Stephen King is a master of literary horror, but some of his darkest stories were published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman — allowing King to publish more books without over-saturating the market while also testing to see if his books would be popular without his name attached. After the truth was revealed and King admitted that Bachman wasn’t a real person, he wrote the 1989 novel The Dark Halfabout an author whose own pseudonym is discovered and ceremonially “killed off” before somehow coming to life and going on a murder spree. A few years later, a horror master from a different medium, filmmaker George A. Romero, made an adaptation of The Dark Half that you can watch for free right now on Tubi.
Romero’s The Dark Half is almost 30 years old, but King’s “Bachman Books” have been popular with Hollywood lately. The Long Walkwas a Bachman story, and it was finally adapted into a movie by director Francis Lawrence earlier this year, and Bachman’s The Running Manis getting a new adaptation from Edgar Wright in November. That’s pretty impressive for a writer who doesn’t exist, but King (under his own name) has had even more productive years: In 1983, 2017, and 2019 there were four movies adapted from King novels and short stories. And to think he once worried about over-saturating the market.
‘The Dark Half’ Is One of the More Faithful Stephen King Adaptations
Many of Stephen King’s stories are about writers living in Maine (or thereabouts) who uncover some kind of unspeakable horror, but given the parallels between The Dark Half and the life/death of Richard Bachman, it’s actually one of the books that is closest to his real life — not counting the Dark Towerseries (if you know, you know). Of course, Bachman never rose from the grave and went on a murderous rampage to get revenge against the people who killed him, which is what happens with George Stark, the evil pseudonym of writer Thad Beaumont in The Dark Half. It gets even wilder from there, with shades of modern cult-classic Malignant. It also seems like an obvious point of inspiration for the brilliant Alan Wakevideo games.
Romero’s movie adaptation from 1993 is at least remembered fondly as a pretty faithful adaptation of the book, though the ‘90s was a particularly good period for King adaptations (The Shawshank Redemptioncame out just a year later), so it has some tough competition. That alone makes it more tolerable than some other horror movies, because — if nothing else — King can write the hell out of some characters and a basic setup for the plot (endings are overrated, who needs ‘em?), and The Dark Half movie definitely retains the spirit of the novel. Unfortunately, it’s not remembered excessively fondly beyond that, but there’s always fun to be had with older King movies.
Either way, Timothy Hutton, who plays Thad/Stark, puts in a good performance. Also, superhero/horror genre favorite Michael Rooker appears as recurring King character Alan Pangborn, and it’s always fun to see him as a younger guy. Beyond those two, The Dark Half features Amy Madigan (from Weapons), Julie Harris, and Beth Grant. Once again, it’s available now (for free!) on Tubi.
- Release Date
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April 23, 1993
- Runtime
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122 Minutes
- Director
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George A. Romero
