The Dark Half is a 1993
horror filmHorror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness...
adaptation of the
Stephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American writer of contemporary horror fiction, science fiction, fantasy literature, and screenplays. An estimated 300–350 million copies of King's novels and short story collections have been sold, and many of his stories have been adapted for film, television, and...
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
of the
same nameThe Dark Half is a horror novel by Stephen King, published in 1989. Publishers Weekly listed The Dark Half as the second best-selling book of 1989 behind Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger. It was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 1993.Stephen King wrote several books under a...
. The film was directed by
George A. RomeroGeorge Andrew Romero is an American film director, screenwriter, editor and occasional actor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed Grandfather of the Zombie....
and stars
Timothy HuttonTimothy T. Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People .-Early life:...
as Thad Beaumont and George Stark,
Amy MadiganAmy Madigan is an American actress who is known for her role as Annie Kinsella in the 1989 film Field of Dreams and Iris Crowe in the HBO television series Carnivale.-Early life:...
as Liz Beaumont, and
Michael RookerMichael Rooker is an American actor known for playing the title role in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.-Biography:...
as Sheriff
Alan PangbornAlan Pangborn is a fictional character created by Stephen King. The character is the Sheriff of the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. He is assisted by deputy Norris Ridgwick, John LaPointe, and Andy Clutterbuck.-Background:...
.
The film revolves around the attempts of writer Thad Beaumont to kill off his pseudonym, George Stark. His pseudonym has become a physical entity and is terrorizing Beaumont's family.
The Dark Half is a 1993
horror filmHorror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness...
adaptation of the
Stephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American writer of contemporary horror fiction, science fiction, fantasy literature, and screenplays. An estimated 300–350 million copies of King's novels and short story collections have been sold, and many of his stories have been adapted for film, television, and...
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
of the
same nameThe Dark Half is a horror novel by Stephen King, published in 1989. Publishers Weekly listed The Dark Half as the second best-selling book of 1989 behind Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger. It was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 1993.Stephen King wrote several books under a...
. The film was directed by
George A. RomeroGeorge Andrew Romero is an American film director, screenwriter, editor and occasional actor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed Grandfather of the Zombie....
and stars
Timothy HuttonTimothy T. Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People .-Early life:...
as Thad Beaumont and George Stark,
Amy MadiganAmy Madigan is an American actress who is known for her role as Annie Kinsella in the 1989 film Field of Dreams and Iris Crowe in the HBO television series Carnivale.-Early life:...
as Liz Beaumont, and
Michael RookerMichael Rooker is an American actor known for playing the title role in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.-Biography:...
as Sheriff
Alan PangbornAlan Pangborn is a fictional character created by Stephen King. The character is the Sheriff of the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. He is assisted by deputy Norris Ridgwick, John LaPointe, and Andy Clutterbuck.-Background:...
.
Synopsis
The film revolves around the attempts of writer Thad Beaumont to kill off his pseudonym, George Stark. His pseudonym has become a physical entity and is terrorizing Beaumont's family.
SheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
Alan PangbornAlan Pangborn is a fictional character created by Stephen King. The character is the Sheriff of the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. He is assisted by deputy Norris Ridgwick, John LaPointe, and Andy Clutterbuck.-Background:...
of
Castle Rock, MaineCastle Rock, Maine is part of Stephen King’s fictional Maine topography, and as such serves as the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories...
investigates the situation.
Production
The movie was filmed in part at
Washington & Jefferson CollegeWashington & Jefferson College is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college located in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, in the city of Washington, Pennsylvania, USA...
, near
Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the second largest city in the state. Its population was 334,563 at the 2000 census; by 2006, it was estimated to have fallen to 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is...
. Notable in the film are the chapel in the Old Main Building, seen at the beginning of the film as Beaumont's classroom, and the office of the college
chaplainA chaplain is typically a priest, pastor, ordained deacon, rabbi, imam or other member of the clergy serving a group of people who are not organised as a mission or church, or who are unable to attend church for various reasons; such as health, confinement, or military or civil duties; lay...
, used as Beaumont's office. Members of the faculty and student body served as extras in the film.
The film was shot from October 1990 until March 1991 and was in release limbo for several years due to
Orion PicturesOrion Pictures Corporation was an American company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former top-level executives of United Artists called Orion Pictures Company. Never a large motion picture producer, Orion achieved a...
' bleak financial situation. The film eventually saw release in April 1993, taking in just over $10 million domestically.
External links
.