Stephen King’s most underrated film deserves your attention this Halloween

Author Stephen King’s texts have been adapted for film and television several times over the past 50 years. Because there have been so many interpretations of his work, some films and television shows have had to stay under the radar. One King adaptation that audiences have sorely overlooked is 1993’s The dark half.

Based on King’s 1989 novel of the same name, this horror film follows best-selling author Thad Beaumont as he decides to abandon his pseudonym “George Stark” and throws a mock funeral for him, only to have Stark become a real, hell-bent person as he terrorizes Beaumont and everyone close to him as revenge for his “death” years ago.

The dark half It failed to recoup its $15 million budget, grossing around $10.6 million at the box office. Like the latest version of Salem’s propertyThis film was lucky that it was released at all, as filming had already been completed for two years when Orion Pictures decided to distribute it. The dark half may be a bit too dramatic for modern tastes, but the film has received much praise and deserves greater recognition from audiences. Now that Halloween is almost here, it’s time to delve deep into the annals of scary cinema and find out why The dark half is such an underrated film.

The dark half has a clever story

One can easily find parallels between this film and James Wan’s crazy 2021 slasher film. Malignant. However, you can see how King drew inspiration from his own life to create perhaps one of his most personal stories. Similar to Beaumont, King wrote a handful of stories in his early years under the pseudonym “Richard Bachman,” including Fury, The long walk, And The running man. Eventually, King’s identity as Bachman was revealed, so the author later stated that his alter ego had died.

Audiences have seen many films in which a character portrays a sinister clone or alter ego. But King’s real-life inspiration does it The dark half a distinctive story with a unique take on the “evil counterpart” – a story that evokes a creative person’s fear of expressing themselves to the world. The reason for Stark’s existence may not be fully explained in the film, but that only makes his villainous character even more terrifying.

The film was directed by a Hollywood legend

The film version of The dark half was written and directed by horror legend George A. Romero, who revolutionized the genre in the ’60s with his low-budget classic Night of the Living Dead. A frequent collaborator of King’s, Romero does an excellent job of bringing the author’s story to the big screen. He was even nominated for Best Director at the Saturn Awards for his work on the film.

The acclaimed director creates a unique and chilling dark fantasy The dark halfwhich offers a great mix of gothic atmosphere, procedural crime drama, dreamlike images and bloody body horror. Most of the time, Romero doesn’t push the gore to the extreme, but instead creates great tension that builds until the film’s gripping conclusion, which involves a character’s gruesome death at the hands of birds that arguably puts Alfred Hitchcock to shame.

This only reinforces the fear factor that Romero builds into his film A gorgeous, eerie score by composer Christopher Young (Scary). The dark half Certainly it’s not the director’s best work, but it’s a fresh, notable installment of Romero’s filmography that’s both reminiscent of and a departure from his typical brand of zombie films.

The film’s star-studded cast includes an Oscar winner and a Guardian of the Galaxy

Directed by Oscar winner Timothy Hutton (The Haunting of Hill House), the cast of The dark half includes well-known actors such as Amy Madigan (Twice in life), Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy), Robert Joy (The hills have eyes), Royal Dano (Twin Peaks) and Julie Harris (The spook). It is worth noting that the latter was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in this film.

Although Hutton didn’t win any awards, the actor shined The dark half with his fantastic double performance as the gentle hero Beaumont and the evil, switchblade-wielding Stark. Since Hutton starred in this film when he was considered a nice guy in Hollywood, the Ordinary people Star stood out as he demonstrated his versatility as an actor. His Stark persona may be a stereotypical villain, but Hutton does a great job of transforming himself into a sinister killer, especially when he transforms into a rotting agent of death.

In total, The dark halfThe unique narrative, talented cast and accomplished director make the film an entertaining scarefest that audiences should praise as much as the more popular stories by King or Romero. This film should also be considered by horror fans looking for a good scare this Halloween.

The dark half keeps streaming Tubi.