The Dark Half
Although it lacks the creepy subtleties of Stephen King's celebrated  novel, George Romero's underrated adaptation ofThe Dark Halfranks among  the best films based on King's fiction, with Romero taking care to honor King's  central theme while serving up some gruesome gore in the film's much-criticized  finale. Inspired by King's own admission that he wrote several novels under the  pseudonym Richard Bachman,The Dark Halfexplores the duality of a  writer's impulse, ranging from literary respectability to the viscerally  cathartic thrills of exploitative pulp fiction.Author and teacher Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton) finds himself torn between  those extremes when he "kills" his profitable, pseudonymous alter ego George  Stark (the bestselling "dark half" to Thad's light), who then assumes an evil,  autonomous form (again played by Hutton) to lethally defend his role in Thad's  creative endeavors. Forced to wrestle with this evil manifestation of his own  unformed twin, Thad must fight to protect his wife (Amy Madigan), their twin  babies, and his own survival as an artist. Romero skillfully develops the  twin/duality theme to explore the writer's dilemma, and Hutton is outstanding in  his dual roles, playing Stark (in subtly fiendish makeup) as a redneck rebel  with a knack for slashing throats. Julie Harris adds class in a supporting role,  and horror fans will relish Romero's climactic showdown, in which swarms of  sparrows seal Stark's fate. It favors a pulp sensibility with clunky exposition  to explain Stark's existence, butThe Dark Halfis a laudable effort from  everyone involved.--Jeff Shannon