Secret Window MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +3 Content: -2

Morton Rainey (Johnny Depp) is an author in the midst of a personal crisis in this creepy thriller based on a story by Stephen King. After discovering his wife (Maria Bello) in bed with another man (Timothy Hutton), Rainey retreats to his lakeside cabin to cope, write and sleep his days away. But to Raineys surprise, an unexpected guest eccentric dairy farmer John Shooter (John Turturro) also finds his way there. A hostile visitor, Shooter boldly accuses Rainey of stealing and publishing one of his stories. He even produces a manuscript, The Secret Garden, about a man who kills his adulterous wife and buries her beneath his garden. Shooter threatens violence if Rainey doesnt correct the ending and credit him with authorship. Meanwhile, Rainey attempts to prove that he wrote the original story while also struggling with his wifes ongoing adultery. As the conflict escalates, Rainey realizes that Shooter is a serious, deadly and psychotic foe.

Secret Window unfortunately is predictable. The film focuses on and is framed by the main characters response to his wifes adultery. Though outwardly mature in his dealings with her, Morton Rainey is so inwardly offended by her actions that he chooses to retreat from the world, spending most of his days moping, talking to himself and sleeping. Depps convincing and humor-sprinkled performance conveys one possible reaction of a faithful spouse to the destructive and painful betrayal of adultery. Stephen King, of course, takes that theme one step further with the introduction of a crazed and murderous dairy farmer who wants Rainey to live out his story and his own violent inner desires. The film is an interesting journey that blurs the line between fact and fantasy. But in the end, it is unacceptable because of graphic and sadistic violence and significant objectionable language.

Preview Reviewer: Shaun Daugherty
Distributor: Columbia Pictures