Back in 2007 I posted my list of the The Dark Half at #3 would still remain, an opinion again solidified after revisiting the 1993 Jekyll and Hyde thriller on Shout Factory’s new Blu-ray release.
It’s always been easier for filmmakers to adapt King’s less fantastical stories to the big screen, films such as The Shawshank Redemption, Misery and even The Green Mile, which is definitely fantastical, but not to the extent of so many other King stories. However, when it comes to the weirder stories, it’s not just the narratives that have that particular “King quality” it’s the characters and Romero nails not only the story within The Dark Half, but the quirks that give the characters that certain Stephen King quality, perhaps none of them more representative than Glenn Colerider as the chatter-box photographer Homer Gamache and his love of the word “falderal”.
From about sixth grade on I was a pretty big fan of King’s work. I first started reading his books around 1989 when I saw trailers for Pet Sematary. My mother wouldn’t buy the books for me saying they were crap, but she said she wouldn’t stop me from buying them myself with what little money I actually had. I took her up on the offer and “Pet Sematary” was the first King book I read, from there I went through the classics as well as started reading his new releases. I don’t know what exactly it was about “The Dark Half” which I didn’t read until a year or so after its initial 1989 release, but I loved the book and when the film was announced I had my concerns there would be no way they could actually capture the story of Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton) and his come-to-life pen name George Stark (also Hutton) in the same way I envisioned it in my head. Lo and behold they damn near accomplished it spot on and I loved it from the first minute.
Let’s face it, the story of a novelist whose pen name comes to life in the most murderous of ways is pretty ridiculous and to bring it to life on the page is one thing, but to also do it on the big screen is quite another, but it’s Romero’s ability to so easily step into King’s world that makes the film work the way it does. Add to that Hutton’s wonderful performance, mostly that of alter ego George Stark. Hutton’s work as the homicidal pseudonym is something of a crossbreed between Hutton, Michael Keaton and a little John Cusack peppered in, just think of those guys in their most wild and yet darkly comical performances and you’ll have something of an understanding of how Hutton plays it.
[amz asin=”B00MIA0I5M” size=”small”]To that point, watching the Blu-ray, this isn’t necessarily a cleaned up version but simply a better looking version of the DVD. Actually, the fact they didn’t clean the release up at all actually benefits the film a little. There are still plenty of scratches and bits of dust throughout, some scenes appear more damaged than others and you can blatantly see the seams in scenes where Hutton occupies the picture as both Thad and George at once, but there’s a little charm to this quality, a little rawness. I liked it.
Included on the release are a series of deleted scenes, animated storyboards, behind-the-scenes footage an old making of special, trailers and a picture gallery, but the goods come in the form of a new retrospective running 36 minutes and a brand new audio commentary with Romero himself.
The retrospective includes interviews with Romero, producer Declan Baldwin, actors Michael Rooker, Robert Joy, Rutanya Alda and John Amplas and several others including make-up and visual effects supervisors, editors and more. It’s hear you’ll hear stories of Hutton’s method acting, the fact he made everyone on set call him George when he played Thad’s “dark half” and Rooker even says of both Hutton and Amy Madigan that while working on the film they were not friends and they still aren’t friends. Stories of Orion’s meddling, shitting test screenings with unfinished effects and Orion’s battles with bankruptcy and much, much more. It’s fascinating stuff as is most often the case when filmmakers are several years removed from a picture. I highly doubt they would have been so willing to call Hutton a pain in the ass had this movie just been released.
As for the audio commentary, I won’t spoil all the little goodies it holds, but the earliest little nugget of information and perhaps the most interesting is that before Hutton, they were first looking at both Gary Oldman and Willem Dafoe for the lead role. Now I really like Hutton in the part of Thad/George, but either of those choices would have been amazing! Remember, this was around the time Oldman was starring in Dracula for Francis Ford Coppola, in True Romance as Drexl Spivey and the following year in The Professional. The guy would have torn this part to shreds in his sleep.
Nevertheless, it still remains a favorite of mine with a whole lot of Stephen King goodness adapted with care and an understanding for the characters. Hopefully more people will find it as a result of this new Blu-ray release because if you’re a fan of King, Romero or horror in general it certainly is a title you shouldn’t miss.
You can buy a copy of The Dark Half on Blu-ray right here.
