Secret Window (2004)

 

Genre: Thriller/Mystery /Horror         Time: 1h 36mins            Director: David Koepp

Quick Summary: A writer moves to his lakeside cabin to find solitude. However, a psychotic stalker blames him for plagiarising his work and refuses to leave him alone.

This film is absolutely CARRIED by Johnny Depp, the rest of it is alright. 

The film starts off very strong and sets the bar a bit too high for the rest of it to follow. The film’s opening shot is brilliant, with the camera travelling up to the main character's lonely cabin in the woods and entering a second-floor window before passing through a full-length mirror, making it seem like we are looking directly at them, before panning and settling effortlessly on our protagonist fully. 

It kinda drags for the first half of the film if I'm honest, you're waiting for something to happen. When the story kicks in somewhere at the midpoint and Mort’s behaviour becomes increasingly more strange it thereby moves awkwardly to a crucial denouement, as it soon cranks up the action in a bloody manner leading to an unsatisfying finale.

While Secret Window puts itself into the horror category, there are never really any moments that jump out at you in the horror category. Koepp is far more concerned with building atmosphere and letting the questions tick over in the background, which yes is true to the Stephen king legacy. Even the kills, a few of them gruesome in their own right, are cut away from, letting the imagination do the work.

The ending itself which was supposed to clear everything up seemed not to matter by the time it rolled around. By the time of the payoff, I was too distracted by its overall very muddy tone. I didn't fully get what was happening at first, and I was very confused. 

It is worth a watch, but honestly don't expect anything amazing.

5/10