Stephen King: Ranking His Films From Worst To Best
16. The Dark Half
This 1993 horror film is based off of one of the author's more post-modern novels, again directed by Romero. The Dark Half is a semi-autobiographical tale about a writer who utilises a pen name to produce more brutal (and popular) work, who eventually makes the decision to kill his alter ego off. Unlike King cutting the Bachman pseudonym loose, however, Timothy Hutton's Thad Beaumont finds it much harder to get rid of George Stark. Having staged a mock funeral and burial for his alter ego, Beaumont finds himself suspected of murdering his editor, agent, and his agent's ex-wife all because witnesses saw him at the scene of each killing. It turns out that George Stark has somehow become a real person, digging himself out of his pretend grave and getting revenge on the people who helped Beaumont kill him. A creepy, sharp and sophisticated script is brought to life by Hutton's great central performance(s) as the author(s).
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
