Review of Secret Window

Introduction

Stephen King. The mere mention of his name in association with a film is enough to leave one in two minds. There`s no doubt the man can weave a story, but when it comes to adaptations of his work for film or television, things can be a bit hit and miss. I`ve enjoyed The Deadzone, Carrie, Misery and The Shawshank Redemption while at the same time thought little of Sleepwalkers, Dreamcatcher or It. There are others in between those extremes too. So when I usually see the King name I think about the other people associated with it.

Secret Window was adapted and directed from the Stephen King novella, Secret Window, Secret Garden by well-known Hollywood screenwriter David Koepp and stars Johnny Depp and John Turturro. I was sold. I`ve liked a lot of Koepp`s work/adaptations including Spider-Man, Jurassic Park, Stir of Echoes, Mission Impossible and a lot of others. Anyone who can get $4m for writing Panic Room must have a modicum of talent and it`ll be interesting to see what he makes of the forthcoming War of the Worlds adaptation for Spielberg.

Let`s get on with this creepy thriller…

Video

Secret Window comes with a good 2.40:1 widescreen enhanced video transfer. Colours and detail are well balanced though some grain is apparent. The overall image is solid and barring minute dirt, there doesn`t appear to be any problems with the image. There are no signs of compression either.

Audio

The DVD has a solid sounding Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Dialogue is loud and clear from the centre and sound/music in general sounds good from all front channels. There is subtle use of bass throughout the film, which works well, and there`s some good ambient sound/noise from the surround speakers too. While this isn`t a surround fest, the sound here works well for the film.

Features

The DVD comes with easy to navigate animated menus with a handful of extras:

• Audio Commentary (subtitled) - Screenwriter/Director David Koepp provides an interesting commentary on his adaptation and his way of writing and working with Depp and Turturro. He points out visual effects too and general film points. I thought it was interesting from start to finish, though there is some overlap between the commentary and the featurettes.

• Deleted Scenes (subtitled) (6:05) - Four deleted scenes, two of which have director commentary and optional subtitles. Shooter starts the fire (1:06), Mort at the diner (2:45), Mort questions Sonny (0:56) and Longer end shot (1:22). These are interesting to watch once.

• Featurettes (subtitled) (1:02:53) - From book to film (19:10), A look through it (29:43) and Secrets revealed (14:03). Thankfully a `play all` button combines all three featurettes into a decent length. There are some interesting things in there and it`s worth watching just the one time; by and large though it is promotional and not a documentary.

• Animatics - Four CG animated sequences planning four scenes.

• Trailers for other Columbia titles.

The DVD has English subtitles and closed-captions.

Conclusion

My initial interest in Secret Window was Johnny Depp coupled with writer/director David Koepp so I had certain expectations going in to see the film. When I finished watching it I was reasonably entertained as I think Secret Window is a better than average film, though not a great one and going by the numbers left me feeling a little disappointed. I think the story is a touch too predictable.

The somewhat slow pace of the film/story manages to build some tension, but it feels very mild and doesn`t build on the story events; there`s no real sense of fear or heightened suspense, which would have made quite a difference. The red herrings too are a bit too obvious and don`t really work. This reminds me of one of Koepps`s previous films, The Trigger Effect, where the premise was good, but there was also a lack of suspense or fear. Just don`t go into this film looking for frights and scares. I did like Depp`s and Turturro`s performance however.

Overall this DVD has good video and sound quality with some very decent extras rounding off a better than average film. Disappointments aside, I was entertained a couple of times by the film, but I don`t think it has a lot of replay value. If you`ve already seen it and want the DVD, rest assured it`s a good package. If anything, Secret Window is worthy of a rental.