User:LancedSoul/sandbox/Secret Window

Secret Window is a 2004 American psychological horror thriller film starring Johnny Depp and John Turturro. It was written and directed by David Koepp, based on the novella Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King, featuring a musical score by Philip Glass and Geoff Zanelli. The story appeared in King's 1990 collection Four Past Midnight. The film was released on March 12, 2004, by Columbia Pictures.

Plot
While in the process of an ugly divorce from his wife (Maria Bello), writer Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) relocates to his remote cabin in upstate New York for solitude. Attempting to recover his mental health, Rainey has the misfortune of being found by John Shooter (John Turturro), a farmer who claims Rainey plagiarized his work. At first, Rainey ignores the accusations, but Shooter has no intention of quietly disappearing. Soon, Shooter becomes increasingly vicious in his quest for retribution.

Reception
Although Secret Window was met with mixed reviews from critics, it was well-received by audiences and fans of the Stephen King alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, Secret Window has an approval rating of 46% based on 162 reviews, with an average rating of 5.49/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Depp is quirkily entertaining, but the movie runs out of steam by the end.". On Metacritic, the film has an aggregated score of 46 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".

Roger Ebert awarded Secret Window three stars out of a possible four, stating that it "could add up to a straight-faced thriller about things that go boo in the night, but Johnny Depp and director David Koepp ... have too much style to let that happen." He continues by noting that the "story is more entertaining as it rolls along than it is when it gets to the finish line. But at least King uses his imagination right up to the end, and spares us the obligatory violent showdown that a lesser storyteller would have settled for."

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Trivia

 * An alternate ending was included on the home media release, explicitly showing both Ted and Amy's dead bodies underneath the corn patch in Mort's garden. In the final version of the film, it is implied, but the bodies are not shown.