There was more than once while watching the film that I thought Alfred Hitchcock could have used George Romero when he was filming "The Birds". With at least a half dozen scenes of sparrows massing in the sky or threatening the Beaumont home, they appeared a lot more threatening than Hitchcock's birds. But that was an earlier time and George Romero was just getting started in the Sixties and wouldn't have been a name to contend with yet.One thing that bothered me about this story was the premise set for the existence of George Stark, the evil alter-ego identity of Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton). The foreign tissue removed from the young Thad was described as an 'absorbed fetus', formed of a rare tumor manifesting a tooth and other grisly organic remains. Then later, Thad's university friend Reggie proclaims George a conjuration, created by the force of Thad's will. I haven't read the King novel, so it seems to me the film's story line was going in too many different directions with these arguments. Personally, going with just the latter idea would have worked well enough for me.Fred Clawson's blackmail scheme didn't hold much water with me either. Obviously Beaumont's publisher knew he was using a pseudonym, and to my thinking, what was the big deal anyway? Stephen King uses at least a couple I'm aware of - Richard Bachman and Peter Straub - and it never hurt his career. So that was a little muddled in the execution too.But you know what, the evil guise of George Stark was really cool, wasn't it? Looking like a deranged Elvis impersonator, I thought Hutton's transformation into the warped madman was pretty impressive. I had to wonder though about the Mississippi plates on his Toronado, where did that idea come from? Tennessee (Graceland) would have made more sense and I wouldn't even have questioned it. Oh, well.Anyway, old George came to a ghastly finale there at the end of the picture, but even then I had to contain a chuckle among all the gruesome imagery. For the very first time ever I saw it dramatically illustrated what it means to be a pencil necked geek.

An above-average adaptation of the Stephen King novel, this is a gory, disturbing little movie which sticks closely to its source. The story is an intelligent, unpredictable one which remains one of King's most genuinely horrific tales, and director George Romero makes a good job of the film version. The gore and violence is used in a shocking, unpleasant way instead of being there just for the sake of it, and the spot-on acting elevates the film above being just another schlocky horror tale.Timothy Hutton in particular is very good both as innocent writer Thad Beaumont, plagued by visions, sounds, headaches, and nightmares, and also as his demonic alter-ego George Stark, who is something like an evil version of Elvis Presley. Stark is a totally ruthless and villainous character, one of the most despicable I've seen (he reminds me somewhat of David Hess) and spends the film either slashing people up with a straight-razor or simply bullying them. Amy Madigan lends solid support as Hutton's endangered wife, while Michael Rooker also puts in a strong turn as Sheriff Alan Pangbourne, who investigates the crimes.The film gets off to a good start with an unforgettable horror special effect of a milky-white human eyeball blinking inside somebody's brain; a simple enough effect to create, but one which stayed with me afterwards. From then on, things get relentlessly darker; this film has a real hard edge to it which makes for uncomfortable viewing at times. Another horrific highlight includes a dream sequence in which a doll's face shatters to reveal a human skull underneath - very unsettling. The special effects are used well, from some realistic wound-makeups which look very painful, to the masses of sparrows which fill the sky on occasion and play a crucial part in the suspenseful finale. Incidentally, the ending (which will have you cheering) is also very horrific: good special effects make this a conclusion worth waiting for. CGI is occasionally used to animate the sparrows but doesn't intrude too much.In conclusion, I would call THE DARK HALF a true "horror film" and miles away from the cheap gorefests and unscary slashers which populate the rest of the '90s, in that it actually manages to be frightening and disturbing at times. It also serves as proof that George Romero still has the power to make good movies on occasion, which makes it seem odd that he has so much trouble attempting to do so. Highly recommended for King fans as one of the better adaptations of his work.

I've always been a big fan of Steven King's novels. Almost all his books have been successes. Unfortunately a good book is never a guarantee that the film adaptation will be reach the quality of the book. And out of the many King adaptations only a few have succeeded in bringing the same quality as the book. Its enough to remember the horrible Tommyknockers and the even more pathetic Langoliers. But there have been awesome adaptations The Green Mile, Misery. Though it can't be mentioned with the best ones but Romero's and King's dual work Creepshow is up there with the okay ones and then we also have Dark Half from these two. Stephen Kings three books (Dark Half, Shinning and Secret Window) are connected on a few levels, all feature a writer the protagonist, which is popular with King… and they feature the fear of something, an unknown person (which symbolizes the dark half of our psyche) or higher power. The question is are the directors faithful to the books like Romero and Kubrick, and what twist and film techniques do they use to bring the adaptation to the silver or small screen. When Thad Beaumont was a child, he had an operation to remove a tumor from his brain. during the operation, it was discovered that far from being a tumor, the growth was a twin brother of Thad's that never developed. Years later, Thad is a successful author, writing his serious books under his own name, and his pulp money-makers under the pseudonym "George Stark". When blackmailed by someone who has discovered his secret, Thad publicly "buries" George Stark. From that point on, Thad increasingly becomes the prime suspect in a series of gruesome murders. Despite the films being filled with clichés from the 90s, they are consistent with the books. Romero really captured the depiction of reality and non-reality. The camera work is idea filled and tight, the film is done with rhythmic cuts making it a true Romero film. All this would not have worked without Christopher Younge (the composer of film scores like Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm street), whose score drives your adrenaline to the max. with a unique many layers soundtrack. The story in itself is a typical SK story, that doesn't clear up until the last twist whether the protagonists twin really has come to life by certain higher powers or not. Timothy Hutton's duel performance is absolutely convincing. He plays the balanced father well and is merciless as George Stark, who after spiking his hair up, goes around killing people, with a cigarette hanging from his lips and a bottle of whiskey close by. The large group of sparrows give the film an air of strangeness right from the start. The sparrows are there as a medium: they connect the earth and the other side and they are instrumental to the ending, which is, without being overly dramatic, THE WORLDS MOST DISGUSTING SCENE, it's a must see. Though it can be said of the film that there is more blood than the typical King adaptation this is not detrimental to it. Dark Half SK adaptation is to Shinning as Carlito's Way is to Scarface. Though Dark Half and Shinning work with similar material, they speck to difference audiences, their devices and budget was different so Dark Half remains a cult film amongst a certain section of horror fans. Romero tried to do his job perfectly, but unfortunately this only worked partially. Romero fans, who are more prone to like films that have a more serious mood with like it, King fans… well I'm not so sure… To me it's a 6/10. https://www.youtube.com/user/Videodromeblog

In Castle Rock, Maine, the respectable writer and professor Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton) lives a comfortable life with his wife Liz Beaumont (Amy Madigan) and his two babies. Out of the blue, he is blackmailed by a punk from New York that has discovered a hidden secret about Thad: before writing serious novels, he had written cheap literature using the pseudonym of George Stark and has become a successful writer of the genre and made enough money to raise his family. Thad and Liz discuss the situation and Thad calls his editors telling that he would tell the truth about George Stark to the press. The editors like the idea and prepare a promotional event, with That Beaumont burying George Stark in the cemetery. When the photographer is murdered, Sheriff Alan Pangborn (Michael Rooker) comes to Thad's home and tells that he is the prime suspect of the crime. Thad believes that the blackmailer is the responsible for the death but soon he finds that the man was murdered. Soon there are a crime spree incriminating Thad and he claims that George Stark is the responsible for the bloodshed. How can his violent alter ego be responsible for the homicides?"The Dark Half" is a horror movie with a promising story by Stephen King but unfortunately with a disappointing conclusion with the sparrows destroying George Stark and leaving Thad Beaumont without any evidence to prove his innocence. The explanation of Reggie that George Stark is a conjuration, an entity created by dark half of Thad that brought his alter ego to life, is weak. I saw this movie for the first time in the 90's on VHS and I have just watched again on DVD. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "A Metade Negra" ("The Dark Half")