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Secret Window (2004)

DVD Cover (Sony Home Entertainment)
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Overall Rating 62%
Overall Rating
Ranked #940
...out of 20,319 movies
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Mort Rainey, a successful author, is passing through a hard period in his life. After catching his wife sleeping with another man, they separate and he moves away from the city to somewhere in the country. One day a man appears at his door, presenting himself as John Shooter, and accuses Mort of copying a story from him. Although Mort believes things can be solved once he shows Shooter the original version, which had appeared two years before Shooter's version, written in 1997, while Rainey's was published in early 1995. He can't seem to be able to get an original copy in the time limit set by Shooter. Strange things then start happening that prevent him from receiving the needed original, and Mort tries to find out who Shooter really is and if he is responsible for the things that have been happening. --IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: May 23, 2004
Mort is an author who is going through a divorce with his wife. Seems to be that he caught her screwing another guy in a motel room, so the divorce is in process and he's shacked up in a cabin working on a new book. Things are going along smoothly enough for our old pal, until a fellow by the name of John Shooter shows up on his doorstep one morning. Shooter claims that Mort has ripped off one of his books and claimed it as his own. Mort denies this, saying that he had his story published in a magazine two years before Shooter claims to have written in. Shooter wants proof of this, and starts to make Mort's life a living hell until he gets it.

I read the story that this was based on quite some time ago, however, I don't recall much in the way of details of how it went. Therefore, I can't really compare the film adaptation to the short story as well as I'd like. However, I do know that the movie in and of itself was very nicely done, with a fantastic storyline going for it.

One thing that I've seen some people griping about on various sites, is the fact that the trailers made this movie appear to be a horror, or yet another one of those ghostly-thrillers that seem to be coming out every other week. Said people were disappointed when they realized that this didn't fit into either of those categories, but since I never watched the trailers, I watched this with no expectations. That definitely made my viewing experience much better, because with no expectations, you can't really be let down if what you're expecting doesn't occur. Make sense? In other words, don't let the Hollywood glam-trailers fool you into believing this is something it's not. With that said, just what kind of movie is this? I think it falls more into the crime / mystery category, with a hearty helping of the Stephen King touch mixed into it.

Even with my praise so far, there is one thing I should definitely clear up: this movie will not satisfy a lot of viewers out there. This movie is about ninety-five percent dialogue sequences, which results in a much better storyline, but would definitely be boring to some of the more casual movie-viewers out there. Johnny Depp does quite well in his role to bring some life to the sequences, but a spade is a spade; there's almost nothing in terms of action, supernatural happenings, or killings until the grand finale. If you're of the type who would be bored with something like this, you might as well just pass right on over this title the next time you hit up your local rental store.

My personal grand finale for this title would be a solid 8/10. Definitely worth a viewing if you don't require loads of murders or long-haired, ghostly little girls to make up a good movie night.
drone #1: drone - added September 1, 2004 at 11:08pm
This movie put me to sleep. Though I liked staring at Johnny Depp. Total crap Johnny. Sorry.
ScarsRstarS #2: ScarsRstarS - added January 10, 2006 at 7:46am
Awsome Film. Loved it
Tristan #3: Tristan - added August 9, 2009 at 7:49pm
8/10 from myself as well. I find Koepp to be very talented in both writing and directing, and he had the good sense to let Depp do what he wanted with the character. Very entertaining movie, even after repeated viewings.
Lucid Dreams #4: Lucid Dreams - added March 1, 2010 at 10:26pm
In short Tristan put it down perfectly, a really good thriller. 9/10
AttnDefDis #5: AttnDefDis - added January 3, 2011 at 8:16pm
Wow, drone put it perfectly. I can't believe everyone else loved it. So dull.
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