The Dark Half suffered a somewhat painful journey to cinemas. An adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel, it was directed by George A. Romero. Caught up in the collapse of Orion Pictures, it was filmed in 1991 but only released two years later in 1993. The film follows author Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton) who, after struggling to sell many books as a literary author, adopted the pen name George Stark to write a much more popular range of luridly violent potboilers. Tiring of the material, and looking to try his hand at more respectable literature, Thad abandons his non de plume. His publisher even arranges a stunt ‘funeral’ to announce Stark’s death. Soon afterwards those close to Thad are stalked by a mysterious vengeful killer intent on keeping George Stark alive.

‘Write what you know’ goes the oft-quoted maxim, originally attributed to Mark Twain. Stephen King certainly took the advice early in his career, writing a string of novels about one form of tortured author or another. Whether Jack Torrance in The Shining, Bill Denborough in It, or Paul Sheldon in Misery, it is a trope that King heartily embraced – arguably to the point of self-parody. Thad Beaumont marks yet another writer forced into a horror situation: in this case, a man who finds his pseudonym taking physical form to embark on a bloody rampage. Thankfully it is a different enough situation to allow The Dark Half to stand separately to its shelf-mates, and rich with enough iconic imagery to be an excellent basis for a feature film.

Romero’s adaptation boasts an excellent double portrayal by Timothy Hutton as both Thad and Stark. There are strong supporting turns by Amy Madigan and Michael Rooker. There is a nice edge of body horror to the film’s opening prologue, and a strong recurring image of swarming flocks of starlings. Thematically and tonally, it positively screams of Stephen King.

Unfortunately the pace and structure feel wildly off. It takes a remarkably long time to kick the plot into high gear, which robs much of the film of some badly-needed tension. At the same time, the film seems weirdly repetitive and simplistic. George murders someone. Thad wrings his hands through grief and inaction. Police chief Alan Pangborn (Rooker) continues to suspect Thad of committing the crimes. Then George murders someone, and the cycle continues. With a total duration just over two hours, The Dark Half is badly in need of an edit.

There is much to enjoy here, but thanks to a simplistic script (also by Romero) and needless repetition there is only so much enjoyment to be had. With several of King’s novels getting remade in recent years, including It and Pet Sematary, I think there is a strong opportunity to give this particular book a second attempt.