Secret Window (2004)

though it is a very different movie than both of those.still,i liked everything about it.it's suspenseful,thrilling and unpredictable.plus,Johnny Depp gives a masterful performance,in my opinion.the supporting cast is also great.John Turturro,Maria Bello,Timothy Hutton and Charles S.Dutton all put in great performances.i have only seen a handful of Stephen King adaptations,but probably half of those have been unimpressive to me.like most king movies,this one has its weirdness.nothing is straightforward or as it seems.but i felt this one had a bit more depth of character and story,which is refreshing.there are a few twists and turns and some red herrings to lead you in the wrong direction.i was kept guessing to the very end. i thought this movie was great,though like i said i didn't like it quite as much as two previous King adaptations,such as The Shawshank redemption and The Green Mile,which are masterpieces,in my opinion.still,Secret Window is a right up there.for me,Secret Window is a 9/10

Fmovies: I have always wanted to see Secret Window; when a movie has such varied and mixed reviews it is always intriguing to see the movie itself and find out which side of the line you sit on. I recently viewed Secret Window with a friend from the safety of my own home. It's only a short movie, which in itself has appeal, and if it were any longer the suspense element would have most definitely fizzled away. The first hour or so nothing much happens, the story line just plods along and you wait and watch to look for anything you have missed and wonder whether the story is going to go anywhere. The first portion of the movie is not a complete failure, however, as Johnny Depp once again shines in his role and keeps the viewer somewhat interested. Once the twist kicks in, the movie takes the viewer to a whole new level. My friend and I were simply intrigued in horror. It simply is brilliant and I would recommend this to anyone who loves being taken on a journey through their imagination.

Director David Koepp has written some nice screenplays ('Carlito's Way', 'Panic Room') and I liked his 'Stir of Echoes'. Here he comes with a thriller based on a Stephen King novel that is not very good but has some qualities. The best quality here is another terrific performance from Johnny Depp. No matter what he does, he succeeds in making a film entertaining even when it should not be.

Depp is a writer named Mort Rainey, recently divorced because his wife (Maria Bello) cheated on him. Now he lives in a cottage near a lake, alone, writing his new book. One day a man rings his bell telling Rainey he has stolen one of his stories. Rainy is unaware of this fact and he can prove it; a magazine printed his short story a couple of years before the man, who is named John Shooter (John Turturro), claims he has written his version. Shooter wants to see this magazine before he believes it, causing quite some trouble in the meanwhile.

This is a film with a secret, something we understand pretty soon. I will not reveal it, but most people will come up with an idea and find out they are right. Even though it has a secret it plays too much like a lot of thrillers we have already seen. Interesting performances (Bello is pretty good as the wive too) and some dry humor does not change that. There is one other thing I liked. Koepp payed some good attention to what David Fincher did with his 'Panic Room' screenplay, especially with the camera. There are some great shots here and together with Depp they make sure 'Secret Window' is not wasted.

Secret Window fmovies. "Secret Window" is another one of those eerie thrillers where danger lurks within the shadows. We can almost feel it, and so can the hero, as he walks through his house, armed with a weapon, ready to defend himself at all costs. He hears a noise from somewhere behind him, spins around, and suddenly realizes it was just his imagination. He sighs, puts down the weapon, turns around, and BOO! There's the bad guy, who has somehow managed to enter the locked home and avoid being detected. What if, I wonder, one of these times, the bad guy was seen as he entered? What if the Fisherman from "I Know What You Did Last Summer" had been spotted, and confronted, by one of the teenagers? What if Norman Bates' "Mother" had been exposed from the start? Then there presumably would be no movie, of course.

Although we know where "Secret Window" is headed quite early on, David Koepp (writer of "Panic Room" and director of the well-made "Stir of Echoes") manages to sustain the audience's interest through a series of suspenseful camera shots. Some are inventive, while others are merely fun to watch because we can guess where Koepp got his inspiration.

Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) is a successful author who lives up north with his beloved dog and a laptop. He apparently abandons his social life, never gets a haircut, and wears quite silly-looking glasses. He has a sarcastic personality and presumably does not get along very well with the local residents, who generally keep to themselves anyway.

Mort's life is changed forever when a strange man named John Shooter (John Turturro) shows up at his doorstep claiming that Mort has "stolen" his story. Mort is handed a dirty manuscript. Within the pages are passages literally identical to those from Mort's own book, "Secret Window," published in 1994, three years before John claims he wrote his. "Secret Window," the novel, is about a man whose wife cheats on him. Fueled by rage, the fictional character murders his own wife and buries her in the "secret garden" located outside of the "secret window" of their home.

It is said that art imitates life, and through a series of flashbacks we learn that Mort's novel bears an eerie similarity to his own problems -- "six months ago" his wife (Maria Bello) had an affair with Ted (Timothy Hutton). Mort assumes that John Shooter has some sort of connection to his past, and hires a detective (Charles S. Dutton) to find the mysterious man, who always seems to appear out of nowhere when Mort is alone.

Depp's performance is the highlight of the film -- if Depp is imitating Stephen King (the author of the short story "Secret Window" is based on), he succeeds. Barely recognizable hidden underneath a layer of geeky clothing and a generally disheveled appearance, Depp once again proves that he can tackle any sort of role as an actor -- from a scared teenager who has to stay up ("A Nightmare on Elm Street") to a Hunter S. Thompson lookalike ("Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas").

Koepp, who wrote the screenplay for the film, realizes that the key to the story is Depp's performance wisely allows his primary actor to let loose. Meanwhile the co-stars all deliver fine, convincing performances and although the grand finale is a bit of a let-down, and terribly predictable, the movie's style is interesting. "Secret Window" is better than most in its gen

This captivating thriller, based on a novella (Secret Window, Secret Garden) by Stephen King, is a true stroke of movie genius. Many reviews, make the claims that this movie is "outworn", "cliched" and even "predictable"! With these claims, I strongly disagree. The writing for this film is incredibly clever and complicated, I myself had to watch the film 2 or 3 times before I could fully comprehend all of the twists and turns that are interwoven throughout. Not a film for the faint hearted - although the majority of the violence is only implied - there are a few gory scenes, which all include a screw driver and a lot of blood. Despite how this may sound, this is not a "full on gore movie" by any means. Quite the opposite, it is a very deep psychological thriller which will leave you with a lot to think about. A truly moving performance by Johnny Depp, who plays the role of Mort outstandingly, so that you can really connect with Mort, and empathize with how he is feeling. John Turturro, another incredible actor, plays Shooter with a real eeriness,with the perfect amount of emotion and madness. A truly fantastic film, which will leave you jaw dropped (no exaggeration) by the time you reach the end. Plus Johnny Depp is gorgeous as Mort Rainey, and that can't be bad ;)

I've seen psychological thriller's that try to scare you more than melt your brain, this one I'm proud to say does both. It's a very, very malicious and haunting thrill machine. I t brings the very essence of how horror and Psycho thriller's are suppose to be done, not with over the top gore and CGI, but with old school conventional means.

Secret Window is as sinister as it is smart it rolls along at a very steady pace and brings more to the table than what was required. It shows you what the decent into madness and utter chaos looks like, it shows you the depth and moral ambiguities of a torn man who's lost everything. With that said you can examine the physic of the mind as it cracks under extreme and constant pressure and how your choices do affect who you help, or who you hurt. This film's pace and dark style is meant to reflect horror films of the 40's, 50's, 60's and early 70's before gore became cool but that makes this film such a joy to watch and study. And that makes it a great film, not a good film, a great film.

Johnny Depp( who was fantastic here.) gives a very eccentric and brilliant performance as the conflicted writer Mort Rainey, John Turturro does exceptionally well as the sinister and vicious Shooter and he almost outclasses Depp in this film. Charles S. Dutton does well with the few scenes he's. But the main let down and I think the reason for this film's poor reviews from critics were the bland and very lame performances of Timothy Hutton( he won an Oscar he can do better than this.) and Maria Bello, they really lowered the caliber and class of this film and forced Depp to try harder to make them look good and make there time on screen with him good, but he succeeds and they fail. But Turturro and Depp hold up strong.

Secret Window is a very Keene and captivating psychological/horror thriller that is surefire mind boggling entertainment and out of this world fun. This movie is great rainy day entertainment or any day entertainment for that matter it's just all around a fantastic and mind boggling film that makes you question the sanity of writers and the world they live in ( speaking as one myself.) it brings to question as the thoughts in our mind really our conscious or our selves just speaking out to right the wrongs doe against us It's a film that ask those questions and then you have to answer. All in all Secret Window was a sinister, malicious and thought provoking film that delivers a movie going experience like no other.