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| About Review |
Reviewer
RumbleWolf4
Review Date
25th June, 2004
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| Movie Credits |
Director
David Koepp
Cast
Johnny Depp
John Turturro
Maria Bello
Timothy Hutton
Charles S. Dutton
Screenplay
David Koepp
Tagline
"Some windows should never be opened."
Country
USA
Classification
PG-13
Year
2004
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| Errors |
| If you have found any errors in this review of the DVD, please tell us about it via e-mail. | |
| DVD Cover Art |
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| DVD Information |
Format
NTSC
Region Coding
1
Aspect Ratio
2.40:1
16x9 Enhanced
Yes
Running Time
96 minutes
Year Released
2004
Packaging
Keep Case
Extra Features
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes
3 Featurettes
Animated Storyboards
9 Movie Trailers
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Secret Window
The Plot
Mort Rainey is a depressed mystery writer who moves to a secluded lakeside cabin to recooperate himself from a nasty divorce and to work on his new novel. However, he finds two problems: He has writers block and he encounters an odd stranger named john Shooter. Shooter claims that Rainey plagerized one of his novels and goes to dangerous and deadly extremes to get his story back. When the murders begin, Rainey discovers he isn't dealing with some random psychotic... but something far, far worse...
The Movie
Many people will love this movie instantly solely based on Depp's presence. This makes sense because he delivers yet another grand and focused performance as the depressed writer. Turturro is hammy but still oddly likable as the backwoods psycho, Shooter. Overall the cast is game but it's the story that ultimately brings the movie down. It's based on a Stephen King story and many elements will seem disappointingly familiar to readers of his work.
The "twist" ending is hit-or-miss. You either see it coming and scoff at it or you are taken completely by surprise. I was part of the former, unfortunetly. The ending is also unsatisfactory. Back to the positives, the direction is good using the beautiful natural settings to full advantage and the haunting score is a plus. Kudos to composer Phillip Glass whom I'd rank up with Alan Sylvestri and Danny Elfman for great horror scores. This movie has its pros and cons...it could have been great but as it stands, it's just good...
The DVD
Columbia supplies us with a very nice DVD to make up a decent film. The menus are excellent and fit the film great. The transfer and sound are commendable. On the extras side we get commentary by Director Koepp, Four deleted scenes (two with commentary), Three featurettes which can be viewed together as a 60 minute documentary, four computerized animatic storyboards (I've always liked these) and a preview gallery with Nine trailers for Secret Window, Seinfeld, Spiderman 2, Hellboy, White Chicks, 13 Going on 30, Kingdom Hospital, Mothman Prophecies and triplets of Belleville.
Overall, a solid and impressive DVD, a good bargain for fans of the movie.
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DVD Rating |
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