by events, but the audience of the film is likely to view the developments more calmly. Chronologically, the story begins in midwinter, when fiction writer Morton Rainey (played by Johnny Depp) acquires the key to a motel room to confront two lovers in bed--his wife Any (played by Maria Bello) and her lover Ted (played by Timothy Hutton). Six months later, John Shooter (played by John Turturro) knocks on the door of Rainey's cabin at Lake Tashmore, New York (in actuality, Bromont Lake, Québec). He accuses Rainey of plagiarizing a short story, "Secret Window," and demands that the matter must somehow be settled. While they talk, Rainey sees a village resident, Tom Greenleaf (played by John Dunn-Hill), spotting them as he drives by. Rainey insists that he did not steal the story from Shooter, whose accent and license plates indicate that he is from Mississippi. Meanwhile, Rainey and Amy are getting a divorce. Rainey has moved out of their fashionable suburban house, and Ted has moved in. The divorce papers have been drawn up, but Rainey has not yet signed them. Shooter continues to stalk Rainey, who notifies arthritic Sheriff Dave Newsome (played by Len Cariou) of the stalker after his pet dog is found dead. Rainey also engages the $500-a-day services of private detective Ken Karsch (played by Charles S. Dutton) to put an end to the stalking. In due course, a clue points to a possible link between Shooter and Ted, who wants Rainey to sign the divorce papers ASAP. Several deaths occur, and the suburban house burns to the ground. What appears at first to be a slow-moving thriller now becomes a mystery story, and clues keep popping up until the inevitable surprise ending, when filmviewers will kick themselves for not interpreting the many clues that they will doubtless miss, to say nothing of the amusing parts of the film where sardonic laughter is perhaps more appropriate than somber credulity. MH

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Four Past Midnight
by Stephen King